Wrong Directions

Untitled Part 1

Wrong Directions

a short story by

Austin Mitchell

Romain thought they were on the right road to Darnley district. As they turned off the main road and drove on a dirt road they came upon a large tree trunk blocking the road. As the driver and Romain got out in an effort to remove the object in the road three men burst out of the bushes, waving guns at them.

"Don't move, lean up against the van and you guy from foreign take off your chains and your rings and empty out your pockets," a big heavy set man ordered.

The two other men opened the van door and began moving out Romain's suitcases.

"Hey guys, what's the meaning of this? Is this what Darnley district has come to now?" Romain asked.

One of the men laughed.

"Darnley is about two miles down the road."

There were no houses around as far as Romain could see.

He was stripped of all his jewelry.

"You guys are taking away my luggage, jewelry and money. I'm not giving up my cell phones."

"Judge, you want us to shoot him?" one of the men asked the heavy set man.

"Big man, we want everything from you."

Judge pointed his gun at Romain.

"What's becoming of this country? All the things in those suitcases are things I brought for poor country people and you're stealing them," Romain said. He handed the two cell phones to Judge.

All three men helped themselves to a suitcase and set off through the bushes.

"Hey driver, how did you miss your way so badly?" Judge mocked from the bushes.

"What do I do now? How come you told me that you knew the way to Darnley and you brought me so far up?"

But the driver opened the van door, jumped in and sped off before Romain could do anything.

"My God, he was in league with them. He set it up."

***

Romain was sitting in a bar having a beer in the village of Darnley two miles away from where he had been robbed. He had hidden some money in his shoes and so was able to hire a taxi.

He remembered waiting on the car that was supposed to have picked him up at the airport. When Beck didn't show up, he had hired another vehicle after the man said that he knew the way to Darnley district.

Maybe he should have been more careful, at twenty five he had left the area for the States fifteen years ago. He should have made Beck send somebody else for him if he couldn't make it.

"I took this guy's van at the airport, only to find out that it was a set up."

He had described the men to everybody in the village, but they all said they didn't know them. Nobody seemed to know the driver.

The police were also unable to help him. He decided that he wouldn't cut short his vacation, despite what had happened to him.

He got some money to borrow from his aunt and his other relatives. This he used for his food bill and other necessities. He didn't let anybody know that back in the States, he was a deputy sheriff. He would do his own investigations and get those robbers. The man who appeared to be the gang leader, Judge, would be easy to spot because of his size and demeanor. He had already forgotten what the other men looked like.