“Find you a good woman Neary, marry her and have some babies to root you to this world so you don’t fly off into the clouds,” Holtman said.
Tomorrow he would call his boss and let him know he had located a grounding wire. Cabrina Anne Neary was his grounding wire to prevent him from drifting aimlessly through this life. He smiled as he made a note in his journal, quoting Psalms 20:4, “May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.”
He closed the journal, thinking of her words this morning. She was right. He had proposed to her again in a roundabout way, and he made an entry in his journal thankful to have her as his wife. Gabriel Neary’s focus was shifting. A new desire entered him to not only be a better man but to be a good husband.
I can do this. I must do this. I don’t want to ever lose her.
WARM HANDS ROAMED OVER her stomach as she stretched, yawning wide and trying to force her eyes open. Gabriel was saying something to her, but her sleep-addled brain couldn’t understand the words. He jostled her body, trying to get her awake. One eye cracked open, trying to focus, but only seeing the blur of his eyeglasses.
“I don’t want to go to school today. I’m staying home,” she mumbled.
“Time to go, Mrs. Neary,” he said, pulling back the covers.
Cabrina sat up, her eyes still closed, gripping the comforter, pulling it back up and over her head. It became a tug of war as Gabriel yanked on it, but she refused to let go of the material. He didn’t have time for this. They needed to leave now.
“Fine, I will leave you here with Paunch and Judy,” he said into her ear. The words registered in her sleep-deprived brain like a dash of cold water. Cabrina jumped up from the bed.
“The Devil is a spitting liar,” she said, stumbling, walking into the door jamb, trying to get to the bathroom. She knew she was sleepy because she didn’t bother to close the bathroom door. Yanking down her PJ bottoms, she flopped onto the toilet, relieving herself with a loud, unladylike sigh.
“Splash some water on your face, brush your teeth and let’s get out of here,” Gabriel said. The uneasy feeling was back with him, and they had to move.
Cabrina moved as quickly as she could, opting to wear the pajamas and change later in the day when her brain was properly functioning. She didn’t ask questions. Shoes on feet. Jacket. Bag. Packed it last night. Door. Follow the handsome husband.
Quietly, like thieves in the night, they stole out the side door to their vehicle. Their tip-toeing feet crunched on the gravel as Gabe hit the remote to unlock the doors. The thought to load up last night had hit him, but he didn’t know the area and waking up to a busted-out window would have only pissed him off. Instead, at 5:00 a.m., he took a chance.
“Hey there, good-looking friends!” a creepy voice said. “Are you sneaking out on us?”
It was Judy. She eased out of the shadows of the large shrub, holding a dark piece of metal in her hand. Cabrina was wide awake now.
“Oh, hey Judy. We have to get rolling,” she said, moving behind Gabe, who had opened the driver’s side door and was throwing their bags over the back seat.
“You were going to leave without saying goodbye? Paunch is going to be mighty upset,” Judy said with an eerie smile.
“I left a note on your hotel room door, Judy. Didn’t you see it?” Cabrina asked.
“No. You left me a note?” She asked, seeming happy at her new friend’s thoughtfulness.
“Sure did,” Cabrina said. “It said very nice things about dinner and hanging out with you guys, well, until it got weird.”
“You’re lying! I think you’re lying to me. There is no note on my door,” Judy said.
“Go check for yourself,” Cabrina said.
“I will! You two wait right here,” Judy said, stomping off. The outside door had locked behind the Nearys when they exited the building, and Judy, now furious, could not get back inside. “Great! Just damned great. I have to walk around the building now!”
Cabrina watched Judy as she stomped off and as soon as she rounded the corner, Cabrina jumped through the driver’s side door, scrambling over the seat to the passenger side. Gabriel was right behind her, pressing the button to start the engine, silently praying the car wouldn’t explode and they didn’t have a flat tire. He threw the car into drive, speeding off and heading for the interstate. He didn’t plan to stop until they reached Little Rock.
He wanted to look at his wife, but he couldn’t. That bad feeling was still keeping him company. Try as he might to shake it, he couldn’t. He felt like eyes were boring into the back of his skull. His eyes went to the rearview mirror, checking to see if they were being followed. However, in the back seat, there was movement. Cabrina turned slowly to look in the rear of the vehicle to see the form of Paunch lying on the seat. She gasped, shocked at the man lying on the back seat in their car, staring at her with wide eyes. Her hand flew to her mouth.
Gabriel hit the brakes, throwing Paunch’s misshapen body off the seat and onto the floor. He pulled over on the interstate, reaching under the seat for his weapon. When Paunch sat up, he was staring down the barrel of a 9mm SIG-Sauer P228.
“Get out of the vehicle right now,” Gabriel said.
“Don’t shoot. Don’t shoot,” Paunch said. “I didn’t want you guys to leave without us saying goodbye, that’s all.”
“Whatever, Buddy,” Gabriel said, taking the safety off the weapon. “Out. Out now.”
“You said we’re buddies. That’s nice,” Paunch said sleepily. “I was hoping we could be real close buddies and you’d let me get a taste of...”
Gabe pressed the weapon against Paunch’s lips. “Shut your filthy mouth and get out of the car. One, two...,” Gabriel said.
Paunch, scrambling, opened the back door, sliding out onto the side of the highway with his bottom lip poked out. The taillights from the SUV grew more distant with every minute as Gabe sped away. Judy had been right. They were planning to sneak out in the middle of the night.
He waited a few minutes by the road as Judy pulled up alongside to collect him. Judy was always right. The lady was pretty, and he wanted to play with her, but not as much as Judy wanted to play her games with the man. Opening the car door, he slipped inside the vehicle, saddened that yet another couple didn’t like the way they wanted to be friends.
“Paunch, did you do what I told you?” Judy asked him.
“Of course. My iPad mini is under the seat. When they stop tonight, we will know exactly where they are, Judy,” he said with pride.
“Good. That is my good man,” she said, caressing the black wavy hair.
“I don’t know about these two, Judy. He had a gun. It looked like a government issued weapon, like the show in the movies, and he shoved it in my mouth,” Paunch said. “I think he would have pulled the trigger, too. His eyes are scary.”
Judy’s mind was on Gabe’s other gun. The pretty imprint she saw in his jeans was nothing in comparison to what she’d witnessed in the photo on Cabrina’s phone. Even now, she felt moisture between her legs, craving to be close with Gabe. Paunch would have to do for right now. But tonight, she would have some of that Gabe guy.
The men always protested initially. However, she had a way of persuading them to give in, even if it meant tying the pretty lady up while Mr. Upstanding watched Paunch have his way with his self-righteous little wife. They always came around to her way of thinking – so would Mr. Gabe.
Chapter 9 – Calling Home
Her heart thudded against her sternum as the blood rushed to her ears. The sound of the fear she currently experienced was alive and sitting in the pit of her stomach, trying to be birthed into the nightmare that had camped out overnight in their backseat. Don’t freak out. Don’t freak out. Oh God! I’m freaking out.
“Cabrina, don’t freak out on me. I need you in the moment. I need your head clear and thinking with me,” Gabriel said calmly.
He didn’t feel calm in the least. He too was freaking out internally, bu
t the agent in him kicked in. I must remain calm. She needs to talk to me. Talk this through.
“Talk to me, Cabrina,” he said to his wife.
“You have a gun! You stuck a gun in that man’s mouth,” she yelled, gripping onto the oh shit bar in the car.
“I have a gun, yes. I am a government operative, so yes, I have a gun,” he repeated.
“You have it in the car under the seat! Was it under the seat while I was driving?”
“Cabrina, I have two weapons. One I keep in the car under the seat just in case such an emergency arrives like today or there are any other weird happenstances,” he said.
“Two? You are telling me you have another one,” she wanted to know, trying desperately to control her breathing.
“The other one is in my bag,” he said, watching his rear-view mirror.
“I’m not okay with guns, Gabriel,” she said to him.
“Well, you need to be,” he said. “Being my wife comes with a few issues and fears you are going to have to approach, deal with, and be prepared to handle.”
“I’m not handling this well. I am not handling this well at all,” she said, feeling herself start to hyperventilate. “I don’t understand. Why was he in our car?”
To Gabriel, that was the winning question. She was thinking. He liked that. Her words also made him think as well. Why was he in our vehicle?
Spotting a well-lit gas station up the road, he pressed his foot on the gas pedal, speeding up. Signaling with the blinker, he maneuvered the car into the fueling station, coming to a slow stop. Why was he in the vehicle?
“Cabrina, get out,” he said. “Look under the seats, in between the seat, under the mats and everywhere in between. We have to see if he left anything in here.”
She flung open the door, searching in the seat warmed by her butt, then the sides of the door and under her seat.
“I found your iPad mini,” she said to him. “It must have fallen out of your bag.”
Gabriel froze. His eyes wide as he forced his legs to move, coming around the car. He took the device from her hand, checking to see if it was on.
“Gabe?” she asked, concerned over the expression on his face.
“I don’t have an iPad mini,” he said.
Cabrina’s breath caught in her throat, causing her to choke on her own saliva. It didn’t make any sense. This can’t be happening. She watched his finger slide over the screen, looking for the app which would explain why the device was in the car.
“This device has a ‘find me’ function on it,” he said. “The person on the other end can activate the app and determine the precise location of the mini. This is how they planned to track us to where we are going.”
“Why, Gabe?”
He had answers but all of them would only scare the crap out of her. He was nervous enough himself about the intentions of the kooky couple. Luckily, the device wasn’t password protected and he opened the settings function to locate the name of the owner. Judith Wright.
“I need to make a phone call,” he said. “Get in and drive. Watch the speed limit as you go, okay?”
“I’m shaking like a leaf and you want me behind the wheel,” she said in amazement.
“Yes. If you are driving, you can’t freak out, plus I need my hands,” he told her. “Let’s move.”
Cabrina slid behind the wheel as Gabriel secured his safety belt in the passenger seat. He needed help. Punching in the number one on his speed dial, he called his father, who was a notoriously early riser. The phone rang nearly five times before Josiah Neary picked up.
“This better be good, Gabe. You scared the BeJeezus out of me and your Mom,” Josiah said into the line.
“Dad, I got a bogie on my tail. Two as a matter of fact, and both are crazier than a wet hen,” he told his father.
Josiah Neary was all ears. “Talk to me, son,” he said, touching his wife’s leg, trying to make her go back to sleep. He stood up, easing into his heavy coat and heading outside onto the front porch of the old hunting cabin he used for recreation, but now his eldest son and wife called home.
“I picked them up in Amarillo. They seemed off, but when I went into Oklahoma City with the couple, we shared the same hotel and then some dinner, but after that, things got weird,” he told his father.
“How weird?”
“The woman, one Judith Wright, was found hiding in the bushes at 5:00 in the morning weird. She was waiting, thinking I was going to try to sneak out on them. As a second measure, her husband, whom she calls Paunch because of his belly, was hiding out in the car kind of weird,” he said.
“Oh shit,” Josiah said.
“Language, Dad. Intelligent people don’t use profanity to express themselves,” Gabriel said.
“Fuck me, but those don’t sound like intelligent people,” Josiah said. “They sound dangerous.”
“The first two words you just used is what they want. I found an iPad mini in the rental I’m driving. They are using it as a tracker,” he said to his father.
“Where ya headed?”
“Coming your way. Should be there Tuesday afternoon,” he said. “Right now, I am making a beeline for Little Rock, then aiming for Memphis tonight.
“Memphis is where they are going to make their move,” he told his son. “Do they know your intended destination?”
“No. They think I am headed to Kentucky,” Gabe said.
“Good. I’m going to book you a room at the Lorraine. It is a National site now and if they do anything stupid, we can get them locked up nice and tidy for acts on Federal property,” Josiah told him.
“Dad, I have a really bad feeling about these two,” Gabe said.
“Regular bad feeling or did your Neary senses start to tingle?”
“Neary senses are in overdrive, since the first night,” he said. “I am making another call and stopping for breakfast in a crowded place, and then I will call you from Memphis.”
“I will have the cavalry on standby,” Josiah said. “Do you know where they are from or heading?”
Gabriel breathed deeply, closing his eyes to replay the conversation from Amarillo in his head. Wine. His folks. Kentucky.
“Nashville. They are headed to Nashville, coming up from Odessa, Texas where he said they had a family. Judy, that’s what she called herself, said they made a stop in Abilene as well,” Gabriel said to his father.
“Good to know. Be safe and see you tomorrow afternoon,” Josiah told him.
Up until this point, Gabriel had not mentioned a very important detail, which Cabrina took note of, but she kept her eyes on the road. The sleepiness was gone, and she was wide awake and wired for sound.
“Dad, I have a surprise for you and Mom,” he said.
“Sounds good. I am also interested to hear how things went in Vegas,” Josiah said exhaling a loud sigh. “Gabe, it is going to be hard to leave here. Your mother is trying to steal this woman’s child and take it with us back to Virginia.”
“Don’t leave until I get there, okay?”
“You just skirted me being nosey. I can’t wait to hear how things went. I haven’t heard from Bleu, so I’m going to wait to hear it all first hand,” he said.
“Good enough. Love you, Dad,” Gabriel said.
“Right back at you,” Josiah said, hanging up the phone.
Inside the cabin in Georgia, Mary was preparing a bottle for Michelle, the baby which had stolen her heart. However, a call from Gabe so early in the morning meant something was askew, especially if her husband took the call outside away from listening ears. All her sons were accomplished men, but a five-a.m. call was never a good way to start any day.
“Everything alright, Joe?” Ahe asked her husband of 45 years.
“Yeah, Gabe’s on his way here. He should be arriving tomorrow afternoon,” Josiah said, leaving out a great number of details. If he told his wife that Gabriel said he had a surprise for them, she wouldn’t give the boy any peace. The last thing his son needed was to ex
plain himself over the phone to his Mother.
“That’s nice,” Mary said. “We haven’t heard from Isiah. I hope things went well in Las Vegas.”
By Josiah Neary’s calculations, they must have gone really well if a couple was now stalking his boy. Years of FBI training had taught him a couple is not going to go after a single man. Gabriel had someone with him. Why didn’t he make mention of her? I have a surprise.
Josiah just bet he did. His Neary intuition kicked in as well. Knowing his second son like the back of the knots on his knuckles, he just he did have a surprise.
CABRINA DROVE NONSTOP into Little Rock. Her stomach growled in adamant protest that it required food, but she needed a minute to process a vast number of things. One being that her husband failed to mention her existence to his parents, leaving her to sit upright in a tense position that was causing her back to ache. She leaned her head left and right to reduce the tightness in her neck and shoulders. Gabriel sensed her tension.
“I didn’t tell them about you because you don’t know my mother,” he said. “She would start calling every hour, asking a million questions, then she would want to go shopping to get you gifts. After that, she would call back six more times for your dress, shoe, and bra size, all leading up to the winning jackpot question of when are we going to give her grandchildren.”
“I understand,” she said. “I will be a surprise for certain. Does Tameka know I’m coming?”
“No, she doesn’t,” he said. “My hopes were that would be a welcomed treat for your friend as well.”
Her quietness was concerning him. They would enter the outskirts of Little Rock soon and she was too quiet for his liking. He needed to get her mind onto something else.
“Let’s stop for breakfast and call your parents, you know, to touch base,” he said. “We’ve been on the road since Friday and now we are on Monday, not getting back to Ohio until the weekend. Just to be safe, let’s give them an update.”
He said it with a smile, but she didn’t feel like smiling. They were being stalked by two crazy people who wanted to have sex with them and maybe dismember their bodies and keep their ears for souvenirs or worse. A man had been hiding in the back seat of their car. Judy was staked out in the bushes like some animal ready to pounce on her prey and to make matters worse, those two numbskulls were tracking them with a simple device. The world was coming to an end.
Buckeye and the Babe Page 8