“I’m still jamming signals,” Cherub-rider said. “The only way this person can get to you is to come after you in person, and that would be dangerous and stupid for her. Remember you still have a blowing-something-up-for-free card with me, Evangel. But Keith’s right. You’ll be in danger with that car. The enemy knows it too well.”
“Let me call somebody,” Dan said. He was on his phone several minutes. “Okay, we’ll cover you while you drive up to the truck stop about twenty miles from here. Somebody with a big rig and a box is going to pick up the Tesla and carry it wherever you say. You can pay him like – ten dollars a mile, right? ‘Cause that’s what I promised him. I sent funds transfer info and stuff to Keith’s phone.”
“Gladly.” Talia stretched up and kissed first Dan, then David. “Thank you both. My heart is big enough to hold you both in it, and always will be.”
Both men turned red to the ears. “The honor is to serve, Evangel. And I’m going to turn this stray lamb into a Messianic for you, okay?” David punched Dan in the shoulder, almost knocking him to the ground.
“What’s a Messianic?” Dan asked. “Ow.”
“You’ll find out, black sheep.” David extended a hand to Keith. “You better know how God-blessed you are, brother of my brother Dan.”
“Every day I get more chances to see it,” Keith grinned. “Thanks for the storm. Thanks a lot.”
“We will make it rain and thunder on the area and make sure nobody bothers you until the truck is on its way with you,” David promised. “My tank is topped off.”
Keith finally stopped shaking by the time they were back in the Tesla and moving again. “This day has been – wow. I still don’t understand how Jenny Kaine could plant a bomb at the school if there was no one driving the van.”
“She could have planted the bomb anytime after school let out, and used a signal to trigger it as soon as they learned we were going back to the Restoration Project.”
“I didn’t think about that. Unbelievable.”
Talia sped toward town. “Do you have any way of contacting the man you met at ProTechCon?” Talia asked. “We need to alert somebody who might have contact with the Guardians that the danger stateside seems to be escalating. Also that the man in Turkey was right about Jenny Kaine being responsible, or at least part of who’s responsible. I can’t imagine they are only trying to wipe out our work.”
“I know somebody closer than that.” Keith checked a phone directory and dialed a number. “Hey, Doctor Ewing! This is Keith Bradley. Uh … you knew it was me? … You knew I’d be calling. Yeah, okay, getting to the point, yes, ma’am.” Keith tried to crowd the day’s events into a sentence or two, and then pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it.
“What happened?" Talia asked.
“Same old Doctor Ewing,” Keith said with a sigh. “None of that polite conversation stuff. She just heard me out and hung up on me.”
They both laughed.
Talia pursed her lips as they turned into the truckstop. “Everything looks quiet and normal.”
“We need the list of emails and phone numbers for the kids in the Bible as Literature class from my computer at home,” Keith fretted. “They’ll wonder what happened with us disappearing.”
“I have them stored in my tablet,” Talia reassured him. “For now, don’t contact anybody. That was good, that you thought of Doctor Ewing, though.” She pulled her gun out of the glove box and shoved it into her waistband under her long, thick cotton sweater.
“How long have you been carrying that?” Keith couldn’t stop himself from asking.
“Since we met those goons impersonating Magnum at the airport. Yes, I know how to use it.”
“I never doubted that for a minute, Warrior Angel.” Keith kissed her on the forehead.
Keith and Talia stood near the fuel island at the Running W truck stop. Talia wore her headset and Keith saw her perk up as a bronze-colored Freightliner with dark blue accents pulled up.
“Hi, Straightedge,” she said into the mic. “This is Evangel. Beautiful ride. I’ve arranged for you to load back behind the shop. Please drive around.”
The driver and the passenger, a middle-aged couple carrying some gray hair and extra pounds, waved and pulled through. Keith and Talia went quickly to the shop, where ramps were set up and the Tesla waited inside a bay.
“Sweet ride yourself,” the truck driver exclaimed as he swung down and walked around to the back of the truck to open the trailer doors. He settled a Colts cap over his graying hair. “I’m Mike, and that’s my wife, Mary. Most beautiful of women, we’ll need straps.”
The woman tightened the string of her black felt cowboy hat, climbed down, and opened a side compartment in the semi, gathering an armload of ratchet straps. Keith and Talia hurried to help and they brought the straps to the back.
“We have a big favor to ask.” Talia chewed her lip.
“How big?” Mike frowned. “Drive the car up, and we’ll talk while we tie down.
“You emptied out all the fuel, right?” Mary asked Keith as Talia got behind the wheel.
“It’s all-electric, wifey. No fuel,” Mike grinned. “Just gotta disconnect the battery terminals.”
Mary flushed. “Oh.”
“I’ll do that,” Talia said as she got the car up into the trailer and Mike started hooking straps to the E-tracks against the trailer walls and winding them around the axels. Talia joined Keith and Mary as they helped secure the car.
“What’s the big favor?” Mary asked.
“Can we ride along?” Talia asked.
“Why would you need to do that?” Mike’s voice echoed inside the trailer. “I met Danny when he tried and failed to become a truck driver, and thought he’d get himself out of trouble by getting into the Army. Are you more of his trouble, and you need a place to hide the car?”
“Dan isn’t in trouble. We are. Yes, to your question about hiding the car,” Talia answered without hesitation.
“Um … I think that was a joke,” Mary frowned. “You were joking, right, dearest hubby?”
“But I’m not,” Talia said. “I want to be honest with you. People are looking for this car, and for us. We were chased by a black Sprinter back in the town where we live. It wrecked, but there was no one in it.”
Mike paused. “What do you mean there was no one in it?”
“It was remote-controlled,” Keith answered. “I was inside checking it out when it took off on me. Talia chased me in the Tesla and Dan and another friend of his helped stop it. There’s this reporter, Jenny Kaine, who was controlling the van and wanted to make it take me to her. She may be some kind of terrorist. So we think somebody will find us again soon. We need your help to put some distance between us and those people.”
“You can’t be making this up,” Mike said slowly. “A terrorist reporter?”
“Are you in trouble with the law?” Mary asked.
“The government, maybe, we think.” Talia twisted her hands and bit her lip.
“She’s cute when she does that,” Mike said, and climbed back into the trailer to double-check the straps.
“What did you do that makes you think the government is after you?” Mary asked. “Fail to pay taxes on the car? I’m guessing that would be a lot of taxes.”
“This reporter might be connected to a government agency that seems to be trying to make trouble at our school,” Talia explained.
“We are trying to keep the Word of God from being destroyed – Wiped out of existence.” Keith answered. After listening to Jenny Kane, he didn’t feel like he was exaggerating.
“Uh …” Mary paused to consider that. “So this is about that big scare when they said right-wing religious nuts were trying to irradiate the government with Bibles?”
“Sort of.” Keith hitched a shoulder.
“You’re cute when you do that,” Mary smiled. “Conspiracy theorist websites said there was something about harassment of people with Bibles around the same t
ime?”
“My grandmother got threatening phone calls,” Keith said. “Somebody set off a bomb at our school today, and … maybe now everything we were helping students work on to preserve the Scriptures is dust. I don’t know.”
“God have mercy on us,” Mary said. “Man of mine, we need to help these people,” she called up to her husband.
“I’m still strapping, not unstrapping, as you can see,” Mike grunted. “Show them the accommodations, though, and see if they change their minds.”
Mary led them around and opened the passenger door. “Step inside and see what you think,” she said.
Talia went first. Keith handed her duffel bag up to her, then followed.
“Oh,” she said. “It’s bigger than I thought.”
Keith looked back at the large lower bunk and the cabinets narrowing the opening behind the seats. “You can carry us with you? You won’t get in trouble?”
Mary and Mike climbed into the cab, sat in the front seats, and turned to face them as they sat on the bunk. “There’s only one weigh station between here and your destination,” Mike said. “Normally we can by-pass them when we’re so light. Even if we do get pulled in we roll over the scales and go on our way. I’ve never had my truck searched except at military bases. Either of you carrying weapons?”
“I have this.” Talia showed them her gun.
“With your permission, I’ll put that in my lock box,” Mike said. He showed them a compartment behind his seat, where two more guns rested. “They’d have to be using very sensitive equipment to detect these.”
“I thought it was illegal for truck drivers to carry guns,” Keith said as Mike closed the box.
“People put up signs saying no weapons on the property, and different cities have gun control laws.” Mary shrugged. “The United States Constitution gives us the right to bear arms as part of America’s militia, whether certain Americans want us to or not. Next I suppose you’re going to ask if it’s legal for us to carry passengers in the truck. Reach back against the bunk wall and you’ll find seatbelts. Keep ’em buckled. Anybody asks, we have a moving crew along for this run. You are moving the car, right?”
Chapter Forty-six – Weighing Options
“Oh, well, looks like we don’t get a pass on the weigh station. They must be bored, or got a quota,” Mary sighed as a sharp, rapid series of beeps burst from a device fixed to the front windshield. She closed her laptop. “Heads up, kids. Got a red light. DOT officer climbing up on the step.”
“Good afternoon, sir.” Talia and Keith heard the voice of the DOT officer address Mike as he gave him the paperwork Talia had printed at the truckstop while they waited. “Transport of a personal vehicle? No household goods?”
“Nope. Just the car,” Mike replied.
“Anyone else in the cab with you?”
“The crew that came with the car.” Mike answered, not looking back. “And my beautiful bride, of course.”
Mary leaned forward and waved. “Oh, I didn’t see you, ma’am,” the officer said. “The crew–?” The DOT man let the question trail off.
“Yeah. I don’t load or unload. So they drove it on, and they’ll drive it off.”
“Oh. I see. Okay, thank you. Have a safe day.”
Mike set the truck in motion again. “Wonder what that was all about?” he grumbled.
“He was probably looking for these kids,” Mary answered.
“But he didn’t even make them come up to have a look at them,” Mike argued. “Surely they have descriptions or photos out, if they’re wanted. This whole thing is so weird.”
About ten miles down the road, as darkness began to fall, the truck suddenly seemed to lose power and Mike could barely keep it running. “No way.” He turned down a side road to a rest area where the parking area was hidden from the highway by thick pine trees.
“Sign says the rest area’s closed,” Mary muttered.
“We have no choice.” Mike dodged around the orange cones and coasted to a stop. “Where’s the flashlight? I can’t imagine what this is. We just had a PM done …”
Mary dug the flashlight out from a compartment under the dash, tossing items onto the floor.
“What’s a PM?” Keith asked.
“Periodic Maintenance,” Mary replied as she picked things up and shoved them back under the dash. “The mechanics are supposed to check things and make sure everything’s okay. The truck musta heard we got money.” She patted the dashboard. “Greedy old thing.”
Mike swung down from the cab and opened the hood. “Try and start it,” he called up to Mary. She turned the key but it didn’t engage. “Call for roadside assistance.”
Sirens started to wail in the distance. Mary pulled out a phone. “No signal,” she reported.
Talia and Keith both got out their phones. “This is not possible,” Talia exclaimed. She pulled out her headset, but shook her head. “There’s a signal. But it’s being jammed.”
Mike climbed back into the cab. “Did you hear that bunch of sirens? Maybe they’re coming for us. The DOT officer probably didn’t want to alert us, so he called it in down the road. Well, kids, we tried.”
“Shut off all the lights,” Mary suggested. Mike complied. They sat frozen as the sirens got louder, and then screamed by and faded into the distance.
“They didn’t see us,” Keith exclaimed. “I guess they didn’t expect us to be pulled off in the rest area, since it’s got the closed sign up.”
“They might be still looking for the truck on the shoulder somewhere farther down the road,” Talia said.
“When they don’t find it, they’ll turn around.” Mike scowled. “I wish I knew what was wrong. It seems to be electrical, and it could be something as simple as a loose wire, but I didn’t see anything.”
“I would have sworn this phone was charged up, but it’s almost dead,” Mary sighed. She pushed an overhead switch. “Hey, the dome lights don’t work either.”
“Wait. Maybe I know what’s wrong with the truck,” Talia exclaimed.
“Come on,” Keith groaned. “Is there anything you don’t know how to do? You can fix a semi?”
“Look at the charge on my tablet, Keith. It’s good for a month, and I know I charged it this week.” Keith saw that her fuel gauge showed half-drained. “I think something at the weigh station or shortly afterwards caused a severe power drain,” she continued. “Our devices have extra shielding, but it was still powerful enough to pull the charge down all this way. Mike, I think you may just need a jump start.”
“Where am I going to get one? We can’t even call a repair truck.”
“Use the Tesla’s batteries.”
“Wait … I could see it if it was a little drained, or too cold, but it wouldn’t even turn over. I don’t want to ruin your car.”
“My car has a lot of batteries,” Talia insisted. “You didn’t notice I had to unhook twelve sets of terminals while you were strapping? Amu – I mean my uncle – says it could emergency-power a house for a week.”
“Well, I did think it kinda took you a long time to unhook ’em. Twelve batteries?” Mike shrugged. “If you say it’s okay.”
Half an hour later, the truck roared to life. “Let it keep charging awhile still,” Talia told Keith when he started to disconnect the heavy, oversized truck cables from behind the cab under the opened catwalk. “Mike, is there another route we can take to the place I told you we need to go? We still have to avoid the police. They’ll be looking for your truck on this highway.”
“I think I know one. Have to get the paper map out, since we still seem to be getting jammed for internet signal.” Mike dodged the battery cables and walked around to his wife’s side as she opened the road atlas.
“Hate this thing. Why can’t we splurge and get the large print edition?” Mary grumbled as they pored over the map by flashlight.
“Oh, I’m such an idiot!” Talia balled up her fists and hit herself on the head with them.
Keith grabb
ed her hands and kissed them. “Stop that. I’m fond of that head.”
Talia blushed in the light of the flashlight Keith juggled. “We should have been recharging the equipment with the Tesla’s batteries. And I think we can also boost our signal to counteract whatever’s jamming us, at least on my headset, which is kind of super-shielded. I need to get something from my duffel.”
Mike and Mary pored over the map while Talia connected a device to a free battery terminal in the Tesla. She plugged a multi power bar into the device and lined up all the drained devices.
“Okay, I think I got us a route,” Mike called out finally.
“God blessed us so much, letting us meet you,” Talia exclaimed, impulsively hugging Mary as they disconnected the jumper cables and started winding them up.
“You’re sweet kids,” Mary said uncomfortably. “And we love the Scriptures too. Whatever we can do to help, we want to do.”
They reloaded the Tesla and strapped it down. “Wow, that was some fast charger,” Keith commented when Talia handed back the phones.
“I was able to get a burst of signal, and I got a map up on my tablet.” Talia showed Mike the routing. “This road is not far from here.”
“That one’s not truck legal.” Mike shook his head and pointed to the paper map. “This is the one we have to take.”
“Oh, I didn’t think about truck legal,” Talia admitted.
“Most people don’t. They say, ‘Come visit us’, but they don’t even know where the closest truck stop is,” Mary said. “They don’t get how we live our lives in this 70-plus feet of can’t-go-most-of-the-places that everyone else takes for granted.”
“I am never going to take truck drivers for granted again,” Keith breathed as they settled back on the bunk.
“And I promise there is plenty of room at the campground for your truck to make it in and out,” Talia said.
“Yeah, I checked out the satellite images when you sent us the load information,” Mike said. “Looks more like a military base than a campground.”
The Great Thirst Boxed Set Page 28
