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Road Rage

Chapter nine

Early the next morning

Van woke up still huddled in the tight ball he had fallen asleep in while trying to stay warm. Even though he was freezing sweat ran down his face from the infection in his body. He tried to stretch out and groaned when every part of his body protested. His ribs were killing him and it was getting harder and harder to get a decent breath. He tried standing but soon found out that was a bad idea. His leg couldn't support his weight and he collapsed back to the ground. He found one of the bottles of beer that Miller had left for him and drained it, hoping to ease a little of his pain. Finally he managed to crawl over to the stick he was using as a crutch and pulled himself up. Well now that I'm up, what do I do? He wondered. He stood quietly for a moment trying to think. During the night flashes of memories came back to him in dreams. He once more remembered a black man, but this time there were two black men. One he remembered dying in his arms. The grief of that moment had come back to him and he had awoken briefly tears streaming down his face. Then he remembered another black man. He remembered arguing with the man but he also remembered a deep kind of friendship with him as well. Was that Deaq? He thought so but wasn't sure. Deaq had said he would find him and everything would be okay. He wondered if Deaq was still looking for him. Van looked around at the empty canyon and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He reached in his pocket and took out the pills Miller had given him. Another image flashed in his mind of him handing a pretty dark haired woman a badge or something and she locking it in a safe. Why would she do that? And what was the badge? Am I some kind of a cop? He squeezed his eyes shut as another pain shot through his head. He was tempted to take the pills but he put them back in his pocket, he figured he'd try and hold off on taking them as long as possible, but if the pain got too bad he knew he wouldn't hesitate. He had no idea what kind of pills they were but he was probably going to die anyway and why not make it a little less painful.

Near the wreckage site

Blake and Woodward could see flashing lights off in the distance.

"Great! The cops must have found the car." Blake said as they stopped their bikes far enough away that they wouldn't be noticed.

"Yeah well, let's get the hell out of here before they spot us."

They turned and slowly drove off trying to keep their dust trail as small as possible. Hopefully if the cops spotted them they would think they were just bikers out having fun and not wanted by the law. When they had driven far enough away and were sure that the cops couldn't see them they stopped.

"I got an idea." Blake said. "If that guy had a car full of dope, he might have more at his house."

"Yeah well how are we going to find out where that is?"

Blake smiled as he took out Van's wallet and looked through it for his driver's license. When he found it, he looked at the address, then stuck it angrily back in the wallet.

"What's wrong?" Woodward asked.

"It's a route number."

"Well that's the end of that idea."

"Not necessarily. Let's go back to where we left him."

"Hey, the dude doesn't even know his name for sure, how the hell is he going to be able to tell us where he lives?"

"Maybe he can't, but I'm hoping his friend can." Blake said as he held up Van's cell phone.

Later in the afternoon

Blake and Woodward arrived at their campsite but Van was no longer there. They looked around and soon found him. He had wandered a short distance over to a steep cliff and was sitting in the shade at the bottom of it.

"Hey buddy." Blake said as they got off their motorcycles and walked over to him.

"Hey." Van gave them a small nervous smile, he wasn't happy to see them. Maybe if Miller was with them he would have felt differently. Miller at least appeared to be a little sympathetic but he knew these two men didn't give a damn about him.

"We need a little info from you." Woodward said.

Van looked at them confused. What information could he possibly give them?

"We need to know where you live."

"I…I don't know…I can't remember."

"Well maybe your buddy does." Blake took out the phone and hit redial. He hoped the man at the other end was a friend of the man in front of him and wouldn't want him hurt.

"Van!" Deaq answered immediately.

"Yeah, your buddy's here."

Deaq held up his hand stopping the search party and silencing them while he talked.

"What's going on? Put Van on."

"He's uh…not feeling so well."

Deaq glanced at Billie and she could see the worry on his face. Could Van already be dead?

"What do you want?"

"I want to know where your friend lives."

"And why should I tell you that?"

"Because if you don't, your friend is going to be feeling a lot worse then he is already."

"How do I know that he's even there?"
Blake held the phone out to Van.

"Deaq?"

"Yeah buddy it's me. How are you doing?"

"Not so good."

Blake pulled the phone away.

"Now tell me where he lives."

"I'm not sure." As Deaq talked he motioned for someone to give him a pen and pad. When he had one he quickly wrote down what was happening and gave it to Billie.

"You're not sure?" Blake backhanded Van hard across his face. Van grunted in pain and fell to his side.

"You're friend is looking worse by the minute." Blake said as he kicked Van in the stomach. Van cried out and started groaning as he drew his legs up toward his chest.

"Oh God Deaq tell him." He moaned through bloody teeth.

Deaq shut his eyes and gripped the phone tight as he heard his partner being beaten.

Billie quickly wrote an address on the note pad and handed it back to Deaq.

"Okay, okay!" Deaq yelled into the phone, he prayed that by giving them an address they would leave his partner alone.

"He lives at 1282 Oak Ridge Drive."

"You better be telling us the truth or we're coming back here and putting your friend out of his misery."

"I'm telling you the truth…Please just don't hurt him anymore." Deaq's voice cracked with emotion as he spoke.

There was no answer as the phone went dead.

TBC