Jackknife 13
Chapter 13 South Bend to Des Plains
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The next target destination remained unchanged despite the unknowns in the Toyotas. Des Plaines, Illinois. The Silver Label directors had not made a final judgment about the incident so it was business as usual.
Cray, on the other hand, was making great progress exploring behind the wall panels in the sleeper. He found the control panel for various sensors that connected via wires into the main cab. At first glance, the wiring looked like so much plastic spaghetti, the labeling cryptic. He needed a technician or several lifetimes to figure it all out. He had neither.
As the morning light unveiled the horizon, it was still flat on either side of the interstate, but the corn and other fields slowly gave way to suburban patches, growing into a sprawl as he approached the Chicago area.
Cities had influence that spread beyond their boundaries and Chicago’s was strong. Urban energy and tension feed the traffic creature. It thickens, rush hour periods are longer, peaks higher. The congestion feels alive and hostile.
Rhea reacted viscerally, proximity indicator illuminations went from green to yellow and orange, as traffic swarmed them, pressing closer, taking greater risks cutting into the lane ahead.
Ken sounded tense over the voice communication. He passed along notices from headquarters as they were decided. The jumbled thinking of decisions by a committee that stayed up all night. One of the messages repeated the warning him not to engage with other drivers.
Cray still resented the gag order, more so now it was repeated for unrelated circumstances. The people on the committee were clueless and scared. Put in charge of dealing with a situation beyond their capabilities they devolved into ignorant nit-picking.
Like it or not, Cray was now part of a larger scheme he knew nothing about. It threatened others somehow, their business, their personal lives and they were reacting. Was Silver Label overreacting? They went overboard with contracts, training, surveillance, not to mention the building of Rhea.
Cray was tired of other people and their problems at the moment. He wanted to talk to his people. He placed the phone Silver Label gave to him into the slot designed for it in the communications panel and selected his home number. Marie picked up right away.
“Good morning Cray!”
“Morning babe. You sound in a good mood.”
“Yes, I am. Your first paycheck arrived, and it’s big! I didn’t know they paid weekly.”
“I didn’t either. But I like the sound of it.”
“Is it O.K. to spend some of it?”
“Spend all of it. We’ll worry about savings later.”
“How are you doing?”
“I’m good. How are things at home?”
“Everything’s fine here. Your friend Ian called. He said to say hello and he would be leaving some messages if that’s O.K.”
“If he calls again, say hello for me and tell him the messages are fine. You can tell him about our arrangement if you’re good with that.”
“O.K., I will. Oh, this is so hard. I want to ask where you are, what you’re doing, what the scenery is like…”
“There’ll be time for all that later. Now go spend some money.”
“Thank you sweetheart. You take care now. I love you.”
“Love you too. Bye now.”
The call greatly improved Cray’s mood. His family was fine. Money was already getting home. Ian was still on the case. Now he could focus on driving. If only they would cut him loose from these eight-hour days, he could make some time.
An incoming call was signaled. They must have been waiting for him to get off the phone.
“Cray here. What’s up Ken?”
“Cray, we’d like to take an early rest break.”
“Too much coffee this morning?”
“That’s one factor, yes.”
“O.K., no problem. No need to push it to noon. Traffic may not die down as much around Chi-town.”
“Thanks Cray. And don’t be a stranger. Let’s chat this time.”
Ken wanting to talk in person was new. He must mean off the monitored channels. All the more interesting.
“Sure, I can do that. Aiming for the next rest area now.”
At the rest stop, Ken and Bill made bee-lines for the restrooms. This tickled Cray’s funny bone. Welcome to long haul gents, he thought, laughing inside. Cray loitered at the back of his second trailer until Ken returned and approached him.
“My apologies about all the noise this morning Cray. Things are in a bit of an uproar at headquarters. It should calm down soon. How are you doing?”
“I’m good. The thing with the SUVs trailing bothers me less than the short days.”
“Noted. But it isn’t something that can be changed so easily. The parameters were set some time ago. for specific purposes.”
“Yeah, I get the lab rat running a maze feeling. Like it has all been funded in advance and the costs don’t matter as much as hitting the benchmarks.”
“Very perceptive.”
“Are you ever going to tell me the story about what is going on?”
“Me personally? I don’t know. Not my call. Up to now the drivers have been satisfied to take their bonus and be on their way.”
“I could do that. Let’s get back on the road.”
The trio headed back to the interstate and pushed through to the destination. No unfamiliar black SUV teams or other distractions. Dinner and briefing meeting on schedule. The job was becoming routine.
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