by Mark Lemke
CHAPTER 10
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Back in my motel room, I took the plastic ice bucket left on the chest of drawers and filled it with ice from the machine in the alcove near the stairs.? I needed to ice my right hand for a few minutes as I contemplated what had just happened.?Hitting a person in the head with my bare fist usually resulted in some swelling and bruising.? In the movies, nobody ever seems to bleed or develop a bruise.? Out here in the real world, pain, bruising, and swelling are very real.? If you're good, you learn to appreciate it and not fear it.? It lets you know you are still alive.? You don't let it slow you down or stop you.? But I also learned to take care of myself as time permitted.? It wasn't out of fear or self-pity.? It was just the smart thing to do.
As I was icing my hand, I replayed what just happened in the bar.? I wanted to attribute it to a couple of local guys who'd had too much to drink and not enough to do.? However, judging by their builds and the way they moved to attack me, it wasn't a stretch to assume it was a deliberate act on their part.?I also concluded they'd had some training in their background, military or otherwise.? This, of course, changed the dynamics of things.? What the hell were two guys like that doing out here?? They weren't just upset about the peanuts.? In retrospect, they appeared to be waiting for me.? How did they know I'd be there, and why would they care?? I had to assume that if they knew I was going to be at The Tavern, they probably knew where my motel room was too.? I pulled my hand out of the ice bucket, deciding it was time to move to my backup location.
It didn't take me more than three minutes to pack up my things and vacate the room.? I left the room key on the chest of drawers.? When the room was cleaned the next day, the maid would find it and the motel would send a bill to the name on the credit card I'd given them.
I opened the door to the hallway and waited inside my room for a minute with my hand on the gun in my waistband. Hearing and seeing no one directly outside my room, I peeked around the corner and looked down the hall each way.? Seeing no one, I picked up my bag and moved toward the stairwell, down the stairs and out into the parking lot through a back door.?
I assumed my car was burned and whoever might be watching me knew that I was driving that car.? I walked out of the parking lot and down a side street, knowing it was hard to be completely inconspicuous with so few people out at that time of night, but I had no choice.? Three blocks down, I found and unlocked another rental car I had set up for just this purpose.? I got in and drove away quickly.
I headed across town opposite of the location of the motel I was just in.? On the way, I made multiple turns to see if anyone was following me, but saw no one on the streets and no cars that appeared to be following me.
I moved as quickly as I could while trying to avoid speeding.? I headed for a small grocery store I'd picked out on the other side of town and pulled in the parking lot next to a minivan, the kind that soccer moms drive.? I pulled up to it and turned off my second rental, waiting to see if there was any movement around me.? None I could see.
Finally satisfied that no one was following me, I headed slowly back to the highway and out of town.