“Say I heard you talking about old Squeaky out there,” she pointed to the crazy guy in leathers. “He givin’ you trouble?”
“He just scared us that’s all,” Anna’s voice was horse.
“Ah don’t worry about him. He’s a weird kid but everyone round here knows him. He’s just special, he don’t mean no harm,”
“Oh, I see,” Anna smiled timidly.
“He probably just likes you cos you’re pretty and he’s not seen you around here before. Are you on vacation?”
“Yeah kinda, just passin’ through,” Anna tried her best to make normal conversation.
“That’s nice. You two make a cute couple,” the waitress smiled but as she turned to leave there was an almighty screech of tires and the revving of an engine.
The crackling of the gravel was so loud and as the vehicle spun its tires at speed, small stones were thrown in the air and hit the diner windows like miniature gunshots. Carl stood up outraged and angry.
“That fucker’s stolen my car!” he yelled.
And the small, battered Hyundai was soon disappearing into a speck on the horizon.
CHAPTER 12
The phone was answered on the third ring and Jerry spoke jovially.
“Hey pal? Callahan?”
“That’s me!” the parochial accent came thick.
“It’s Jerry,”
“I know that voice anywhere,” Callahan laughed. “What’s the matter?”
“Well… we’ve got a little situation over here,”
“Oh no…”
“Yuh like… we need ya to do us a favour,”
“Well I guess I ain’t got a choice have I?” Callahan joked.
“Ha you’re funny. But no. You do not have a choice,”
Callahan exhaled deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Tell me straight Jerry. What I gotta do this time?”
“We’re looking for someone. An ex- Navy Seal on the run, a Carl Reiner. You gotta help us find him,”
“What am I supposed to do? Put out an APB?” Callahan was laughing but he felt like crying.
“Just do what you gotta do,” and Jerry hung up.
“Shit,” Callahan threw the phone on the desk. “Fuck!”
~
Carl and Anna raced to the parking lot but all was left of the car was the smoke that had drifted from the tires. The waitress was in hot pursuit in her heels and she seemed angrier than the both of them
“That son of a bitch! I’ll have to tell his mother about this,” she fumed. “I’m so sorry folks,” she turned to the couple. “Let’s call the police,”
“NO!” they both shouted in unison.
“I mean no thanks, we’ll do it ourselves,” Anna touched the waitress’ arm as a sign of good faith.
“Well if you’re sure,” she didn’t seem convinced.
“Yeah we’re sure,” Carl interrupted. “But thanks,”
And the waitress shrugged and walked back indoors thinking they were odd.
“Shit! What are we to do now?” Anna was panicked.
“I don’t know… but I guess that car has the worst luck in the world,”
“Where are we anyway?”
“I’ll have to look it up on my phone. Two seconds, it’s in my backpack,” and he quickly hurried into the diner to grab it.
He walked back out while searching through it frantically.
“Shit I can’t find my phone!” he emptied the contents of the bag onto the ground and ran his fingers through everything. “Oh my God please don’t let it be true,” but it was. “My God damn phone is in the car!”
Anna felt like kicking at the earth and screaming. She wanted to just give up and lie in the middle of the road. She wandered away from Carl for a moment to take a deep breath. On either side of the diner laid vast expanses of empty road. She turned her head from left to right and back again. Wherever they were going next was on foot and it was going to take forever.
“How the fuck are we going to get to Mexico from here?” asked Carl as he joined her.
“I guess we’ll find out soon,”
“I’m sorry,” Carl wrapped his arms around her. He wanted her to feel safe.
“What for?” she looked up to him.
“I’m a real lousy protector. I took you to save you and now look at us,”
“Hmmmm…. It’s just crazy,” no other words seemed to make sense of the situation. “But if it’s any consolation. If we’re lost, then so are the Mob,”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean if we can’t even find where we are then what hope have they got. I reckon they won’t be having much luck either,”
“I guess not,” he felt a little better seeing her logic.
“So what now?” he asked.
“That way’s south right?” she pointed down the road.
“Yup,”
“Well we’ll walk that way,” and she placed her hand in his. “Let’s go,”
~
Jorge was blowing plumes of thick smoke up from the basement floor. He was sat cross legged in front of Reiner Snr with a wicked smile on his face. Exhaling again he tried to make the smoke reach the detector.
“Yo man. You need new batteries. Been blowin’ into it for like two days,”
The old man raised his head a few inches but then collapsed.
“Still no word from your kid… Guess you must have done something real bad for him to hate you like this,”
He looked down and saw a tear fall from the old man’s face.
“Hey why you always cryin’ man?” he kicked the old man in the shin but he didn’t flinch this time.
Reiner Senior began to make a quiet croaking sound as he struggled to speak through his parched throat. Jorge knelt down beside him and held his ear close.
“I…. love my son,” the old man rasped. “Tell him that,”
But Jorge didn’t have time for soppy sentimentalism. Instead he spat on the ground as he stood up.
“Ah shut the hell up. Like I give a shit,” and he threw his cigarette end on the floor. “You gotta tell us where he is old man!” and he pulled his gun out and pointed it to his head.
“But I don’t know,” Reiner croaked. “I just don’t know. I promise,”
Jorge knew he was telling the truth. He’d beaten him endlessly and threatened him at gun point, starved him and denied him water and still the old man said he knew nothing. But it wasn’t Mob style to leave people alive. He knelt back down and whispered into his face.
“Carl knows we got you, old man, and he doesn’t care. He wants you dead…. And so do I,” and Jorge pulled out his favourite knife from the inside of his snakeskin boots.
CHAPTER 13
“Who was your high school crush?” Anna asked Carl as though they were on a normal date meandering through the trees.
“Oh God! Her name was Cassie Yates and I swear to God she was the hottest thing ever when I was twelve. Everyone fancied her but she had braces and makeup that was like this thick,” he held out his thumb and forefinger. “I hear she has six kids now,” he looked into the distance. “What about you?”
“His name was Brody McKenzie. He was a real dork but that’s what I liked. He wasn’t a jock or a bully or one of the weird goth kids,” Anna laughed. “He was real sweet to me,” and she shoved her hands in her pockets. “This is a real nice place,” she looked all around her. “And it’s not as cold as Chicago. Shame we’re not here for fun,”
“Don’t worry about that. Once we’re sorted and settled I’ll take you all around the world,” Carl kissed her cheek and she smiled.
They were silent for a moment and all they could hear was the sound of their own footsteps interspersed with the chirping of wild birds.
“I think they’re circling us,” Anna joked.
“I hope not,” Carl looked up into the sky.
“Hey… So I gotta ask you now, or I won’t ever,” Anna blurted out quickly.
“Go for it,”
“That briefca
se you carry everywhere. It’s got money in it hasn’t it?”
“Yes it has,” he nodded.
“The money you got for killing my father?”
“Yeah,” he looked to the ground ashamed of himself.
“Well at least he’s good for something,” she grimaced at the thought of him.
Carl was taken aback by her attitude. “You constantly surprise me you know that?”
“Why’s that?”
“You just take everything in your stride,”
“And I always will,” Anna shrugged.
They stopped walking and stood idly in the center of the empty road. Carl brushed his fingers through her hair and held her face. They kissed sweetly under the midday sun. They were enjoying the moment so much that they barely heard the sound of a car horn tooting furiously. As they pulled themselves apart, Anna took the chance and flagged down the car. A tremendously unhappy gentleman in an old tweed suit was behind the wheel.
“What the hell were you doin’ out there? Just kissin’ were ya? Just kissin’ in the middle of the damn road?” he raged.
“We’re so sorry sir. We’re very lost and well…,” she trailed off
The man in the car eyed them suspiciously.
“Where are you headin?” he asked just so he could look at Anna for a little while longer.
“The plan was to get to Mexico,”
“Oh really?” the man was even more suspicious now. He eyed them up again and saw their lack of belongings and their exhausted demeanour. “Hmmmm…. How old are you?”
“19,” smiled Anna.
“And you?” the man pointed to Carl.
“32,”
And again the man behind the wheel grew even more suspicious.
“Well… I can’t say Jesus would approve of your public cavorting and your delinquent ways. But I’ll drop you a little closer – I’m not taking you to no damn Mexican town. Get yourselves in the back there,”
“Thank you so much!” Anna was delirious with joy.
As they climbed into the back of the car they instantly felt the pain being relieved from their limbs.
“Urgh… we’ve been walking for hours,”
“You weren’t planning on walking to Mexico were you?”
“Maybe,” Carl said dryly.
“Well I’m goin’ as far as Austin, Texas. I can drop you there,”
“That is so kind of you. Really, just so kind,” Anna gripped the man’s shoulder.
“Any chance to be a Good Samaritan,” the man smiled in the rear view mirror at Anna. “I’m Gerald by the way,”
“Please to meet you Gerald,” mumbled Carl before he leaned back and fell asleep.
CHAPTER 14
Detective Callahan felt the acid reflux rise within him as he sat at his desk. Reaching into the top drawer he pulled out an almost empty bottle of Pepto-Bismol and drank from it thirstily.
“Urgh….” he rested his head in his hands and sighed sadly.
This was the second time he had been asked to do dirty work for the mob and just like the first time it scared the hell out of him. He knew they were using him for the type of dirty work he was supposed to prevent, but what could he do? If he said no they’d kill him, but if he said yes and his chief found out he’d be fired and he’d probably lose his pension too. The thought of explaining that to his wife Cathy was painful and he could hear her nagging voice already. It made the acid reflux return and he finished off the bottle.
All he had on this Carl Reiner was what Jerry had told him. He was an ex-Navy Seal and he was in Chicago somewhere. He ran his name and saw that he had one conviction a couple years back, a DUI. It was his only offence and it was just after he’d been discharged. Since then it looked as though he’d been keeping his nose clean… well not really, if he was wanted by the Mob. The licence plate for the vehicle he was in at the time of arrest was in the file and he ran that too. A result popped up quicker than he thought. He grabbed his phone and called Jerry back.
“Hey. I got somethin’,” he was eager to finish this whole thing.
“Gimme it,”
“His SUV was found on the edge of St Louis two days ago,”
“St Louis? Was he there?”
“Nope it was just the vehicle. And it was burnt to a crisp. I mean destroyed,”
“I see….” Jerry was in deep thought. “And a girl?”
“There were no bodies in the vehicle. It was really just the husk left,”
“Can you gimme the exact location?”
“Yuh… Two seconds,” there was a ruffling noise on the line as Callahan searched through the file. “It was really in the ass end of nowhere pal. I mean two point five miles northwest of a town called Brunton on Gibson Rd. Nothin’ but fields everywhere,”
“Hmmmm….” Jerry’s mind went blank. “I wonder where the fuck they went,”
“Well if you don’t mind me havin’ a say. I have a brother in law in St Louis. Drove down there plenty of times. If he’s not hidin’ in a field, which I suppose he’s not, then he’s probably wondered into one of those quaint motels on the edge of town,”
“Are there many near where the car was found?” Jerry asked desperately, his excitement was palpable.
“Hang on,” frantic typing sounded. “Yuh… well four miles away. A little place called Evergreen Motel,”
“Thanks Callahan. I owe you one!” and Jerry hung up abruptly.
Suddenly a heavy feeling swept through the detective as he became riddled with guilt. Something told him this Carl was a good guy. A military boy that got himself in with the wrong crowd and he wished he’d never said anything. But what could he have done? He reached into the top drawer again and pulled out a hip flask. He sipped from it gingerly and felt the burn as the liquor washed down his gullet. As soon as the winter was up he was going on holiday.
~
The sun was shining bright through the window of the little VW Beatle. Anna had seen one of these cars once in a movie, but she’d never been in one. She soon realized it was a rather disappointing experience. The seats were hard and each tiny pebble that went under the wheels felt like a bolder. Still, she was appreciative of the ride and she looked down to her feet in her new sneakers and felt the blisters throb.
She looked over to Carl and saw him sleeping heavily. His eyelids were twitching as he dreamt and she wondered what was going through his mind.
“Gerald?” she broke the silence.
“Yuh?”
“Do you always pick up hitch hikers?”
“Hmmmm… not always. But I’m always on the road so maybe every week or so I’ll pick up someone nice like yourself and help them out,”
“That’s real nice of you,” Anna smiled in the rear view mirror.
“Oh really it’s nothing. It’s just what the scripture teaches,” and he smiled happily.
She had never met anyone so innocent and carefree before and figured he’d never had a bad experience in his life.
“So do you travel for work?” she asked.
“Uhuh… I’m a good old fashioned Bible salesman,”
“You’re kidding? I didn’t know those actually existed,”
“Well,” Gerald shrugged. “Here I am,” and he smiled that goofy grin again.
He was so kind and friendly that Anna couldn’t help but be suspicious. She’d seen enough horror movies in her lifetime to know how scenes like this ended. She looked out to the desolate landscape and realized the predicament of their situation. The sheer wild terrain all around them and the sense of isolation, it terrified her.
“You look like you’re contemplating something there?” Gerald talked to her through the mirror.
“Just that… Don’t you get lonely and frightened out here on the open road?”
“Frightened? No!” he laughed. “This is freedom. This is the true spirit of America,”
And Anna churned over his words in her mind.
“Have you always travelled alone?”
??
?Oh no. No. I had a wife once. She used to come with me on all my trips. But we were just married two years when the cancer took hold of her. She died before I could make it home to say goodbye,” the severity of his words however were not impacted on his face.
He was still smiling at Anna in the mirror as she turned towards Carl. Seeing him beside her warmed her heart.
“May I ask if you’ve been married long?” Gerald asked so innocently that it made Anna blush.
“Er… not that long at all,” she didn’t care to elaborate.
“Well ain’t that nice. You should appreciate every moment you have together. You never know when you’ll have to say goodbye,” and he looked to the sky as if he could see to heaven. “But everyone waits up there for us when we have to go,”
“Do you think everyone is reunited with their loved ones?” she quickly felt terrified at the thought of being with her father for all eternity.
“Yeah I really do. The way I see it is that we are all in debt to God and then person by person he makes us repay that debt. That’s when it’s our time to go back,”
Anna didn’t know what to say to that and she just looked out the window as the trees passed by.
“I don’t know if I like the sound of that,” she mumbled under her breath.
CHAPTER 15
Jerry was trying his hardest to run up the stairs in the Don’s home but in true Angelo style it was the longest and most exhausting staircase Jerry had ever seen. He was sweating as he got to the top and he had to stand for a moment to catch his breath. In the distance he could hear the music of Frank Sinatra playing. He followed the sound until he reached the door of Don Angelo’s office. Knocking gently he waited for an answer. Silence. He knocked again.
“Yuh, who is it?”
“It’s Jerry, boss,”
“Sure come in,”
As he opened the door he was instantly startled to see a young girl about twenty years old emerge from under the Don’s desk. As she stood up he could see she was only in her bra and panties.
“Don’t mind her she was just leavin’” Angelo zipped up his pants and leaned over his desk to pick up a cigarette.
The girl scurried out the office and down the hallway, with a wad of cash clutched in her hand.
“Oh, I didn’t know you’d finally met someone. How romantic,” the sarcasm was dripping from Jerry’s voice.
“Don’t talk shit, Jerry, I’m not in the mood,”
“Havin’ pecker troubles again boss? If you don’t mind me askin’,”