The Great Escape (8 page)

cheek, only to fall lifelessly on to the bed again.

Impulsively Dee reached out and smoothed hair away from his brow,

and it was silky to the touch. 'How long do I have?' he muttered,

fighting to keep his eyes open.

'Only a minute or so. They're strong sleeping pills,' she answered

softly. Strange, to feel regret. 'You should be well rested by the time

you wake up, in about five or six hours. I hope they don't give you a

headache, like they did me.'

Mike sighed, resignedly, and incredibly his lips quirked into a

fleeting smile. 'You little shit, why'd you go and do a thing like this

for?'

'I'll run until I die,' she said quietly. 'No amount of coercion will

change that. I will not be forced into something against my will. I tell

you, I will not go back.'

'I'm going to come after you, you know that,' he whispered, closing

his eyes and opening them again to stare at her. Dee was amazed that

the sleeping pills would take so long to affect him. He should have

been out cold long ago.

'Stubborn man!' she muttered, running her gaze over his face. He was

a very handsome man, and she suddenly realised that she was resting

one hand lightly against his bare chest.

He muttered mockingly, 'Stubborn child,' and his eyes fluttered shut

for the last time.

Dee watched him sleeping as peacefully as a baby, and she smiled a

strange smile that she couldn't explain even to herself. 'Never

underestimate your opponent, Mike Carridine. I'm no child.' And she

touched his motionless lips with her own.

Even though she knew she had time, she raced around like a mad

thing, stuffing essentials into her knapsack and cleaning out the

coffee-maker. Then she thoughtfully prepared Mike a nice salad for

lunch and tucked him under the covers so that he would be

comfortable. She didn't know what appalled her the most: the fact that

she had drugged him, or that she had actually kissed him, even if he

was unconscious of that. She didn't know what crazy impulse had

prompted her. After stuffing her handbag into her knapsack, she

wrote out a hasty note, giggling a little nervously at its smart

message: Take your time. There's lunch in the refrigerator. The rent's

paid until the end of the month. Dee.

When she was ready to go, she stood for one last time and stared

down into his face. The covers were pulled to his chest, but even so

she could see a good expanse of brown skin. His head was turned to

one side, and he was breathing deeply, evenly, peacefully. She had

the suspicion that he wouldn't be so peaceful when he woke up, and

she suddenly felt a chill of apprehension when she thought of what he

might do if he actually caught up with her again. But she shrugged

that away, and bent to press her soft lips against his warm forehead.

Then she quietly shut and locked the door behind her as she left.

The lock on the door was an old one, the kind that you needed a key to

unlock from either side. As she raced down the stairs, Dee wondered

gleefully if he knew how to pick locks. If not, then he was going to

have a Jieli of a time getting that door open, short of bursting through

it. Once outside, she scampered nimbly over to his car and let out the

air in all the tyres, leaving him a nicely detailed map, hastily drawn,

showing him the route to the nearest gas station. She tucked that

under a windshield wiper. Those delays might give her as much as an

hour more, which was a nice chunk of time.

After all that, she turned and loped on down the street. When she

came to the major four-lane highway that ran roughly north and

south/southwest, she began to stick out her thumb. A few cars passed

her by and a third began to slow, but she didn't like the look of the

man in the driver's seat, so she ducked her head and ran left for a

block or so. He would have to turn around and get in the other lane to

come back after her, and a quick glance back showed that he hadn't

bothered. Then a large truck was barrelling her way, and she stuck out

her thumb in an effort to get the trucker's attention. At first she

thought he was going to whizz on by, but then she heard a screeching

of brakes and saw it lurch to a stop several yards ahead. Sending up a

hopeful prayer, she ran back and just reached the cab of the truck

when the passenger door was thrust open and a grizzled head popped

out to shout at her cheerfully, 'Hey, little punkin, need a ride?'

'Oh, please!' she shouted back, over the powerful engine's roar. She

was unaware of just how frightened she looked, with her blue eyes

almost black and her cheeks flushed red from running. 'I'm in a bit of

a hurry!'

'Well, sweet thing, climb on up and have a seat!' he roared, backing

up so that she could haul herself in. She did so tremblingly, secretly

amazed at how badly she was shaking. After all, what was there to be

worried about? Everything was going her way so far that day. The

trucker yelled cheerfully, 'I'm going way down south, and you're

welcome for as long as you care to ride!'

Plopping down breathlessly on the wide seat, Deetook stock of her

surroundings and her new friend, and found that she liked both very

much. The cab was neatly kept and well dusted, which spoke well for

the driver's habits. The driver himself was around his fifties, with a

powerful barrel chest and huge biceps. His face was clean-shaven and

his faded blue eyes twinkled in a network of wrinkles from years of

long-distance squinting. Dee was observant and quick in her

character assessment, and when she saw the gold wedding band on

his left hand, she breathed a sigh of relief. He seemed nice enough.

The truck was lurching forward with a roar, and the driver told her

conversationally, 'My name's Chuck, Chuck Greenway, what's yours,

punkin?'

'Deirdre,' she said loudly, having to speak over the truck's roar. 'But

my friends call me Dee.' They hit a hole in the road and she bounced

totally off her seat, making Chuck laugh heartily.

'Why, you ain't any bigger than my little granddaughter, punkin!' he

shouted gustily. 'What's a sweet thing like you doin' hitch-hiking

around? Don't you know that's a good way to get hurt?'

'I'm running away!' she yelled blithely. 'My boyfriend's gotten a little

rough with me lately, and I don't like being hit about! I'm going to try

and get home to my grandparents, in Missouri.' It was as good a story

as any, she shrugged. Maybe she could make Mike Carridine out as

being the cruel boy-friend. It was a satisfying contemplation.

'That's bad, that's real bad! Why, I'd guess one good puff-of wind

would knock you down, sweet thing, let alone a good slap in the face!'

said Chuck with a ready sympathy, shaking his grey head soberly.

'You reckon he's gonna come after you?'

'Probably,' she sighed. If Mike Carridine had trailed her for nine

months, he wasn't about to stop now, like he'd said. Dee felt a wave of

pure frustration quiver through her. In all the country, in the entire

wide world, she couldn't shake one stubborn man off her trail. This

was getting to be annoying.

'Well, punkin, you just let me know if you see him comin' and I'll take

care of him for ya,' he told her comfortingly. 'A tiny little thing like

you needs protection in this world, that's what. Protection in this

world. What was your name? Deborah?'

'Dee!' she shouted, chuckling a little. It had been a risk, hitch-hiking

like she had, but all the truck drivers she had met had been kindly,

gruff men, and it had apparently been a risk well worth taking. By the

end of the first hour, she and Chuck were fast friends, and by the end

of the second, Dee knew the name of everyone in Chuck's rather

extensive family. She listened with fascination as he conducted

cheerful conversations on the CB radio, using jargon she only half

comprehended.

'Hey, good buddy, I got me a pretty little yellow canary bird running

away from a big bad cat, come back,' Chuck spoke into the receiver

and, totally mystified, Dee listened for the reply.

'What's your big bad cat look like, little canary?' one of the truckers

asked, and Chuck raised an eyebrow at Dee.

'Oh!' she fumbled, as realisation hit that she was the topic of the

conversation. 'I—I don't know. You mean my boy-friend's car? It's a

dark green, I don't know the make.'

Chuck gave her a look that plainly expressed that he hadn't expected

any more from a woman, no matter how delightful she was, and Dee

was hard put to it to keep from laughing as he went back to his

conversation. Soon all of the truckers in northern Ohio knew about

her and that she was running away from her boy-friend, the Big Bad

Cat. She squirmed a little at the freedom with which they all

cheerfully discussed her problem, and devoutly hoped that Carridine

didn't have a CB in his car. If so, he would know her approximate

direction and mode of travel before the day was out. She wished she

had known what Chuck was about to say before he'd actually done it,

but the damage was done now. There was no use moaning about it.

After a while, she began to get drowsy and she curled up in the seat,

putting her tousled fair head on her knapsack and relaxing. She was

more depressed than she had first realised. She would have to find a

way to go back for some of her things. She slept.

'Hey, wake up, punkin! Wake up! Boy, you sure did sleep a lot!'

Chuck shouted at her, shaking her with one hand on her slim

shoulder. Dee sat up groggily and knuckled her eyes before staring

out. The daylight was beginning to fade and evening was setting in.

Everything looked unfamiliar. 'You gettin' hungry?'

She considered that. She hadn't eaten anything since the day before.

'Yes, I am. Where are we, Chuck?' The highway looked like a dark

blue-grey ribbon in the fading light, and bright spots of yellow, red

and blue from lit signs showed brilliantly as gas stations, restaurants

and motels turned on their night signs. The surrounding countryside

was fading from a dark green to a total black. 'Good God! Did I sleep

the entire day away?'

'Just about! You fell asleep right around eleven, and it's gettin' pretty

late right now! I stopped some time ago, but you were so dead you

never noticed, and I didn't have the heart to wake ya! We're some

distance just north of Cinncinatti. I got me a favourite truck stop'o

'mine an' the boys, comin' up in a few miles. Called up on the CB and

there's gonna be some friends of mine there, if you're willin' to eat

then.'

'Sounds good. I'm ravenous!' Dee told him enthusiastically. He

grinned and nodded, patting his own stomach in agreement with her.

Dee rummaged around and brought her hairbrush out to straighten

some of her tangles while she looked out of the window. She felt very

strange, sitting up so high in the cab of the huge truck. Everything

seemed so different.

After a little while, Chuck signalled and pulled off on to an exit ramp

that swirled in a great spiral down, sending them back to the array of

brightly lit buildings easily seen from the highway. He then expertly

parked the monstrous vehicle and turned off the engine. Both of them

jumped to the ground, Dee finding her legs stiff from staying in one

position for so long. It was greatly refreshing to be able to walk about,

and she sighed with pleasure as a cool wind blew gently against her

cheek.

'This way, punkin,' Chuck told her, gesturing to a rather dirty white,

one-story building with a neon sign splashed on the roof. 'I don't

know about you, but I need to use the little boys' room.'

Dee giggled at him and fell into step beside him, with her knapsack

slung over one shoulder. He held open the door for her and followed

behind, pointing out the way to the public restrooms. After she had

used the facilities and had straightened her appearance, she went back

out to be eyed curiously by several unknown men. Just as she was

beginning to feel nervous about it, Chuck barrelled into the dining

area and swept past her to start pumping hands all around. He then

introduced her to everyone, including with their real names each one's

CB pseudonym, and she started to relax when she recognised a few of

the men she had talked to that afternoon.

They were all a cheerful, easygoing bunch, and Dee was treated like a

fragile queen, which she loved, but she was under no illusions about

some of the men. If she hadn't been under Chuck's protection and

with several of his friends, she wouldn't have liked to bet on her

chances with some of the rougher-looking types. As it was, she was