Crimson Highway by David Wickenhauser (i can read with my eyes shut txt) 📕

Chapter Seventeen

Hugh continued on the road in the direction he had been going when he had shaken off the hijacker, and had stopped to let Jenny in. He wasn’t sure where he was headed; he just wanted to get out of there.

He ignored Jenny for now. He was extremely angry regarding her complicity in what had just happened, and he didn’t trust himself to say anything to her about it right now.

Jenny, sensing his detachment, just sat quietly in the passenger seat.

Hugh saw a highway ahead and pulled over onto the right shoulder of the road. He had to make a couple of phone calls.

The first call was to the Nevada Highway Patrol to report his kidnapping, and the attempted hijacking of his truck. He used his phone’s search app to locate the number, and then tapped the screen to dial.

Before the call went through, however, he tapped the icon to hang up.

“Where are we, anyway?” Hugh asked Jenny.

“I’m not sure, exactly,” she answered. “But, I recognized the Fernley exits when we passed them. Then we pulled off the highway maybe twenty-five minutes later.”

With that information in hand, Hugh redialed the Nevada Highway Patrol number.

Hugh got through immediately to the desk sergeant, who said that they had an APB out on him and his truck. The NHP had been bombarded by calls from the pharmaceutical company, the security escort company, and Hugh’s company. Apparently, all had become alarmed when Hugh’s truck had gone off route and had failed to make its delivery.

Also, when the escorts, Manny and Joe, had finally freed themselves after being bound and gagged, and hidden in the woods behind the rest area, their phone call had triggered a state-wide alert.

It took awhile for Hugh to explain to the desk sergeant the circumstances of the kidnapping and hijacking. And, he tried his best to describe how the NHP officers might find where the final scene of the aborted hijacking had taken place.

He told the sergeant that his load was secure, with the locks and seals intact.

The desk sergeant advised Hugh to remain where he was, so that an officer could come by to take a report.

Hugh’s second call was to his dispatcher. The dispatcher was extremely relieved to hear from Hugh, and immediately asked him why his satellite transponder was not making contact with company headquarters. They had lost his signal, which had triggered the huge search for the truck.

“Hold one,” Hugh told her, then stepped outside to look up at the transponder mounted on the roof of his tractor. The hijackers had apparently fashioned a metal shield, and had placed it over the transponder to block the signal.

Probably Jenny told them about the Qualcomm system, he thought. That’s one more thing to deal with her about.

He climbed up, and knocked the shield away.

Back in the truck, he told the dispatcher, “OK, it should be working now.”

Within a few minutes, his Qualcomm began chirping like crazy. A whole lot of backlogged messages began flooding in inquiring why Hugh had gone off-route—especially with such a high-value load.

The dispatcher then transferred him immediately to the safety office. Hugh explained, once again, what had happened, that he was OK, and that the load was secure.

He then requested to be transferred back to the dispatcher.

“I want you to schedule me a load to Boise after I make my delivery in Reno, and then I’m taking home time,” he told the dispatcher.

“How much home time do you want?” the dispatcher asked.

“I’m taking an indefinite leave, I’ll let you know when I am ready to come back,” he answered.

“Please hold. I need to check with the fleet manager to make sure that is OK for you to do,” she said.

“You can check. But, I’m taking an indefinite leave whether he approves of it or not,” Hugh told her sharply, his temper beginning to rise, which caused his head to begin throbbing painfully again.

She came back on the line, and told Hugh he’d have his Boise load assignment by the time he finished with his Reno delivery.

“And my leave?” he asked.

“That too,” she answered. “Take all the time you need. The fleet manager was in talking to the safety officer, and he understands why you need the time off. Sorry about what happened to you.”

“Thanks,” Hugh said, then hung up.

He turned to Jenny.

“OK. We don’t have much time. I need to know what to tell the highway patrol officer about you, why you are in my truck, and what part you played in this mess,” Hugh stated brusquely.

“Hugh, I’ll explain everything. I … ” Jenny began to explain, Hugh’s anger scaring her.

Hugh interrupted her. “No, no, no. I don’t want to hear your sad story of treachery and deceit against me. We’re definitely going to talk about that later. All I need right now is the lie that we are going to tell the officer that will keep you out of jail.”

Jenny gulped, and just stared wide-eyed at Hugh.

“You don’t get it. Do you? You are an accessory to kidnapping, hijacking and—guess what else?—murder.” He emphasized that final word, drawing it out as if it had a string of “r”s and not just the two.

Jenny stared at Hugh, her face beginning to pale.

“That’s right, a man was killed back there committing a crime that you were a part of, an accessory to. You could go to a women’s prison, and stay there until you are old and gray. They’d love to see a sweet, innocent, young thing like you come in there. Leastwise, you’d be sweet and innocent for a little while, anyway. If you’re lucky, you’d become some bull dyke’s little wife. Otherwise, you’d get used up pretty badly by all the others in there.”

Judging