Road Test by David Wickenhauser (most read book in the world .txt) 📕

“Hey, boss. Just an update about the trucker. My guy, whose girl works at WestAm, says he’s parked at a WestAm terminal in Lathrop, near Stockton, California.”

Then, shortly after that conversation, the attorney got a call from Frank Rico, of Rico Investigations.

“Frank. How’s it going?”

“Not good, Bill. My guy William got a text from the reporter this afternoon saying she still doesn’t have anything to report. But she’ll keep trying.”

“Put some pressure on her. You know what to do.” Fishburn was about to hang up.

“Just so you know,” Frank said, “I checked tracking, and they are on Highway 97 heading north past Bend, Oregon.”

“Wait a minute,” Fishburn said. “Are you sure? That can’t be right.”

“Yup. Pretty sure. It’s where the tracking app says her phone is.”

“But I heard from my guy who was told the trucker is at his company terminal in Central California. Whose information do you think would be the most reliable?”

“Well, the company knows where their drivers are at all times,” Frank replied. “I’d have to go with them.”

“Right. So find out what’s going on. And get back to me.”

Before the attorney hung up, he told Frank, “I’ve served deposition notices, which everyone should receive tomorrow. I’ll either need the reporter to testify with some dirt on the trucker, or we’ll need the trucker to have some incentive to claim responsibility for the crash. Take care of it.”

Chapter Thirty-Six

“Hugh, we’ve got a problem.” When James said Hugh, and not kid, or some other nickname, it was something serious.

Hugh and Jenny were back at the WestAm terminal in Lathrop after delivering their 6 a.m. load at the Tracy Costco DC. He was waiting now on orders for his next load.

“What’s going on?” Hugh asked.

“Charlie sent a text yesterday saying basically she had nothing to report, but she’d keep trying.”

Then James told Hugh she had gotten a reply text early this morning telling her to get away from the trucker somehow, and for her to call William, that it was urgent. They were parked at a travel center near Hermiston, and James had told Charlie to say Hugh was in the restroom.

James, who was listening in on their phone conversation, said Charlie repeated what she had said in the text. Then William asked Charlie where she was. She said they were parked at a truck stop south of Hermiston, Oregon.

William had said that’s what it looked like to him on the tracking app.

“OK,” Hugh said. “What’s the problem?”

“Apparently, the mole in the WestAm dispatch office is continuing to give out your location, and she told them you are at the WestAm terminal in Lathrop.”

“Ah, I see.”

“So William got angry, and demanded Charlie explain how she happened to be in Hermiston at the same time you were in Lathrop, seven hundred miles apart.”

This was bad news. “What did Charlie say?”

“She froze. She didn’t know what to say. And William was getting belligerent, making some serious threats.”

“Uh, oh.” Hugh said. He had an idea what was coming next.

“You’re probably not going to like this, Hugh, but my Navy Seal DNA took over.”

Yup. Just what Hugh had expected.

“I grabbed the phone from Charlie and explained to the guy what would happen to him, in great detail, if he harmed any of my friends.”

“Then what?”

“Then the guy said he’d be in touch, and he hung up. That was a few minutes ago.”

Hugh realized two different issues with this latest development needed to be considered. The thugs were likely to make good on their threats to the reporter, but also, because she had failed in their mission to dig dirt on Hugh, they were also going to put into effect what Hugh had been calling their plan B.

So, both truckers needed to be on their guard and diligent at all times. Hugh wasn’t worried about Charlie. He was confident James could protect her.

Jenny had been listening to Hugh’s side of the conversation.

“I take it that’s not good news.”

“I’m not going to sugar coat it for you. We’re going to have to be careful. Charlie has failed them, and they know it now. So they might be coming after us.”

“By us, you mean me. Right?”

“Yeah.”

Then two things happened simultaneously.

Hugh’s Qualcomm chirped that he had a pre-load from his dispatcher, and his phone rang. It was Gloria, his dispatcher.

“Hey, Gloria, what’s up?”

“I sent you a pre-load, but that might change.”

“Really.”

“Yes, we got something in the mail from a law office. It was addressed to you care of this WestAm terminal.”

“Go ahead and open it. It’s probably about the accident and lawsuit.”

Gloria opened the envelope, skimmed the contents, and told Hugh, “Yup. You are required to make an appearance for a deposition three days from now at the attorney’s Scottsdale office.”

“They’re not giving me much time.”

“OK. Disregard the pre-load, it was going in the opposite direction. I’ll get you something to Phoenix.” She hung up.

A few minutes later, the Qualcomm chirped again and Hugh had to go right back to Costco, this time to pick up a loaded trailer to be delivered to the Costco DC in Tolleson, in the outskirts of Phoenix, the day after tomorrow in the evening.

He told Jenny about this new development. “We’ll head on out. It’s too far to make it in one day, so we’ll park in Kingman tonight.”

He acknowledged the pre-load on his Qualcomm, and added his stop in Kingman. The load information and stop flashed immediately on the big load board in the dispatch center.

Within minutes, Frank was on the phone to William.

“William. Get a few of your guys up to Kingman by this evening. More than two of you. The trucker will be parking at the travel stop off of I-40 east of Kingman.