Jackknife 16
Chapter 16 Off the Map
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Cray eased down the road comfortably through the sleet-infused ground fog, or low flying clouds, whichever the weather guy decided it was, and ignored the GPS. Although the online systems were down, everything built into the truck was working. Technically, he could drive at a normal speed with the heat, motion and LiDAR sensors the truck was equipped with, but Cray didn’t trust technology that much.
All he needed to find was a safe place to pull off the road and weather the storm. Rhea would take good care of him.
Ahead the road widened as if answering his wishes and a turn off appeared. It lead to a roadside business that he couldn’t identify at first, but looked to have enough space to park his trailers. Much to his delight it turned out to be a truck stop, with some rigs already parked.
It looked to be an independent operator. Not much in the way of facilities but there was a diner and hotel. Bingo, thought Cray, as headed to the perimeter of the parking lot where the double trailer would be out of the way.
There was no clear check-in office visible, so he made the dash to the diner through the frigid cold. He’d get everything figured out from there he reasoned. The plan lasted until he got inside.
The diner was a little smaller than he expected, open to the entrance which led to the hotel. Every seat was filled and some people were standing. No one was at the check-in counter. Except for the noise coming from the kitchen behind the bar it was hard to tell if anyone was working.
A woman Cray’s age arrived at the counter from the direction of the hotel. Instead of a welcome greeting she blew out a heavy sigh of the overwhelmed and started with the bad news, shaking her head.
“Sorry, got no rooms left and the lounge is camped out. Wait on the diner is an hour and counting.”
“It’s O.K., I have a sleeper that will work and supplies to hold me over. Just need to pay for the parking.”
Cray held out the Silver Label corporate card.
“This O.K.?”
“Well, the system is down, like everything else, so I can only do it manually and on trust like the good old days. Oh, it’s Silver Label. Yeah I can take it.”
The woman looked around conspiratorially at the crowd in the diner.
“To be honest, I am afraid to take in too much cash while we’re isolated like this. We could become a target.”
“That makes sense. But you’ve got a good crowd. Might not be so easy to pull off a robbery.
“Do you sell any memorabilia, like a down baseball coat or something?”
“I can take a look in the back. It might take some time.”
“Not a problem. I can wait.”
Cray took one of the seats for people waiting to check in and looked over the diner carefully. Tensions seemed low, no noisy complainers, no lost tempers, a lot of table sharing going on. It was good. He hoped it lasted.
The woman returned with a large down baseball fans’ jacket. Just what was needed.
“Thanks, it’s perfect. Please put it on the card. I’ll be back later to check on the diner.”
Cray donned the jacket and was preparing to leave when a guy came in through the front door, looking right at him.
“Hey man, is that your wiggle-wagon on the far side of the lot?”
The tone was flat, not angry or inflating, hard to read. The trucker lingo may be some kind of test, Cray thought.
“Yeah, there a problem?”
The man broke into a huge smile.
“Oh no, no problem at all. I finally get to meet another contractor for Silver Label. You get away too?”
Cray was lost. Or rather, he didn’t want to make any assumptions and didn’t know what to do. The man’s grin was wide but his eyes were alert, piercing.
“I’m not really following.”
“So you haven’t had a run in with the alternate SUV gang? Chevy versus Toyota? Man, they about got me. Freak car accident gave me an opening. Then the storm covered my tracks while they duked it out. When I saw your rig I thought you might be escaping too..”
“Maybe we should take the conversation away from here. We can talk in my rig. There’s plenty of space, coffee.”
“Good thinking. I got a room. Arrived before they sold out. But we should go up the back way and avoid the lobby. People are a little tense there.”
Cray nodded and followed the man back outside into the cold. They circled the diner and hotel and took a set of stairs at the back of the building up to the second floor. The man led him inside to a room near a vending machine area.
The room was very plain and sparse, a cheap kitchen table and two uncomfortable-looking chairs on linoleum in a small, open kitchenette. A cheap-looking bed on thin carpet that hadn’t aged well opposite the kitchenette.
The man pulled two fifths of liquor out of his coat, placed them on the table, and wrestled out of his coat.
“I can’t tell you how glad I am to have run into you. This job has been driving me nuts with all the rules and secrets. And then suddenly those guys in the Toyotas come out of nowhere and are all over me.
“I hear they got one of us. One of the contractors. Swarmed him, swerving all over the place, shot out the tires until he was immobilized, then closed in.”
The man turned, grinning wide, and held out his hand in the air for a shake.
“Nice to meet you. My name’s Rick. What’s yours?”
Cray extended his hand and grasped Rick’s.
“I’m Ken. Good to meet you.”
“Anything I can get you? Go ahead and put your coat anywhere.”
Rick grabbed one of the bottles from the table.
“I was saving these for a celebration at the end, but now that the deal is up there’s no sense waiting. I brought them both because I didn’t know how long we might be stranded if the whiteout comes. “
“Yeah, the weather guy did say a weather bomb could kick off a whiteout. But I was hoping we could get back on track, this is a freak storm. Nobody at fault.”
“Well let me fix you a drink and fill you in all I learned about what is behind these great deals. You take ice? Soda? Anything?”
“Nah, I just take it neat.”
“O.K., I’m going to go grab some ice. Prepare yourself to be amazed.”
Perfect, thought Cray.
Less than perfect was Silver Label’s message traffic.
INTERNAL NOTICE
TO: All Teams
SUBJECT: Engagement
MESSAGE:
Operation Romeo Hotel reports engagement, payload is free range. All escorts report to HQ.
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