by S G Read
‘You could get off you know!’ The woman opposite her complained.
‘You’d like to see him shoot me wouldn’t you? You old cow!’ Cally replied angrily.
‘There’s no need to be rude!’ The woman replied.
‘No need to be rude! NO NEED TO BE RUDE!' The second time she said it she raised her voice. 'You want me to give myself up to their mercy, which, don’t exist by the way and you think I shouldn’t be rude! Go spit! And if they do start shooting I’m gonna to sit next to you! In fact I might even sit on your lap.’
The woman got off the bus at the next stop, glaring at Cally as she did so. Cally did not know if it was her stop or if she was just too scared to stay on the bus and hurried down the steps. Once again Marco jumped out the car and tried to get to the bus before the door closed but he was too late. The driver drove on oblivious to what was going on around him; he had a schedule to keep and that was all he had on his mind.
When lieutenant Stone heard about the incident at the bus office, where a man was tapping on the door with a pistol butt and it involved a girl he ordered all available men to meet him there. With no time to lose he raced to the bus station.
‘What went on?’ He asked the clerk.
‘A girl nearly missed her bus and someone appeared to be after her.’ The clerk replied. ‘The man after her had a gun but Alex didn’t even notice.’
‘Who’s Alex?’
‘The bus driver, he’s a trifle deaf but he runs on time!’ The clerk replied as though running on time was more important than anything else that was going on.
‘Where does the bus go?’ Stone asked.
‘I already told the other police officer.’
‘Which one?’
‘The one in the Buick.’
‘Well tell me as well.’
‘It goes to-’
‘Wilmington I bet.’ Stone declared.
‘Then why ask me about it if, you already know?’ The clerk complained.
‘I want the bus timetable and the route, and what's more I want it ten minutes ago!’
The clerk slid the information through the slot under his window and carried on with his work. By now a queue had built up behind the lieutenant but he did not care, a young girl’s life was at stake and there was a chance to get at Clo if he saved her. He walked out to find three police cars waiting for him.
‘Is this it?’ He asked when he saw the three cars.
A forth car drove up with Captain Wells driving it.
‘Can anyone join in?’ The captain asked.
‘The more, the merrier sir.’ Stone replied.
‘What is occurring?’
‘The girl is on this bus,’ he held up the route and timetable, ‘and Clo’s lot are after the bus.’
‘Let’s go then. Knowing them they’ll stop the bus and drag her off.’ Wells replied.
‘The bus driver is a trifle deaf.’ Stone added.
‘Then what’s he doing driving a bus for God’s sake!’
‘Keeping to the timetable, sir.’ Stone Answered, with a smile.
‘Save me from bus operatives and their timetables,’ Wells groaned and walked back to his car, ‘do you need transport?’ he asked before he got in.
When captain Wells asked if you needed transport, he meant, I want you with me. Stone followed him to his car.
Cally sat in her seat, now that the seat opposite her was empty a plan formed in her young mind. She unwrapped the parcel and dropped the trousers on the floor. After a discreet look around she started to pull them on under the dress. When they were on and fastened she looked around again, no one was looking. She struggled to undo the dress behind her and started to wriggle it down her body.
The bus stopped and someone behind her stood up to get off and she had to pull the dress up again. She watched as the passenger got off, this time no one tried to reach the doors they both stayed in the car, biding their time. A passenger came on board and Cally thought he was going to sit in the seat opposite her but he walked to the back of the bus. This time the bus did not drive away straight away, Cally saw the man in the car get out and walk toward the bus. As though it was done just to infuriate Marco, the doors closed and the bus pulled away before he could get there again. He kicked the bus in frustration as it moved off and Cally knew that next time a passenger got on, she would have visitors.
She slid the dress down and pulled on the jersey, wrapped the dress in the towel and pulled the cap on to her head. The next stop looked busy enough; there were a lot of passengers to get off and on. Cally waited until the passengers were getting off and mingled with them trying to look like she was with one of the passengers getting off.
Suddenly she thought about the towel she had the other clothes wrapped in, it would give her away! She dropped it on the floor and left it there. As she got of the bus she saw Marco getting on but he didn’t give her a second glance. She walked as fast as she could, without running, although she really wanted to run. When she reached the nearest turning she turned down it. A little way down the street, she saw a lorry parked with the back open and as there seemed to be nowhere else to hide in a hurry. She jumped up into the lorry. She worked her way forward amongst the goods in there until she was out of sight, even if someone looked into the lorry.
Marco looked about the bus for her but the driver had a schedule to keep, he shut the doors and drove off. Marco drew his pistol, pointed it at the driver and told him to stop but the driver ignored him. Marco tapped him on the shoulder with the barrel of his pistol and the driver looked round. He put his hands up in the air.
‘Put your hands on the wheel pops and stop this thing.’ Marco ordered.
The driver kept his hands up.
‘Are you deaf?’ Marco asked.
‘Yes he is!’ Several of the passengers chorused.
The bus careered across the road and hit a car before ploughing into a building. Marco was thrown down into the well of the steps. The building was actually a hardware store but the bus managed to find his supply of bootleg whisky and smashed all the bottles as it ploughed through the wall.
In the side street Cally heard the lorry she was in start up but there was no way she wanted to get out, not yet anyway . She resigned herself to being taken to where ever the lorry was going.
CHAPTER 17
Marco pulled the lever to open the bus door and stumbled out cursing. He limped back across the road to the car.
‘Where is she?’ Arnold asked.
‘I don’t know! She wasn’t on there!’
‘She must be! I’ll go and find her.’
Arnold walked to the bus and the first thing he saw was the green dress poking out of the dirty towel. He looked through the passengers for her, then walked back to the car.
‘Well?’ Marco asked, expecting a negative reply.
‘I found her duds! She must be running about as naked as a jaybird.’ Arnold answered.
‘I think I might have noticed that!’ Marco replied. ‘Let’s get out of here. Park up somewhere and we’ll think our way through it.’
When they found somewhere to park Marco held out the fingers on his left hand.
‘One we know she was on the bus.’ He assigned that to the little finger.
‘You do, Marco but I never saw her.’
‘You gave her five bucks, you meat head!’
‘No I meant I didn’t see her get on the bus and don’t call me meat head!’
‘Why not? You are one! Two,’ He returned to counting on his fingers, ‘she isn’t on the bus now!’ This he assigned to the next finger.
‘I can agree there but her duds are.’
‘Three. No naked girls got of the bus.’ This he assigned to his index finger.
‘You missed a finger.’ Arnold pointed out.
Marco held his third finger. ‘Satisfied?’
‘Yes, and no they didn’t.’
‘Four did any kids get off?’ This he assigned to his index finger.
‘Y
es but only boys.’
‘If she isn’t wearing girl’s clothes and got of the bus, then she must be wearing boy’s clothes.’
It took a while for Arnold to speak.
‘I reckon you must be right, so where did he or she go?’
‘I don’t know I was looking for a girl. Did any of them boys that got of walk off, on their own?’
‘One did, walked round the corner opposite from where we were parked but we can’t go back there the cops will be there by now.’
‘Find me a street map and we’ll go in the other end of it to see if we can spot her.’
Captain Wells drove along the route, he was being directed by the lieutenant, until they found the bus parked in the front of a hardware store.
‘Too late!’ Wells groaned.
They ran to the bus.
‘Did they take the little girl?’ Stone asked the driver.
The driver didn’t react.
‘Did they take the little girl?’ He repeated.
Again there was no reaction. Captain Wells tapped the driver on the shoulder and pointed to the hearing aid.
‘Turn it on!’ He mouthed.
‘I can’t the battery’s dead.’ The driver answered loudly.
‘Did they take the little girl, the one in the green dress?’ Wells mouthed again.
‘No! I don’t know where she went!’ The driver answered.
Stone held up the green dress.
‘I think she’s a boy again!’
‘Looks that way or she is in her drawers.’ Captain Wells added.
By now all four cars were there.
‘Search the area for a boy, in fact, detain any boy you find. We’ll look after the wounded.’ Wells ordered. ‘Storekeeper phone for an ambulance, no make that two and why the hell does this place stink of whisky?’
Bertram Dill sat in the warehouse. By now he had chipped all the concrete from round his legs and he was tired, it had been hard work. His hands hurt, his arms ached, his legs hurt and he was badly in need of a bath.
The large door to the warehouse swung open and two men came in.
‘What’s been going on here then?’ The first man asked in a very unfriendly way. He was a big man with a shock of red hair and at least two days growth of stubble on his face.
The man with him was black and had a scarred face.
‘Looks like, we got a big mouse,’ the black man replied, ‘and it’s been eating all our food.’
‘More like a rat!’ The red haired one argued.
Bertram had suffered enough, without being badmouthed by the likes of these louts. This was the sort of person who looked in through the restaurant window when he was eating. He pulled out Harry’s pistol.
Which one of you uncouth gents want to suck the barrel of my pistol?’ He asked politely.
The men’s faces and attitudes changed immediately. They started backing away.
‘The next one to move, won’t move again!’ He warned.
The fact that he was more likely to miss, than to hit his target did not worry him; he knew the power of fear as he had been in the grip of it for some time but not any longer. They stopped backing away.
‘We didn’t mean anything, honest! We were just horsing about!’ The red haired man spluttered.
‘I’m sure that if the circumstances were different, I would have said exactly the same.’ Bertram declared magnanimously. ‘Now I need a lift to my hotel, which one of you gents will oblige. There’s fifty dollars in it for you to compensate you for your trouble and any food I’ve eaten.’
‘It’s my truck!’ The red haired man replied.
‘Good let’s go. You can come for the ride.’ He pointed the pistol at the black man.
‘Sure thing, sir.’ The black man replied.
Things were different now Bertram was back in the driving seat and that is where he preferred to be. They drove to his hotel, he stayed in a hotel mainly so that he did not have to worry about cleaning and washing, it also had a good restaurant downstairs. If he fancied a change, there were more good restaurants in the same street. Bertram walked to the desk and collected his key with the red haired man following. The clerk looked at Bertram's clothing as he gave him his key but did not say anything. Bertram took the elevator up to his floor with the red haired man still following. He walked along to his room, opened the door and walked over to his desk. The man with the red hair waited in the hallway, as Bertram had not invited him inside. Bertram returned with a fifty-dollar note and held it out.
'Here is your fifty dollars, this covers the food and the lift back, sign this receipt please.' Bertram said pleasantly.
The accountant in Bertram came to the fore; he could reclaim the fifty dollars with a receipt. The red haired man scrawled his name on the paper.
Marco and Arnold parked at the end of the street that Arnold had seen Cally go into but not the end she actually walked in, the other end. His bad luck continued. One of the passengers from the bus spotted them and now that the police were there, the passenger found some courage.
‘That’s them.’ He shouted pointing to their car. ‘They are the ones that caused the crash!’
‘Get after them!’ Stone shouted and ran for the car.
Arnold threw the car into reverse, turned the car round then put his foot to the floor and the car roared away. Stone gave chase but Arnold was up the other end of the street and he had a good lead. The car in front gathered speed quickly then suddenly a Buick slewed across cutting them off. Arnold had to swerve wildly to miss the Buick, he lost control and the car almost turned over. Arnold fought the car and stopped it from overturning but ended in a ditch. Marco ran off across the field the ditch ran round and Stone started down after him. Before he made it too far the car exploded. By the time Stone had regained his senses Marco was gone. Stone looked up to see Pruitt standing on the road above him.
‘I thought it might be your Buick. Still disobeying orders and looking for Baptiste then,’ Stone asked, ‘trying to avenge your partner?’
‘No, sir, as I am suspended at the moment I thought I would just go out for a ride, sir, but I am glad I could be of help.’ Pruitt replied.
‘I hope they didn’t scratch your Buick!’
They watched the car below as it burned.
‘Shouldn’t we do something about that lieutenant?’ Pruitt asked after a few seconds.
‘Like what?’ Stone asked. ‘If you want to do something, be my guest and help yourself.’
Cally hid in the back of the lorry as it trundled along, she had no idea where it was going but she knew what it was carrying. It was full of fruit and vegetables and Cally was helping herself. The only sign that she was in there was a sporadic trail of apple cores, pear cores and empty pea pods on the road as she threw them out the back of the lorry. When it finally stopped, she hid and waited for some one to come to the back but no one came. After a while she plucked up the courage to look out. The lorry was parked at a diner. Where the diner was, she had no idea but at least the men who were after her, were nowhere to be seen. She was full of fruit and other things but needed the rest room. This time she remembered to go into the men’s rest room. The smell was unbelievable in there but she did what she needed to do, then walked out again. Now she had to decide what to do next, start walking or hitch a lift. She decided to walk but which way was Wilmington? The only way to find out was to ask. She waited until someone came out.
‘Do you know the way to Wilmington?’ She asked him in her best boy’s voice.
‘Sure do I, go within five miles of it today if you want a lift, or you can find another ride to take you all the way?’
Cally had had no thoughts of hitching a lift but this was an opportunity she was not going to turn down.
‘Thanks mister.’
She climbed into the cab of his lorry and heard the engine roar into life.
‘What are you doing out here all on your own?’ The lorry driver asked.
‘I fell asleep on the bu
s; my mum will have a go at me for not doing my chores when I get home!’
‘If I had more time I’d detour and drop you of nearer but I have an important load to deliver.’
‘Five miles won’t kill me.’ Cally conceded.
They drove for some time making conversation. His name was Ronald, he worked for a man named Shultz and this delivery was important to him. As soon as he delivered his load, Schultz would pay him and then he could go home to his wife and family. The lorry turned a corner and they could see a queue of cars in front of them. Ronald slowed the lorry then pulled off the road. He started to turn round and this created a lot of interest from the men at the road block who were causing the queue. Two of them ran to their car to come and investigate. Ronald turned the lorry round and sped off, he was on his way long before the other car reached where he had been but it would only be a matter of time before they caught him. The one car following the lorry was just in case he was a decoy, to let the others slip through but this was a last minute shipment and there was no decoy. Round the first corner he turned off the road he was on, onto an unmade road, it was a track and not well maintained. The lorry disappeared behind the trees and the car sped by but Ronald knew it would come back and look in where he was. He kept going with Cally holding on, to save being thrown about the cab.
‘Are you a bootlegger?’ She asked.
‘How did you guess?’
‘Intuition and I think some of them are broken.’
Ronald sniffed the air in the cab.
‘It's more likely, to be the one in the glove compartment.’
Cally pulled the door down to find a bottle with the cork jarred out. She held the bottle up the right way while she found the cork, then jammed it in the end of the bottle.
‘Thanks, they make me pay for that.’
The track did not get any better and Ronald had to drive slower and slower.
