The Box by Jeremy Brown (ebook reader play store txt) 📕

and fast food smells. He had the AR barrel-down in the passenger footwell, ready to lift up and point through the passenger window or windshield if need be.

The vehicles stopped before the last curve and Bruder used the radio to ask Kershaw, “Clear?”

“Clear.”

The truck rolled around the curve and Bruder followed.

He saw Kershaw standing by the post with the chain in his hand, watching the road.

The vehicles turned right on the road and braked, exhaust coughing and drifting into the cold ditch.

Kershaw reconnected the chain and swept the tire tracks with another branch, then walked backwards to the road while erasing his own tracks and tossed the branch into the woods.

He stopped at Bruder’s window and peeled off the camouflage parka, eyeballing the Honda.

“What are we doing with this thing?”

“Looking for a lake to drop it in.”

“Not around here, pal.”

“Then we’ll find something else,” Bruder said. “If we see any Romanians, let me pull around front.”

Kershaw was skeptical, but said, “Okay.”

He got in the back seat of the truck and they moved out.

They drove the mile south and turned left, eastbound, without seeing anyone on the road or otherwise.

Everyone was either at work or hunkered down or in town, probably just as confused as Nora had sounded on the phone.

A quarter of a mile after the turn Bruder’s radio clicked.

Rison said, “Incoming. Truck, I think.”

Bruder eased across the centerline and saw it, just a boxy shape between the fields so far.

He said, “I’m coming around.”

“No, wait there,” Rison said. “It’s one truck, one guy. Connelly just checked him through the optics. If he’s a farmer, we’ll just cruise past. If he’s not, we’ll nail him before he can call anybody.”

“He might be calling somebody right now,” Bruder said.

That made the truck pull ahead, and Bruder pushed the Honda to keep up.

Rison said, “Ah, shit. He’s flashing his lights.”

Bruder saw it, then an arm came out the driver’s window and patted the air, wanting the truck to slow down.

“What’s the call?” Rison said.

“Stop the truck. Let him come to us. We can’t let him get behind us without knowing who he is.”

Connelly said, “I’m gonna lock my radio open so you can hear.”

“Good. If I need to go loud, turn on the right blinker.”

“Yep,” Rison said.

The brake lights flared and Bruder angled to the right, keeping the car somewhat hidden behind the DOT truck. If whoever was in the other truck hadn’t seen him so far, there was a chance he could stay in the blind spot, get out, and come around the truck with the AR before anything else happened.

Rison stopped the truck in the eastbound lane, leaving plenty of room for Bruder to pull onto the shoulder and tuck in near the back right fender while the other truck coasted to a stop.

Bruder left the Honda running, got out with the AR and stood next to the truck’s rear passenger tire and listened.

A man said, “Morning!”

Bruder could hear the voice coming around the truck and through the radio. It was hard to tell from one word and without seeing him, but he sounded local and middle-aged.

“Morning,” Rison said.

“You boys lost?”

“Well, maybe. We got a little mixed up out here, we’re trying to get to 75 but hit some traffic around town, some kind of accident or something?”

“Ha! Yeah, something like that.”

He sounded antsy, a little too loud.

Rison said, “We tried to loop around town, but all these roads seem to bring us right back in.”

“Yep. That’s the way they are. We figure whoever made these roads back in the day had one leg shorter than the other, kept walking around in circles.”

Everyone in the truck laughed.

The man said, “You can get through town, eventually, you just need to be patient. But, ah, I don’t want to get into anybody else’s business, and to tell you the truth I’m nervous as hell right now.”

Rison said, “Nervous? Why?”

“Well, word has it the fellas causing the traffic jam are looking for a white truck with some other fellas in it. And I see that Honda back there behind you—I haven’t heard anything about that, but again, I don’t want to get into anybody’s business.”

He was talking fast now, trying to get the words out before something bad happened to him.

“But if I was to come across that truck, I’d tell the boys inside to be careful. I don’t have any respect for those men in town, and I’d like to see them get what’s coming. But there’s a reward out for anybody in town who sees the truck and calls it in, and some people might be willing to make that call.”

“Is that right?” Rison said.

“But I’m not one of them, sir, and I haven’t seen anything.”

There was a moment of tense silence.

Bruder watched the right blinker, still dark.

So far.

He checked the road.

No other traffic.

So far.

Then Connelly said, “Out of curiosity, what’s the reward?”

“One thousand dollars.”

Connelly scoffed.

Rison said, “If you did happen to see this truck, how would you recommend it get out of town?”

“You can’t. I mean, it can’t. I wish I had a better answer for you bud, but it’s a no-go. They got the four main roads blocked. They even got some of the cops helping, which nobody likes. Our tax dollars at work, right? But everything else, like you said, it just winds around and ends up back in town somewhere.”

“Huh,” Rison said. “Well, if we see that truck we’ll let them know.”

“Okay, yeah. Okay then.”

“Hey, just to be safe, why don’t you hand over your phone.”

“My phone?”

“Just in case you change your mind once we’re out of sight.”

Rison wasn’t bothering with the facade anymore.

“That won’t happen, sir. I guarantee it.”

“Still. It would make me and the other guys feel better. Relaxed. We don’t want to cause you folks any more trouble than you’ve already seen.”

“Yeah, okay. It’s just…I got a lot of important stuff on here.”

“Tell you what,” Connelly said. “The next intersection we come too, I’ll put it on the side of the road,