Cole pulled back on to the Interstate and headed after the white Tacoma. A mile further down the road, he pulled up level with the pickup and sounded his horn. The Tacoma picked up speed, and tried to pull away from the chasing Mustang. Cole touched the throttle slightly, and they pulled up alongside the pickup once more.
Now Cole hit the pedal hard, and the engine roared as he pushed his car past the Tacoma. Then, suddenly, he veered in front of the pickup forcing it to slow down. After a few seconds though, the pickup accelerated once more, and pulled past them.
Cole was bored with this game. Pulling up behind the Tacoma once more, he lowered his window, and took hold of the Sig with his left hand. Leaning out of the window, he carefully aimed the weapon, and fired one shot.
Maddie screamed. At the same time, the left tyre on the back of the pickup exploded. The driver in front of them was now clearly struggling to control the vehicle. It veered into the centre of the road, before moving back into the right hand land, and then driving onto the hard, rocky ground at the side of the road.
The Tacoma was in trouble. It was now off balance, and after hitting a small cluster of rocks, it catapulted into the air and landed on its side. A large dust cloud had been thrown up. Cole had pulled the Mustang off the road, and was vaulting onto the side of the pickup. He aimed the Sig at the figure hunched awkwardly inside the crashed vehicle.
‘You have five seconds to tell me who you are. After that, I’m going to put a bullet into your belly, and see how long you manage to survive.’
The man looked up at him. He was bleeding from the nose, and one of the lenses in his dark glasses had smashed. ‘Fuck you,’ he said.
Cole raised the Sig, took aim, and looped his finger around the trigger.
‘Don’t shoot,’ Maddie cried out. She had approached the crashed vehicle and was looking in at the injured driver.
‘Why shouldn’t I?’ replied Cole, ‘this guy is just an asshole.’
‘No. He’s not.’
There was panic in Maddie’s voice.
‘He’s my uncle.’
Chapter Twenty Five
‘I saw you on the news. Local Texas television was reporting on the guy who fell under the train. I was watching it when it came on as a newsflash. And there you were in the background, clear as day, my little Maddie.’
They had pulled Uncle John out of his crashed vehicle, and wiped his bleeding nose. There had been some long hugs between Maddie and her uncle, and then some tears, and then more hugs. Finally, Maddie had asked him what he was doing following them.
‘I couldn’t believe that my little girl was in Texas. I assumed you were heading over to see us. So I thought I would see if I could come out here and find you. The news showed you getting into a bright coloured Mustang. Not too difficult to spot, I guessed. The only problem was that I didn’t recognise the driver of your car. I started to think that maybe it wasn’t you after all.’
‘Well it’s good to see you. How is Aunt May? It’s a long time since I have seen the pair of you.’ Maddie was wiping the dust off his face with a wet paper towel.
‘She’s good. Her knees are still playing her up, but she manages to get around just fine. She is looking forward to seeing you again, that’s for sure.’
Uncle John took out his cell phone and called a friend of his who was in the vehicle crash recovery business. He gave him their location, and asked if he would come over and pick up his mangled Tacoma. The man was busy, but said he could be with him in about three hours.
‘We were heading over to visit you in Houston. I was hoping to come and stay with you for a while, if that’s alright.’
‘Of course it’s alright. We have missed having you around. Stay as long as you like. You guys get going. I’ll wait here for the recovery vehicle, and catch you back at home later.’
Before they left, Cole introduced himself properly, and apologised for the misunderstanding. Then he explained about the incident Maddie had witnessed in San Diego, and their worries about being followed.
‘After what your niece witnessed, we had some concerns for her safety. After all, if a cop is corrupt enough to kill a man in cold blood, then who knows what else he is capable of.’
‘So is anyone tailing you now do you think?’ Uncle John seemed worried.
‘No not now.’ Cole wanted to sound confident, for Maddie’s sake.
‘You’re welcome to stay over at our house as well Mr. Cole.’
Cole thanked him, but explained that he would drop Maddie with her aunt, and then head off almost immediately towards Dallas. He wanted to catch up with her brother who was driving the other Mustang. He was keen to try and enjoy the rest of the road trip they had planned.
Uncle John found some shade under a rocky outcrop, and settled down to wait for his friend bringing the recovery truck. After assuring them that he would be fine, Cole gunned the Mustang back to life, and pulled the car back onto the interstate heading east again.
‘I hope he’ll be okay waiting there,’ Maddie said as she turned and waved goodbye one last time.
‘He’ll be fine.’
They drove in silence for a while. There was a definite haze in the air, as the heat bore down on the wide open Texas landscape. After a while Cole opened up the conversation.
‘Are you going to be alright staying in Houston? Won’t you miss London?’
‘It’ll be fine. I’m looking forward to catching up with some old friends.’
‘He’ll miss you, you know.’
Maddie smiled as she thought of her brother. ‘I know, but it’s not for long.’
She stared out of the front window as the Mustang drove along. A large bird, possibly some kind of eagle, flew overhead, and she turned in her seat to look back at it.
Cole saw her movement and misinterpreted it.
‘Do we have a problem still? What’s your feeling, are we being followed?’
Maddie thought for a while. Her eyes closed briefly, and then she turned to Cole and smiled gently.
‘I’m not sensing anything. I don’t believe we are being chased anymore.’
‘So all is well?’
‘Yes, she lied.
It was mainly true what she had told Cole. She didn’t believe she was being pursued. For the first time since leaving San Diego, she felt safe. But she had a nagging feeling that her brother was still in danger. And that Cole might still be in danger. But that’s all it was, a nagging feeling.
What did that mean?
She didn’t know.
Chapter Twenty Six
‘So how was she when you dropped her in Houston?’ Hedge was already missing his younger sister.
‘She was just fine. Her aunt May was delighted to see her. I only stayed for about thirty minutes, and they didn’t stop talking in all that time. I don’t think they even drew breath.’
Hedge laughed. He picked up his mug and took a sip from his drink. They had met up at a roadside cafe on Interstate 30 heading east from Dallas. They were sitting outside, having a coffee, and watching the traffic go by. The sky overhead was completely cloudless. It was going to be another hot day.
They had both agreed that from now on they would make a concerted effort to enjoy the rest of the trip. Hopefully the incident in San Diego was now well and truly behind them. Neither of them had actually witnessed what had happened, so it was pointless them getting involved. Maddie would be safe with her aunt and uncle. She had grown up in Houston, and had many friends in the city that would look out for her.
Cole was still feeling down about the split with his wife, so he really wanted to make the most of the remaining time on the trip. As soon as he was back to London, a senior minister at the Foreign Office had asked him to head off to South Korea. It was a one-man undercover operation to assess the size of the forces that the North Korean’s had on the border. The Americans had provided information regarding this, but the British government wanted to verify a few of the findings in the report they’d been given
by their closest ally. He was looking forward to the operation, but he really needed to unwind first. This trip was supposed to be helping him to achieve that.
Cole slapped his hand lightly on the table in front of him. ‘So maximum fun then, that’s what we need, wine, women, and song.’
Hedge laughed. ‘I’m not sure about that, but when we were discussing the trip before we left England, Maddie told me that we should stop at Six Flags.’
‘What’s that?’ asked Cole.
‘Six Flags Over Texas,’ answered Hedge. ‘It’s a theme park, a big one. They have some pretty scary rides there. Have you never heard of the "Titan" or "Mr. Freeze"? The place is packed with adrenaline fuelled stuff. We have to stop there. I’ve always wanted to go on the "Texas SkyScreamer".’
‘What’s that?’ Cole said, aware that he was repeating his previous question.
Hedge sighed. He was amazed that Cole had never heard of it.
‘It’s only the highest swing ride in the world. Basically you sit in a chair and go round in a circle at almost forty miles an hour, at four hundred feet above the ground.’
‘And you plan on having a go on that? Are you sure? How are you able to manage that when you can’t overcome a phobia over something as simple as a handkerchief?’
Cole laughed, and momentarily looked across at his companion. Hedge’s face looked suddenly quite serious. As soon as Cole had said the comment, he really wished that he hadn’t. All his friend was doing was trying to lighten the atmosphere of the trip and to introduce some fun. They had experienced several incidents since the start of their journey that had been very unpleasant. It wasn’t what they had expected when the road trip had been planned back home.
Hedge didn’t reply. It was true, though. He did have a morbid fear of handkerchiefs. Whenever he saw someone using one to cover their face, he was unable to control his feelings and emotions. It seemed to stem from his boarding school days, when he was the victim of brutal bullying by older boys. Several of these incidents involved handkerchiefs. As he sat quietly, concentrating hard on not trying to think about his absurd phobia, he found that he was unable to stop the memories from resurfacing. One such occasion came rushing back into his head, as if it had happened only yesterday.
He had been returning from the school library early one evening, when a group of senior boys grabbed hold of him and bundled him into the boys changing rooms. All of his captors were wearing handkerchiefs knotted around their faces in an attempt to conceal their identities. He was held down and then tied to a wooden chair. A cotton pillowcase was pulled over his head. The boys were laughing amongst themselves, and one of them suddenly punched Hedge hard in the stomach. He cried out, but was quickly warned that if he didn’t be quiet, then things would get a whole lot worse for him. Next thing he knew was the chair being lifted into the shower area so that he was directly under the cold water. The older boys screamed abuse at him as he sat shivering under the cold shower, with the pillowcase still covering his head.
They then lifted the chair out of the shower and laid it on the floor so that he was looking up at the ceiling, still tied to the back of the chair. They pulled the wet pillowcase off his head. He could now see the group of bullies gathered around him, although he was not sure of their identities as they still wore the handkerchiefs around their faces. One of the older boys had ordered him to open his mouth, and had kicked him hard in the side of the face to encourage him to do so. The boy standing nearest to him had unzipped his trousers and had started pissing down onto Hedge. The flow of urine hit the floor near to his ear, but the boy quickly adjusted his aim and the yellow liquid splashed into Hedges open mouth.
The piss in his mouth made him choke and he felt like he was drowning. He swallowed some of it, but it was so salty it made him gag. He spat some more of it out, but moving his head just meant the urine splashed across his face and stung his eyes. The boys were laughing loudly now, they were clearly enjoying themselves. Finally the flow ceased and Hedge spat out the last of the vile liquid and closed his mouth.
Two of the boys had then rolled him over onto his side, still tied to the chair. His head had been pushed hard against the floor. They ordered him to lick up the urine with his tongue. He had refused at first, but one of the older lads had twisted his ear in order to force him into doing what he was told. The pain in his ear had been intense, and it seemed like it was about to rip off, so he had eventually obeyed the request and licked up some of the piss.
Bored eventually with tormenting him, the senior boys had run out of the changing rooms, leaving Hedge tied to the chair on the floor. He struggled for a while but eventually managed to free himself. Then he rinsed his mouth from the cold tap above one of the nearby sinks, and washed the urine off his face and body as best he could. Then he wiped himself down with some paper towels from the dispenser. It had been quite a distressing journey back to his dormitory, as he looked dishevelled and dirty. As he passed by other students, several of them mocked him for his appearance, and because he stank of urine.
Eventually, he got back to his room, stripped off and took a long shower. It took him a while to stop shaking, partly from the cold of the water he had been forced to sit under, but also due to the shock of his experience.
Seeing people with handkerchiefs around their faces still made him feel very nervous, even though the events that created the anxiety were all a long time ago.
The memory of that particular experience made him shudder. He suddenly felt quite alone in the world. He wished Maddie was still with them. He wondered when he would see her again.
Cole picked up the change in mood and again wished he hadn’t said what he had. He tried to lighten the atmosphere.
‘We could always do a night time parachute jump from ten thousand feet into a tropical jungle swarming with enemy fighters.’
‘And you’ve done that I suppose?’ Hedge tried hard not to sound impressed.
‘Indeed I have, more than once.’
‘I bet you were wearing a reserve chute though.’
‘Of course I was. We all were.’ Cole sounded bemused. ‘That would be standard military practice.’
‘What a pussy.’
Cole shook his head. He looked across at Hedge and laughed. Then they both laughed together.
An hour and a half later Hedge was not laughing.
He was looking up at a colourful, steel tower, which rose high into the sky. Chairs attached to the central structure by wire were hurtling around in a one hundred and twenty foot circle. Even from four hundred feet below, Hedge could hear the terrifying shouts from the people occupying the chairs. The Texas SkyScreamer was well named.
The queue for the ride was long. They had been waiting almost an hour, but the time for Hedge to take his turn had arrived. Cole had made an excuse and backed out.
‘I don’t trust these kinds of things,’ he had explained.
‘What a pussy,’ Hedge had responded.
‘And you’re still happy to give it a try?’
‘I guess so.’
‘You don’t sound too sure. We could always just get back in the Mustangs, and continue the journey.’
Hedge thought about it for a moment. ‘And you would call me a coward for the rest of eternity. No, we’re here now. I’m going for it.’ He paid the attendant some money, and took the few steps up to the metal platform where the ride began.
The chairs were arranged in pairs. A scruffy young lad, probably in his mid-teens, had taken the seat next to Hedge. He was shouting over at a group of his friends standing nearby. They exchanged a few comments, mostly obscenities. Then the lad had laughed loudly, and stuck up two fingers towards his mates. He nodded at Hedge, and then casually lit a cigarette.
Hedge nudged him gently before pointing to a ‘No Smoking’ sign.
The boy laughed, and took a long draw. He blew the smoke out slowly.
‘Whatever,’ he said casually.
The boy seemed to have a strange air about h
im. On the one hand he seemed very confident, almost carefree. But then again, there was an extreme nervousness about him. He scared Hedge a little. However, he decided to ignore him, and concentrate on the ride, which had now started moving.
As the chairs slowly gathered speed, they lifted off the ground, and were soon soaring high above the earth. The ride was propelling them very fast, and from the height they were at, they could see far out over the Texas landscape. The distant skyline of Dallas was visible, with its modern, high-rise buildings. Hedge thought he could recognise the famous AT&T stadium, home to the Dallas Cowboys.
There was no ignoring the fact though that Hedge was terrified. It was a long way down, and when he looked over the side of his chair, the people below looked like tiny insects. The ride was fast, and he was having trouble catching his breath. His heart was beating fast, and his head was throbbing with the fear of it all.
The worst part about it though, was when he studied the structure of the ride in detail. The cables holding the chairs from above looked too thin, and the connections between these wires and the chair itself looked too flimsy. It appeared that it wouldn’t take much for the weight of the chair plus rider to rip away from the main structure. The hapless person would then plunge four hundred feet to certain death below. Hedge suddenly felt quite sick. He tried not to look at the chair, or the cables, and instead closed his eyes for a few seconds.
He opened his eyes suddenly when the teenager in the seat next to him started to scream hysterically. Hedge looked across at him to see if he was okay. The boy wasn’t okay. His eyes were staring wildly ahead. He had the look of a maniac on his face. And white, frothy spittle was coming out of his mouth.
Then he started shouting. ‘I’m finally going to do it. Goodbye world. Welcome to eternal peace.’
The Transamerica Cell: A fast paced, gripping, action adventure, conspiracy thriller, with a superb, breath-taking ending (Hedge & Cole Book 3) Page 10