Spring Lake

The sun beat down on Jonah’s head as he trudged across the part dirt, part alley behind the dilapidated building that passed for a store in town. The wind blew grits of sand into his pores competing with the sweat that poured out of them to create rivulets of grime running down his face. He longed for a cold drink right about now. As he came to the end of the alley, he turned and trotted around the corner of the store, stepping onto the hot pavement that ran along Main Street. He hesitated, slinking back into the alley and slipped into the shadow of the store building for a moment thinking furiously. To get to his car he had to cross Main Street, and this was as good a place as any. Main Street, there was a Main Street in almost every town in America. Man! He wanted a drink of water, like NOW!

Jonah stepped out of the shadow, rounded the corner of the building and began to trot down the sidewalk feeling the pressure to get off of Main and back out of sight. Lucky, he thought, that downtown was deserted. So early and already so hot. He wished he hadn’t left his Ruger in the car. He was almost there and no sign of them. As he neared the side street where his car was parked, he slowed and slipped behind the bushes in front of the Tool & Die building. Thank God for landscaping!

Jonah crouched, looking the nearly empty street over. He scanned the rooftops, peering at the windows of the buildings for movement, and tried to ignore the cloud of gnats that had surrounded his face. He swatted at the gnats and tried to decide whether or not to step out into the open. If he waited and A&B were not out there now, they soon would be and he would blow his opportunity to drive out of here. If he stepped out into the open and they were already here waiting, they would blow him away. The tension showed in his locked jaw, a tic pulsed in his temple making his eye twitch. This was ridiculous! He had to just make a decision. He stood slowly, scanning for movement. There was none. He stepped out from the bushes and began running for the car, digging in his pocket for the keys. Almost there. He saw the movement out of the corner of his eye and began to zig zag as he sped up. He felt a burning sensation across his right temple! Ahhhhh! Pain!!!! He pressed the unlock button on his car remote, pulled the door open and started the car. Bullets were flying, hitting his car. He put the car in gear and hit the gas. In his rear mirror, he saw the A&B agents standing where his car had just been, they were aiming for his tires! “Please don’t let them hit the tires, gas tank, let them miss! Please!!” It was as if a veil had dropped between his car and the bullets. No more hit him as he sped away.

It took three hours of driving before he began to feel hope that he was not going to be found. He had made sure they would not follow him by disabling their vehicles when he first arrived. It was easy to recognize their rides with their special plates. They had not expected him to be there. He felt confident that it would take them too long to get reinforcements and he would be gone. As he drove, he began to plan his next move. It was a sure bet that A&D would be at his apartment, agency headquarters, Donnegans, anywhere they thought he might show up. He wasn’t that stupid. He felt a stab of fear that A&B might find his parents, but reassured himself that he’d done a good job of hiding them. The problem at hand was where to hide himself. He had to protect the source! He was blind with no means to communicate. He could not use his cell or attempt to contact any of his usual contacts. He had to assume that A&B would have already thought of them. It was then that he realized where to go. What a fool he was!

Jonah looked for a car like his as he drove through the small towns until he found one. He waited until he could switch the plates between the two vehicles. In town after town, he stopped to buy gas cans and fill them up with gasoline. He purchased toilet tissue, paper towels, jerky, cans of food, beverages, and other assorted items, careful to hide his face underneath the wide brim of the baseball cap he now wore. He avoided the roads and intersections where the traffic cameras were as much as possible. Once he had enough supplies, he backed the car into a grove of trees on a dirt track off of a county highway. It was only then that he slept.

Jonah awoke to the sound of his cell phone alarm. It was dark, but a full moon was providing enough light through the trees to let Jonah see. Jonah relieved himself, ate a cold hoagie and chips, then started the car and drove back to the highway. Refreshed, he drove for hours without stopping. The roads gradually changed from highway to gravel, then dirt. So far so good, he thought. He listened to country 101 as he looked for the unmarked dirt road, path really, that would take him to his destination. Not another traveler around in this wilderness. His next problem would be where to stow the car. As he turned off the road onto the dirt path, he slowed down, then came to a stop 300 feet in. Breaking off a branch, he walked back to the road and carefully brushed away the tire tracks. He repeated this three times so that someone would have to drive in quite a ways before seeing the tire tracks. He hoped that by the time anyone came in that far, the tracks would have disappeared.

By the time Jonah had come to the end of the dirt path, daylight was approaching. He continued to drive the car until the ground was too rugged. He had been looking for a place to hide the car and drove until he came to another stand of trees. He pulled the car under the trees and covered it with the camouflage tarp he had purchased. He then scrounged for brush and branches and covered the car further. It was then he realized that he had not taken out his gear.

Jonah set out with a full pack on his back. He had stacked the rest of the gear under the tarp on the ground. It would take a few trips, but it would be worth it to have what he needed and be off the grid. The sun was hot and the pack on his back was heavy. He kept thinking about the first time he had come here. He had never imagined in his wildest dreams that this place would get his partner killed, start a full scale manhunt, and put everyone he loved in danger. He knew that if he remained here long enough he would outlast the hunt for him. He was not sure he could last out here as long as he would need to, but if it meant that his parents, his family would be safe, then he would have to find a way.

It took him 6 days to get all the gear from the car and make the trek back and forth. He saw no one during that whole time. On the last trip he removed as much evidence as possible of his tracks. It took another day to organize his camp and establish a perimeter. It was then that the reality of his decision set in. That first day when he and his partner, Trevor, had answered the homicide call to Rearden apartments, he had thought that he would be looking at the newest in a string of robbery homicides. The case had finally been put into his department’s hands and he had been excited to be assigned to it. He wished he could go back. He would have done everything differently if he had just known.

Now, he would have to wait here….for how long? It wouldn’t matter when the food ran out. His parents would die and not know what had happened to him, but they would be safe. The world would go on and his name would disappear from the rank and file. He knew that at some point someone would find the car. He hoped later than sooner. He was sure that no one would ever find this place without help. It had been a well kept secret for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years. As dusk settled in and the cicadas sound off became almost deafening, Jonah walked to the stream, filled his cup and drank deeply. He stood and waited for the rush. When it came, he realized that his knee was no longer hurting. After twenty years of pain, the absence of pain was proof in itself. He looked at his reflection in the water of a small pool that had collected. The lines in his forehead were gone already. He walked back to his folding chair and camp table, pulled out one of the notebooks and a pencil. He began to write. He began the wait.