Crimson Highway

by David Wickenhauser

  After a couple of hours of this, he told himself to give it up, and absently, almost like an automaton, threw something into the microwave to eat. He decided against moving on to the drop yard, thinking that he wanted to be here when … if … Jenny decided to come back.

  With his thoughts only of Jenny, and the torments that she must be going through right now, wherever she was, Hugh climbed into his bunk for the night.

  He thought back to their stormy relationship, and how much trouble she had brought him. But, he also remembered the good times with her, and realized how much he actually cared for her.

  His last thoughts before dropping off into a fitful sleep were about Jenny, about how quiet and lonely his little “home” was, and about how much he missed her.

  I’m never going to see her again, and it's my fault, was his last conscious, painful thought.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The morning dawned bright and early. Hugh had forgotten to draw his curtains for the night, so the first breaking rays of the sun had gotten him up earlier than usual.

  His first thought was to quietly slip out of the truck to go into the truck plaza to get a surprise breakfast for Jenny and him. Then the reality of what had happened the previous night hit him, and he fell back to his bunk.

  OK, I’ve got to get myself together. I’ve got a job to do that I’ve been doing alone for the past fifteen years, so I need to just get on with it. She’s not coming back, so I need to get on with my life.

  That little speech to himself finished, Hugh went through the motions of preparing himself and his truck for one more day of driving.

  As usual, once he had cranked the engine, had heard that satisfying diesel rumble, had slipped it into gear, and had gotten onto the highway, he had begun to feel much better.

  There’s just nothing like the therapy of sitting behind the wheel of a Freightliner truck to make a guy feel better, he told himself—almost half believing it this time.

  Hugh planned his day in his mind. His delivery was due in Tracy about 2 pm, but he was often able to drop early at this particular customer. He figured that since he had gotten such an early start today, he’d definitely be getting there early. It was just a straight shot up I-5 to Tracy once he had made the cutoff from Highway 99 onto Highway 46 through Wasco and on to the 5.

  Where he went from there would depend on his dispatcher, so he didn’t know what would be happening after Tracy.

  The delivery at Tracy was uneventful.

  After sending his delivery macros, he pulled off to the side of the road just outside the customer’s gate in order to wait for the next load assignment to come over his Qualcomm. It didn’t take long in coming, but when it did it was a disappointment to Hugh.

  He’d have to cool his jets somewhere for the rest of the day and night before he could pick up his load the next morning at a major pharmaceutical distribution center right there in Tracy.

  Hugh hated having to waste any time not driving, since truckers know that they aren’t making money if the “wheels ain’t rollin’.”

  He noted that this was going to be an interesting load, however. The load assignment instructions said that he’d be accompanied by an escort—a car with two guys in it that would tail him the whole way to the delivery in Reno.

  Furthermore, Hugh was prohibited from stopping anywhere during the four-and-a-half-hour drive to Reno—not to use a restroom, not for anything. Straight there, Tracy to Reno, with his escort in tow.

  Hugh knew that the escort would be there not only to prevent Hugh’s load from being hijacked, but also to keep Hugh honest. He knew that more than one driver had been tempted by a high-value load, and a whole truck load of pharmaceuticals could be tempting, indeed. It was probably worth millions. But, Hugh was not offended.

  That’s fine with me, he thought, after what I’ve been through, and now that I’ve got this extremely high-value load, I’m more than happy to have some extra eyes and ears and, hopefully, muscle along in case anybody tries something.

  Hugh drove the short distance to the Tracy truck plaza, and settled in for a quiet, and lonely, afternoon, evening and night.

  Hugh arrived at the pharmaceutical distribution center early the next morning at the appointed time. He backed his truck into his assigned dock door, and waited while getting loaded, all the while noting the uniformed, and armed, security guards that were keeping a close watch on the loading process.

  They finished loading his trailer, and Hugh went into the office to get his paperwork. Hugh listened patiently while the shipping clerk read to him from a long list of do’s and don’ts. This wasn’t Hugh’s first high-value load, so he’d heard it all before.

  He then met the guys who would be his escort. They wore distinctive bright blue jackets, which they told Hugh he should be able to spot easily in his rear-view mirrors. Likewise, their car was distinctively blue. They explained to Hugh that he should be checking his rear-view mirrors, and that he should be able to see their car at all times.

  They also traded cell-phone numbers, and arranged regular call check times. Their names were Manny and Joe. This was routine to them, and they assured Hugh that nothing usually happens—hijackings were actually quite rare.

  They didn’t quite understand Hugh’s choking laughter at that, but they figured truck drivers were kind of crazy anyway.

  Hugh did a quick pre-trip, noting the extra-heavy-duty titanium steel locks on the trailer doors that would take an oversized, specially hardened bolt cutter to break open—if even that could do it.

  He cranked up the engine, waved to his escorts, and then pulled out of the DC. This run to Reno from Tracy was so routine he could do it in his sleep, and he figured on a very easy, uneventful drive.

  Jenny’s uncle and his buddies would have no idea where he was. And, Hugh was pretty sure her uncle was out of the picture anyway.

  Jenny, where are you? Hugh caught himself wondering.

  The run up 5 to Sacramento was accomplished with nothing unusual happening, as was the transition to I-80, and the beginning of the climb up past Auburn that would eventually take them over Donner Summit and then down to Reno.

  As they got close to the little mountain town of Colfax, Hugh got a call on his cell phone.

  “Hey, Hugh. Manny here. Listen, I’m having a problem with my breakfast burrito. I’ve got to pull over at the rest area that’s just ahead.”

  “Do you need me to pull in too?” Hugh asked.

  “No, listen, you just keep rolling. I’ll just be a minute, and you’ll be hitting that upgrade that’s shortly after the rest area.”

  “I know that one. It always slows me down quite a bit,” Hugh said.

  “Yeah, just keep rollin’, and we’ll easily catch up to you. It’ll just be a couple of minutes. Just watch for us. OK?”

  “Got it,” Hugh said, uncomfortable with the departure from proscribed procedure. Manny and Joe were breaking all kinds of rules by losing sight of their charge. But, Hugh admitted that nothing could happen in the short time that they’d be apart, and that they’d catch up to him fairly quickly.

  And, if a guy’s got to go, he’s got to go. Hugh’s been there. He understood.

  Manny was right. Just a very few minutes after passing the rest area and seeing in his rear views the escort car pull off the highway, Hugh spotted the distinctively blue car drive up in the hammer lane. He could see the two blue-jacketed figures through their windshield. The driver stuck his arm out his window, and waved a hello to Hugh, then tucked the car in behind Hugh’s truck.

  Hugh flashed his interrupts at the men in the escort car, satisfied that they were back into their routine and following proper procedure again.

  The truck and its escort car trudged up the steep grades, and finally made the Donner Summit. Hugh loved this part of the ride … in the summer. Winters on Donner could be quite treacherous, however, with chaining always a possibility. Hugh has had to chain more times than he could count, but he hated having to do
it. However, a spinout on ice with an eighty-thousand-pound, seventy-five-foot-long truck and semi-trailer rig was no picnic either.

  They picked up speed, and headed down the grade that would take them to the Nevada border, and on to Reno.

  Right after crossing the Nevada border Hugh’s phone chirped again, which reminded Hugh that they hadn’t made their usual periodic call checks. But, he figured everything had been going well so far, so no harm done.

  “Yeah?” Hugh answered, seeing the caller ID for Manny’s phone.

  “Pull over at the next wide spot on the shoulder,” Manny told Hugh. The cell phone reception wasn’t good on this side of the mountain, so Hugh could barely make out what he was saying.

  “What?” Hugh asked.

  “Pull over, and then meet us outside the truck. We need to check something,” he said.

  “OK,” Hugh replied.

  A few more miles down the road, Hugh spotted one of the turnouts that were provided for trucks. He signaled to let the escort car know he was turning in, and pulled over into the parking space. It was a small turnout, with space for only about four trucks, and they were the only truck there. The escort car pulled in behind Hugh’s truck.

  He turned off the engine, set the parking brake, and stepped out of the truck to find out what Manny and Joe needed to check. As he did so, he barely registered in the back of his mind that another car had pulled into the turnout as well, and had parked in front of Hugh’s truck. Hugh’s attention was fully on the escort car.

  That turned out to be a costly mistake.

  As Hugh began to walk the length of the fifty-three-foot trailer to meet Manny and Joe halfway, he became alarmed—because it was neither Manny nor Joe who were walking toward him from the escort car. These guys were wearing the blue jackets for sure, and it was the escort car that they were leaving, yet alarm bells began ringing loudly in Hugh’s ear.

  Before Hugh’s fight or flight reflex could kick in, he felt an intense pain at the back of his head, and then … nothing.

  His throbbing head and the jolting of a moving car brought Hugh back to consciousness. It was dark, and it took Hugh a few moments to place himself in the right time and place, and to remember what he was doing just before being knocked unconscious.

  His struggles to free himself were fruitless, as he discovered that his hands and feet were secured with strong cable ties. And he had a tight gag over his mouth. His cursory investigation told him that he must be on the floor in the back seat of a car, tied and gagged, with a heavy blanket thrown over on top of him.

  “He awakes,” Hugh heard a voice say, but heard no reply.

  Then Hugh heard, “I guess the big, tough Marine guy ain’t so tough after all. He folded pretty quickly when I tapped him on the back of his head with my baseball bat.” Then he added with a derisive, smirking expression, “Well, it might have been a little more than a tap.”

  Again, Hugh heard no reply from whomever the man was talking to.

  Then the man said something that sent chills down his spine.

  “Serves him right after what he did to us so many years ago, and lately too.”

  Jenny’s uncle? Can’t be. Impossible. Impossible! Hugh shouted in his mind, causing his throbbing head to pound even worse.

  Hugh heard an indistinct murmur in reply to the man’s comment. Then the man said, “What are we going to do with him? Let’s just say that Mr. Marine Kung-Fu guy won’t be doing any of that anymore. Or driving truck either, or anything, for that matter.”

  Hugh heard another murmur in reply, one that had a questioning rise in inflection to it. Hugh could tell nothing about the speaker because of his quiet voice over the road noise, the motor noise of the car, and through the pounding of his throbbing head.

  The man answered, “Well, you know, there is a lot of desert out here, and a lot of places where a body could be buried and never found … if you know what I mean.”

  Hugh struggled even harder to try to free himself, but there was just no escaping cable ties. Hugh had used them as a Marine to bind prisoners, so he knew how effective they were.

  “Hey, our sleeping beauty must not be liking what he just heard,” the man said. “Oh well. Too bad for him,” he mocked.

  Hugh now knew that unless a miracle happened, he was going to end up shot to death, and cast into a shallow desert grave, perhaps searched for, but eventually forgotten. Not the kind of end I had figured for my life.

  Hugh then sensed the car slowing down, and heard, of all things, the sound of his own truck’s Jakes, as they pulled off the road onto a bumpy, badly paved side road.

  My truck! I’m still with my truck. Hugh was wildly jubilant at the thought.

  What Hugh thought were several more miles of travel on this bumpy road passed, and the car slowed, then stopped. Hugh listened intently as he heard car doors slamming, men talking, and tools rattling.

  Then cursing.

  Hugh had to laugh to himself. They were probably finding that titanium lock to be stronger than their little, hardware-store bolt cutters could handle.

  Hugh felt movement at the edge of the blanket that was covering him. Then he felt a corner of the blanket lift, and something slip underneath the cable tie that was binding his hands together. And suddenly, his hands were free.

  He then felt a metallic object thrust into his palm, and he realized he had been handed a knife, his own knife … or was it a miracle.

  Thank you, Lord.

  He quickly cut the ties around his feet, and removed his gag. He knew he had only mere moments to work his escape from the car, and get away, but a plan was forming in his mind.

  He quietly eased the door open on the side away from where the men were working to try to cut the lock on the trailer doors. He dropped onto the ground, keeping the car between him and them, and reconnoitered the setup.

  He saw a chance. He could spot only three men, and they had all their attention focused on the rear of the trailer that they were trying to break into. If he could cross the space between the car and the trailer without being seen, he could slip alongside the trailer and into the, hopefully, unattended cab of his truck.

  It was a risky maneuver, but there was a chance that it could work … with luck. And, he’d already had one miracle today, so maybe another could happen.

  He gauged his move when all three had their heads turned away from him, and then darted silently out from behind the car, and sneaked over to the side of the trailer. He stood there for a moment, expecting a cry of alarm, but all he heard was cursing from the frustrated hijackers stymied by the titanium lock.

  Too bad for you guys, wait until you see this, Hugh mouthed silently.

  He crept alongside the trailer, ever closer to the cab of the truck. He hoped that they hadn’t posted a guard on the truck. But, he thought, why should they? We’re out here in the middle of the desert. They think I’m bound and gagged in the back seat of that car.

  He eased open the driver-side door of his truck and climbed up. So far so good. The key was still in the ignition; and why wouldn’t it be?

  He knew he was going to have to make his escape quickly and successfully, so he rehearsed what he was going to do in his mind before he turned the key in the ignition.

  OK. Time to go.

  He hit the starter, and immediately threw the truck into reverse. He popped the clutch, and rammed the trailer violently backward into the three guys who were still hovering over their lock project.

  Their surprise was total. Two of them were injured by the trailer slamming into them. But the other managed to slip out of the way.

  Hugh kept the truck in reverse until it had smashed into the car that he had been riding in. He wished that he could have kept going backward and completely disabled it, but he had to get out of there.

  He quickly jammed the gearshift into third gear, and started forward, aiming at the second car that was parked at an angle in front of the truck. This was the blue car that belonged to the escorts. He
wondered briefly what had happened to them.

  Hugh cringed at what it was going to do to his bumper, but he stayed on course, and smashed into the other car. He continued to push it until it went into a ditch and rolled over onto its top.

  Hugh swerved violently to avoid the ditch, and then set a course for the road they had come in on.

  Then two things happened at the same time.

  At Hugh’s left, the man who hadn’t been injured by the backward-moving trailer, had jumped onto the running board and was attempting to open Hugh’s driver-side door.

  And another, who he hadn’t seen before, was clinging to the passenger side door. This wasn’t a man. It was Jenny!

  First things first. Here we go again.

  Hugh slammed the door lock button to his door with his elbow, while at the same time rolling down his window. But, before he could throw a punch to knock the guy off his truck, the man managed to get his head and an arm inside the window, and was trying to pummel Hugh with his fists.

  Whoo, boy, this is really going to hurt you, he thought as he stabbed a finger at the window’s up button. The powerful window motor quickly raised the window. The man managed to pull his arm out but the window caught the hijacker right across the Adam’s apple … and then kept going up.

  A sickening sound of tearing flesh accompanied the rising window as it split open the man’s throat, sliced neatly through his windpipe, and then stopped just short of severing his spinal cord.

  “Shit!” Hugh exclaimed out loud, and quickly lowered the window before the man’s severed carotid artery could begin spraying blood all over his truck. As the window lowered, he hit the man’s forehead with the heel of his hand, which thrust him out and away from the truck.

  The man fell in a heap alongside the moving truck, never to rise again. His life’s blood stained the highway with its growing pool of crimson.