Chapter Twenty-Nine

Javier was getting more and more concerned as he drove east, watching the traffic on the westbound side of Interstate 10 get heavier and slower. Finally, just east of Mobile, what he was dreading hove into view: the eastbound lanes were blocked, all traffic rerouted off the highway, and those lanes up ahead given over to westbound traffic to allow as many vehicles to escape the hurricane as possible. He followed the few other cars down the off-ramp, but tried to turn the other way as the rest were directed into a U-Turn.

Suddenly a patrol car blocked his path, and a uniformed – and armed – police officer was looming up in his window. "No eastbound traffic beyond this point, sir, you'll have to turn around. This entire section of coast is being evacuated before the hurricane."

Javier swallowed hard, and tried for reasonable first. "I understand that, officer, but my wife is trapped in Panama City – " That was as far as he got.

"Sorry, sir, but you cannot get through. If that's where she was, she's no longer there; the entire city is under mandatory evacuation. She's already left."

"But she's got no way out!"

"Then she's been put on a bus. Turn around, find a hotel, and go to the Red Cross website. They've got a special page for evacuees to alert friends and families where they are."

They went back and forth a few more times, Javier getting increasingly desperate, and the officer just digging in his heels, warning Javier not to try any other roads, either, as every single one into the area was roadblocked by police. Finally, the man stepped back and put his hand on his pistol butt. "Sir, I have given you directions of what you must do. Now I'm giving you a direct order. Turn this car around and get back on the highway, now!" Shutting his mouth with a snap, his stance made it abundantly clear what would happen should this obstinate civilian refuse.

Javier threw up his hands. "All right, all right!" He slowly turned the steering wheel the other way, the officer edging back to allow him to pass – to the left and into the U-Turn, past several other officers directing the remaining cars onto the freeway.

Most of the traffic seemed to be continuing due west on the Interstate, so after Mobile Javier turned onto a smaller highway angling northwest and inland. When he reached Hattiesburg, he pulled off and into a strip mall – and found himself facing a Verizon store. Realizing he was going to be in the US longer than he had hoped, and needed faster, more reliable access to the US net, he took his cell phone inside and got a temporary, two-month contract on it with a US number.

Walking back outside, his stomach growled, and he realized he hadn't eaten since the night before; so, grimacing, he walked across the parking lot to Applebees and choked down a burger at the bar, washing it down with a beer, trying not to think.

Back in his car, he tried the Red Cross website, but of course there was no listing for either Letty or Christian. Very likely neither of them would believe anyone else would be searching for them. Desolate and once more helpless, he simply sat and watched the storm clouds – far outliers from the hurricane – slowly roll in.

It was nearing evening when suddenly his newly-connected phone buzzed – he had an email. Picking it up, his eyes widened – it was from KronosKai. The tracer still hadn't managed to track down either of their cell phone numbers – the US still refused to allow a central directory of them, so anyone searching for one had to crawl through dozens of individual providers' listings, often through the back door as they were not public – but he had something else. Christian's credit card number.

And it had just been used to check two people into a hotel in Birmingham.