by Dave Conifer
“Okay. I’ll handle the gas.”
He told the attendant to fill the tank and then settled back into the seat. By then Reno had disappeared into a stone building. People streamed in and out as he watched. He kept an eye out for her while listening to the ticking of the gas pump. Each drop of gas would take them further away from there, he thought with relief. The next time they filled up they’d be safe. Reno wasn’t back when he finished paying for the gas but since nobody was waiting he didn’t bother moving the car.
He was rolling down the passenger window to let some air into the car when the radio crackled to life. “Joe Jonas,” a voice said. It sounded like Braden. He froze, wondering if he had imagined it. Then it came again. “Jonas. I know you’re there.” There was no doubt that time. He regretted turning the radio back on. What difference could it make now anyway?
“Jonas. You’re wasting your time. We’re right on top of you,” the voice said.
His body collapsed forward in a combination of fear and disappointment. If Reno was there they could get back on the road, but she still hadn’t come back out yet. Even if she had, he thought, what good would it do? There’s no way to run when you can’t see what you’re running from.
He looked out the window and around the rest stop for a place to hide the car. His eyes kept returning to the store entrance, hoping to see Reno. He watched a dark sedan as it rolled slowly past the store, blocking his view. Then he heard the voice again. “Jonas, I’d keep your head down if I were you. And do a lot of praying. It won’t be long now.”
Hearing his name over the radio was chilling, but he sensed that there was something even more odd going on. For one thing, the sound of the transmission was changing. It was getting louder, but it wasn’t just that. It sounded different.
“Jonas. Don’t play dumb. I know you hear me.”
Time stood still. He noticed that the movement of one of the men in the car in front of the store synched up with the voice. Could it be?
“Did you hear me Jonas? You’re just about out of time.” By then the sedan was thirty feet away. He could see the shapes of several people in the car. All of them were looking at the stone building except the silver-haired man in the passenger seat, who held a walkie-talkie to his mouth as he stared directly at him. “Listen to me, Jonas.”
We’re right on top of you.
I’d keep my head down if I were you.
It won’t be long now.
You’re just about out of time.
Listen to me, Jonas.
Suddenly it all made sense. Braden, the only man in that car who was looking in the right direction, was warning him. There was no time to wonder why. That was for later. He threw himself down on the seat. Pain stabbed his thigh as he twisted toward the floor of the car and made himself as small as he could. Fresh blood from the wound seeped through his muddy pants, mixing with dried mud just inches from his face. Seconds went by. He heard the passing car through the open window. If it stopped, he knew he was in trouble.
But Jonas knew it would pass without stopping. There was no doubt in his mind. Braden had chosen his words carefully enough that nobody in the car with him would know what he was up to. But Jonas did. Maybe Braden had a son of his own. It was over.
~~~
“Joe!” Reno asked when she saw him on the floor. “What are you doing? Are you all right?” Reno asked. She threw two plastic shopping bags into the back seat and got in. “What happened?”
Jonas pulled himself back onto the seat. “You’re not going to believe it.”
“Try me! What are you talking about?”
“Let’s get back on the road. Then I’ll tell you. He’s giving us a head start. Just drive, Abby.”
“Which way are we going?” Reno asked as she merged back onto the highway. “How about west?”
“I don’t like to be hot. How about north?”
“I don’t like to be cold.” she answered. “How about both?” she suggested.
“Northwest? I can live with that,” he said.
She moved the Buick into the left lane and was soon doing eighty. After they crossed the border into Pennsylvania Jonas directed her onto westbound I-70. By the time they reached Columbus she had a smile on her face. Jonas took longer, probably because of the bullet in his leg. He didn’t crack a smile until Indianapolis. When they crossed into Illinois they had the windows down with the radio blaring. Running away had never been so much fun.
THE END
-- Author’s Notes --
Although this story is a work of fiction, there is plenty of real history woven into the plot. The Warren Commission report really does include the testimony of a man who could be the fictitious R.J. Pomeroy (Warren Commission Report, chapter 5, page 221). This obscure police officer claimed to have watched Jack Ruby walk past a police guard post and into the basement of the Dallas police station where he subsequently murdered JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. The Warren Commission has been criticized over the past five decades for innumerable shortcomings. None are more glaring than the failure to effectively interrogate Ruby and a refusal to investigate how it was that neither Oswald nor Ruby lived long enough to explain their actions.
The “Welcome to Dallas” full-page ad, paid for by “The American Fact Finding Committee,” really did appear in the Dallas Morning News on the morning of the assassination. This disparaging and provocative attack questioned the patriotism and competence of the sitting president. Some historians believe that money from the oil industry was behind the ad. President Kennedy had been vocal about the idea of imposing financial restrictions and phasing out lucrative tax breaks used by the oil industry.
ERC is a fictitious steel maker modeled on a very real one. Although the company’s involvement in the assassination is merely a plot device in the story, enmity between the chairman of that corporation and Kennedy was very palpable and very public. As detailed in the story, the chairman really did visit the Oval Office personally to inform Kennedy that steel prices would be increased, and Kennedy didn’t hide his anger at the perceived double-cross. The banner headlines in this story really were splashed across the front page of The New York Times over a ten-day period in the spring of 1962. The dialogue of the chairman, the president and his staff in the aftermath of the Oval Office confrontation is real and can be found in the places where Jonas and Reno found it.
PT 109, commanded by Lieutenant Kennedy, was sunk in the dark of night in August 1943 by a Japanese warship. Almost seventy years later many people share the opinion of the fictitious Clyde Gerson that Kennedy’s negligence contributed to the incident which led to the death of two crew members. Lieutenant Kennedy was awarded a Purple Heart and subsequently the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his unquestionably heroic leadership after the boat sank.
Dave Conifer is a fitness fanatic living in South Jersey with his wife and three kids.
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Trenton Makes
Life after prison isn’t going well for Billy Fargo, especially now that he’s the skeleton in a very important person’s closet.
When Billy Fargo walks out of prison after eleven years he’s determined to take revenge on the man who framed him. Armed with the case file, the one his court-appointed public defender never bothered reading, he’s sure of what happened and he’s ready to do something about it.
As Fargo struggles to fit back into society he connects with Joanie Hibbing, a woman who’s been around the block and then some. She’s a bit rough around the edges just like Fargo is. Maybe that’s why she’s the only one who understands him.
&nbs
p; Even with Joanie at his side, the burden of life as an ex-con is wearing Fargo down and the law isn’t through with him yet. Vowing that he’ll die before going back to prison, he goes underground when he learns that he’s about to be charged with a double murder. Surviving on the outside is hard, but why is it getting harder?
Private eye and bounty hunter Ricky Willmar is dead set on finding out, but after chasing coincidence and connecting the dots he can hardly believe what he finds. Fargo thought small-time thug Rip Mankato was behind it all. Turns out it’s way bigger than that. Bigger like CNN and FOX News.
It’s time to run or take a stand. Or both.