Jackknife 20
Chapter 20 Return to the Lost Zone
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Cray pulled into the independent truck stop with great relief. The snowfall had eased greatly and the temperature continued to drop. The air felt different, dry and crisp, difficult to breathe.
The diner’s lights were on but dimmed, a big closed sign on the door.
He drove around to the back of the diner-hotel building, parked near the stairs and went to Rick’s room door. No sounds came from inside so he let himself in. The lights were still on as he left them when he departed. Rick was in bed, snoring, the glass he left full was empty.
Cray went to the closet, replaced what he had taken, substituting the rental keys for Rick’s rig’s.
He looked around the room once for anything else that might need to be done. Nothing stood out, but the cold was seeping into the room through the thin walls. Cray returned to the closet, found spare blankets and covered Rick. He left with the Do Not Disturb hanger on the doorknob.
Cray made his way back to Rhea to rest and think. He had put in a full day’s work of driving already and needed to rest. The only question was where. Right here at the truck stop or down the road a bit. He didn’t want to get caught up in Rick’s immediate future if Silver Label showed up.
After a lot of internal back and forth Cray fired up Rhea and waited for its systems to give him the green lights. That’s when he recalled the system without an indicator. Metis.
“Computer, are you online?”
“My local local systems are functional but severely limited due to a lack of Cloud access. Memory of this conversation may not be recorded for future reference.”
“Good, don’t waste the memory space. Are any systems reaching the Cloud or satellite or whatever.”
“No, all systems and sensors are limited to local operation.”
He promised himself to take it slow and get rest soon. Just a little overtime driving over snowy, frozen ground.
When the truck showed green lights, and no sign of reconnecting to the satellite communications systems, Cray pulled her out of the parking lot and headed for the smaller highways off the interstate.
He didn’t have to go far before finding a deserted rest area. He parked facing the exit and climbed into the sleeper. It felt good to stretch out and relax. His body welcomed the cease of motion, the unwinding of tension. His mind wouldn’t rest however. Thoughts on covering his tracks raced through slowly uncovering a notion layer by layer
Soon the idea revealed itself. If the GPS was out due to the storm, no one at Silver Label was getting a signal. They wouldn’t notice if he pulled the wires and made the situation permanent.
He lifted the wall cover and reached down with a finger extended. Careful to only touch the insulated section, he gently pulled the GPS feed wires free of their clip. He replaced the wall cover panel hopeful it was working as planned.
Certain they wouldn’t be able to track him down by GPS, he was asleep soon.
When morning broke, Cray felt every muscle he used in the Toyota stand off. It was late for him, 0400, but time enough for coffee and a walk down.
Ken and Bill should be at the ready, knowing his schedule, and searching for him along I-90.
The first question of the day was whether he wanted to rejoin the parade, not knowing who to trust. It was likely the only way to get paid out in full, if that were even still possible.
Cray decided on the straight approach. He was delivering this load one way or another. The truck knew the destination, he just had to get there.
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