CHAPTER 9
The disclaimer continues.
"Pick me up." Telford said tersely into his radio a few minutes later. He climbed out of the SUV and calmly shot two of the tyres. He attended to a few last chores. He then took one last look at the unconscious FBI agent knowing how easy it would be to put a round through his head. His hand flexed around the butt of the gun now holstered at his hip. His thumb moved over the thumb break, releasing it just as the vehicle arriving behind him interrupted his thoughts. Shaking his head at his employer's folly he reclipped the holster as he went back to meet to the other vehicle.
"He's still alive?" His employer asked.
"Yes."
"I know you don't approve." His employer stated. "But we cannot kill him. This is not what we are all about. He is really one of us, even if he doesn't realise it."
"I understand." Telford finally looked at his employer. "The cost was very high."
"Yes. Yes it was. But worth it."
Telford held his own counsel on that point.
The vehicle turned around and drove away.
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Don first became aware of a raging headache followed by a raging thirst. Within a few moments full awareness returned and he jerked awake. His left hand went to his head and he suddenly realised he was no longer handcuffed. He looked wildly around him. He was alone. He grabbed his flashlight from the centre console and leapt out from his SUV shining the light around him in all directions. No one, all clear. He looked back at his SUV and grimaced when saw the two flat tyres. He started to reach for his phone before remembering it was somewhere on the freeway back in LA. Who knew how far he had to go to get to a landline phone, he hadn't exactly been paying attention to where the last sign of occupation had been.
Don turned back to his SUV and found the keys back in the ignition. He had a sudden thought and pressed his right hand onto his holster. His gun was back where it should be. He quickly drew it, ejected the clip and racked the action. He inspected the Glock and saw that it hadn't been tampered with. He replaced the clip and reholstered the gun. His discovered his handcuffs on the passenger seat along with the two envelopes Telford had given him. Don checked his watch and was surprised to see that it was almost four in the morning. He'd been out for a while. There must have been something else in with the chloroform.
He got back in and started up his SUV. Stumbling through the dark for who knew how many miles did not seem to be a good option at this point. He slowly turned his vehicle around trying to keep the tyres on the rims and rolled back the way he came. He could barely go 15 miles an hour but at least it was faster than walking pace. The probable damage to his rims was less of a concern than getting to a phone as quickly as possible.
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"Nothing." David reported later the next day. "The only tracks along that road were from your vehicle. They found where you had been stopped based on the marks you made turning around. There were some footprints heading back a short distance then they stopped. There were some faint marks possibly caused by another vehicle turning around. But that area is more rock than anything else. Since we can't find tyre impressions other than yours we're thinking that they were also driving SUV with the same type of tyres."
"Great." Don said frustrated. "So we got nothing again."
"Sorry Don." Colby said.
Don spent the remainder of the day going over the file hoping for some new inspiration but they seemed to have covered all the bases. Sighing he put the file back together, walked over to a small filing cabinet and filed it in the drawer marked 'UNSOLVED'.