The Fugitive Grandma

Chapter 60 - Hail Mary

As the sun set in the west behind the Santa Ana Mountains, Stella backed one of the trucks out of the cave. Johnny stood at the mouth of the cave, guiding her out carefully. Once they were out they switched places, Johnny taking the wheel while his grandma rode shotgun.

They waited on the trail behind the brush by the two-lane road that led down to the freeway. They knew there were few travelers on this road after dark during the off-season. Slowly, carefully, the truck descended until it reached the freeway. It consumed the full right lane and a third of the left lane. Any opposing traffic would need to hug the shoulder to pass, but they met none. Stella checked her watch and studied a battered road map with their destination marked: the distribution center in Norco.

They hit their first traffic light at an intersection with a gas station in the small roadside town of Banning. The landscape was checkered with old ranch homes between open dirt lots. They merged onto the freeway heading west.

***

Lester drove out of Saint Jude’s parking lot. In the backseat, Rudy watched Frank at gunpoint.

“You better know where you’re taking us, Frank. I got to hand it to you, you’ve deceived me at every turn. I must be getting old.” His vehicle roared ahead in the car-pool lane, past the lights of Riverside and San Bernardino, toward the desert and the mountains. “We’re past the city limits, out here in the boondocks. You won’t have that detective watching over you like a guardian angel anymore. So you better not try anything slick because there’s no one out here who can save you.”

Frank eyes scanned the inside of the vehicle as he listened. The lighting was poor and he knew Rudy couldn’t see his face in detail. Frank saw Lester had set the child locks for the rear doors. There’s no way Frank could’ve survived a jump from the vehicle onto the freeway even if he had the chance. Finally, as he studied the dashboard, he saw one hopeful sign: the fuel gauge was nearing empty. Not enough gas to make it up to the mountains. They would have to stop somewhere.

“It’s no bluff, Lester. I know where Hideaway Cove is,” Frank said. “It’s a fishing hole where we used to go as a family. My son loves it up there. You need to get off the freeway in Banning and take a two-lane road up the mountain. It’s the only way in or out. If Mom and Johnny are coming down off the mountain, they’d have to use this route. Exit here,” Frank said, pointing to a ramp ahead on the right.

Lester pulled off the freeway and stopped in the gas station at the intersection by the overpass. “You stay here and watch him,” he told Rudy. “I’ll pay cash.”

“Why don’t you just pay at the pump?” Rudy asked. “It’s quicker.”

“Because then I’ll have to use a card,” Lester said. The doors unlocked with a mechanical snap and he stepped out. “And that will give that detective a way to trace us to this location.” Lester waddled around the pumps toward the pay window where an old man sat hunched over the register.

Rudy grinned at Frank, exposing crooked yellow teeth. “What if I shot you right now and told the boss you made a move?” Frank trembled, seeing madness in Rudy’s eyes. “You’re scared now, aren’t you? I told Lester we should have taken care of you a long time ago, when we realized you were going to lose money on those homes in Tuscan Paradise. Now, we’re finally getting to the part I like.” Rudy cackled and took his cell phone from a jacket pocket, keeping his gun fixed on Frank with his other hand. “Better check in with Harry. See how he’s doing with your mother’s friends back in Santa Ramona.”

The phone rang and rang. Rudy frowned when it was clear that Harry wasn’t going to pick up.

“Harry not answering, huh?” Frank said. “I’ll bet the police got him. You better tell your boss that they’re onto you. If they found Harry, what makes you think they can’t find you and Lester?”