“It’s on your shirt…  Come on, Steve.  It’ll be worth your while.” 

The chopper swooped low around the diesel side of the truck stop, swinging around for another pass. 

“I’m in the red Kenworth.”

Colt watched the helicopter disappear for a moment behind the building, then smacked Callie on the butt and followed her out to the truck.  They climbed up into the cab, closing the door barely before the helicopter came back in view.  Steve climbed in the other side a moment later and fired up the big rig. 

Colt dug in his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash.  He peeled off five one-hundred-dollar bills and set them on the dash. 

“You guys still use CBs, Steve?”  He nodded.  “Can you ask if anyone saw the man and woman running at the back of the lot?”

Steve picked up the CB and did as requested.  Then sent a text from his phone real fast.  A moment later two other truckers confirmed the fleeing man and woman on the other side of the parking lot. 

“You’re a good man, Steve,” Colt said, peeling off a couple more bills. 

“Can I ask what you guys did?” Steve said.

“Ran across the goods on drug traffickers.  You don’t know me, but I promise that you are helping on the right side,” he told the trucker. 

Colt pulled is phone out and tapped the screen. 

…

“We are on the way.  We picked up a ride in an eighteen-wheeler out of a truck stop.  ATS near Dorrance.”

…

“My car is still there.  My buddy Steve, here, even helped divert them for a few minutes by making them think we were on foot going the other way.”

…

“Roger that.  And I don’t see any pursuit yet.”

“Who’s he talking to,” Steve asked Callie.

“The agency he works for.  He’s my bodyguard and we were going to a safe house,” she replied, figuring it was the easiest way to answer. 

Steve nodded, even though he doubted her story.  It sounded to contrived to him. 

***

Two and a half hours later, they were approaching Kanorado, Kansas, just before the state line.  Steve had gotten a lot more comfortable with Colt and Callie, and they were more comfortable with him.  Colt definitely had his new friend on the nice list and planned to do something to reward him. 

“Colt, I have you approaching the exit for County Road 3,” came the calm female voice over his phone and the earpiece. 

“Roger that, Control.  Is there a reception for us?”

“Affirmative.”

Steve took the hint since he could hear the conversation and put on his blinker to take the exit.  It was just after sunset, the sun no longer hitting them in the face as they pulled off the interstate onto the county road. 

“Right off the ramp, then right at County BB,” she said. 

A few minutes later the truck rolled to a stop outside of a barn, the yard littered with old farm equipment.  A pair of flashes lit them, then one more. 

“Steve, this is our stop.  Thanks, man, I appreciate it.  If you need me, just call.  I left a card on the seat,” Colt said, helping Callie climb down. 

As the big rig pulled away, Colt and Callie walked toward the barn.  One of the security guys waved them over and clasped hands with Colt as he and Callie stepped behind the bales the rest of the team was using for cover. 

“Miss Green, Colt, we’re your ride.  Our vehicle is right over there,” he said, pointing toward the barn.  A flat black Excursion rolled from the barn; it’s lights off.  “We’re about fifteen minutes from our LZ.”

“Hopefully, we are in the clear.  That pursuit was a surprise.”

They loaded up in the big truck and pulled out of the yard they were in, turning away from the highway, going north.  Tank, the leader of the escort team, let them know that they had flown into a crop duster strip a little north of their position. 

They settled back for the easy ride.  Two miles later a dump truck slammed into the front quarter of the vehicle as they passed a crossroad.  It had been running with its lights off, and even with minimal obstruction of the view, nobody had seen it until it was too late. 

“Colt, there’s traffic ahead,” Callie said nervously, her head swiveling between looking back for the cars that were chasing them and looking ahead at the road.  “Can we outrun them?”

“Not like this.  We can almost go faster than the chopper, but anything slowing us down means they’ll catch up.  And at this speed, even without traffic, we’ll be out of gas before they are out of sight.  Grab that little bag between the seats,” he directed her. 

She reached back and picked up a small pack that was between the front and back seats.  She unzipped it and pulled out the radio inside.  Colt told her to snap open the cover on the back and he slipped the earpiece in his ear.  She tapped the radio icon on his phone. 

“This is control.  What’s going on, Colt?” came the reply from a female voice a moment later through both the phone speaker and the earpiece. 

“We are on I-70 in central Kansas, past Salina, being chased by air and ground units,” he replied. 

“Is it local law enforcement?” 

“Negative,” Colt replied.  “A ground unit started by tapping me in the tail.”

“Confirmed,” the woman said.  “There is no radio traffic from Kansas State Police or local department in that area about a high-speed chase.  Can you evade?”

“Not for long,” Colt said as the car whizzed past several vehicles in the right lane.  “Fuel will only hold out for twenty minutes, tops.  That’s if we don’t get slowed by traffic.  I am faster, but not fast enough to get out of his sight.”

“Roger that, Colt.  Notifying Mustang and seeing if we have any assets in the area.”

Callie looked over at her boyfriend.  She watched him concentrate on the road.  Every bump and uneven spot put the car on edge.  He and his father had modified the car to be able to run fast, and it had been on the track, but in the end, it was never designed to go flat out for miles and miles.  One wrong move could kill them.

“I believe in you, Colt,” Callie said. 

“I’ll do my best to be worthy of your trust, Callie.  I love you,” he replied. 

“Two hours is the best I can do, Colt.  That is for an intercept team.  They will be in the air in five minutes.”

“Let me see if we can shake them,” Colt replied.  “We’ll try to plan for an exfil closer to the Colorado state line.”

Copy that.  I’ll send them that way.”

“What are you planning, Colt?” Callie asked. 

“We need a big truck stop.  See any billboards?”

There was a big truck stop coming up in a couple of miles.  As they approached, Colt jumped on the brakes, hauling the car down to a reasonable speed.  The helicopter swooped over them as he made the turn into the truck stop, pulling into a parking space. 

“We have about two minutes to find a ride out of here before their goons show up,” Colt said, tossing her a hat and jacket, while he picked up one for himself. 

He led her up to the cash register and paid for everything, then turned and watched for a minute. 

“Hey, Steve,” he said to a large trucker that was getting ready to walk out to his truck.  “My girlfriend and I are in a jam.  Can you give us a ride to the Colorado line?  I’ll give you five hundred bucks.” 

“Cops after you?” 

“Sir, I don’t know if he is here or not.  There is one girl here that seems a little out of place, and I might have seen her at the school.  She could be his date.  But I can’t say that I’ve seen Paul Murphy.  And we’ve had pretty good eyes on the cars coming in.  All are local,” Jenkins told her boss.

“How many people are there?” Bill asked.

“Probably about three dozen, give or take.  And there has been a turn-over, so there might be fifty different people that have been here at some point or are here now.  Without knowing more about how he currently looks, it’s tough.  And, of course, everyone is in costume.”

“Keep up the good work, Melody.  We don’t even know that he’s here.”

“Roger that, Sir.”

She kept up her watch.  She scanned the rooms with binoculars.  She was sure that she’d seen the girl in the tight black dress before… in her mind she called her Morticia.  She thought her date was Zorro, but Riley, dressed as Davy Crockett, had been hitting on her pretty hard.  Morticia didn’t seem to be interested… she had to be with Zorro. 

After watching the house for an hour, she decided that if anyone in the house were Paul Murphy, it had to be Zorro.  And she needed to figure out how to keep an eye on him.

She called out to the front team, “Do you know what car Zorro came in?”

“Big blue Bronco.  Came with a sexy little chick in a black dress.  Butt-wipe didn’t even help her down from his truck.  She just shimmied down.  I thought she was going to end up on her ass,” Billings replied. 

It was more information than she’d asked for, but it was also helpful.  She felt that her feeling was becoming a hunch. 

“If he leaves, call me.  I want to pick up coverage on him and see what he does.  If you have to leave station to get me on him, you can do that.”

“Roger that, ma’am,” he replied.  He was a little resentful that she had become the teacher’s pet, but she had pulled a couple of really good leads out of nothing. 

Melody Jenkins kept up the watch, then noticed that Zorro and Morticia disappeared for a little while from the living room.  She thought she saw movement in one of the upstairs bedrooms but couldn’t be sure.  Even if there was movement, that didn’t mean it was Paul.  She was pretty sure that was his bedroom, though.  She wanted to call in a capture team, but if she was wrong, it would be a huge problem. 

After about twenty minutes, the couple reappeared in the living room, then looked like they might be getting ready to leave.  Morticia went into the bathroom and Zorro went into the kitchen… probably to grab another round of snacks. 

Melody decided to change position so that she could get to her car faster if needed.  Just a couple of minutes later the call came from the front team.  “Jenkins, Zorro is on the move.  Morticia looks a little wasted, though.  I think he is going to have to pour her into the passenger seat.  Let me know if you need me to pursue.”

“I think I have it.  I’m getting in my vehicle as we speak.”

A couple of minutes later the Bronco drove past the street she was on.  She pulled away from her stop sign and dropped in behind it.  “I have the target in sight, Billings.  I’ll let you know if I need anything.”

She followed the Bronco through downtown Hampton, and it turned headed in the direction of the Prince house.  There were still a lot of other places it could go, but her gut was screaming at her to call the boss.

“Boss, you on freq?” she asked.

“Go, Melody.  I’m here,” he replied. 

“Bill, I’m behind a vehicle that my gut tells me is Murphy.  We are on Kecoughtan headed south, just passing the river and coming up on Sunset.  I think he is headed toward you, sir.  I’m not a hundred percent sure it’s him, though.”

“I trust your gut, Jenkins.  I’ll take steps.  Keep me in the loop.”

Bill Prince called out to his wife, “Call Sharon.  Get Ed over here.  Tell him to ‘dress.’  Stay in the house.  Lock the doors.”

“Bill, you’re scaring me.  What’s going on.”

“I don’t want you to be scared, but you need to be on edge.  Grab your weapon and don’t be afraid to shoot if needed.  Turn on the lights so you can identify your target and stay away from windows and out of sight.”

Bill jogged out the front door and around the corner to the Caprice he had parked there.  He had a vest in the trunk, as well as a few weapons locked in a special safe.  He grabbed his gear and headed back toward his house.  He was keeping an eye on the street between his house and the Moody’s, watching for a vehicle. 

“Bill?” came the call on the radio.

“Go, Melody.  What do you have for me?”

“Lifted blue Bronco.  We’re on Clyde by Bay Avenue.”

“Copy that.  Drop if you need to.  I’ll pick him up and you can come in the other way.  If you are right, it’s less likely to spook him, and if you are wrong, it won’t matter.”

“Copy, sir.”

She followed another block, then turned off to pick up a parallel street.