Chapter 17

"This must be the place," Dani said as she pulled up to the open garage door. The truck tires rolled over a hose on the cement, and a high pitched bell announced their arrival with a quick ting ting. A handsome man with closely cropped dark hair came out of the office, a pleasant smile on his face as he squinted into the morning sun.

"Mornin', ladies! How can I help ya?"

Dani glanced at the name tag on his shirt. "You're Darrin."

"Yes, ma'am! Need a fill up?"

"No, I need my engine looked at. I had a really hard time starting it this morning, and it didn't want to stay running when it was in idle."

"Maybe a stuck valve. See if ya can get it started up and drive it into the bay there, and I'll check it out."

"Thanks, Darrin." Dani smiled, got into the truck, and after some cranking, it fired up. She drove it inside under his direction and stopped. The truck immediately died. "See what I mean?"

"Yeah, no problem. I'll take a look at it and probly have it fixed this mornin' yet. If ya ladies wanna go down the street to the cafe there, I'll come and get ya when I'm done."

"How long do you think this will take?"

"Let me take a look first, and then I'll do an estimate on time and money." He popped the hood on the truck, secured it, and leaned over the engine. After a few minutes of pulling and prodding, he stood straight. "Yep, looks like a stuck valve. It shouldn't take too long to fix, and it won't cost ya that much. Fifty bucks, tops."

"Alright, sounds good," Dani said. "If you don't mind, we'll just stick around while you work."

"Suit yerself." Darrin immediately went to work and forgot about the two women hovering nearby.

"Is this your shop," Dani asked.

"Yep." He grunted as he worked to free a bolt.

"You work it alone?"

"Most times. I had a fella in here a few weeks ago, worked for me for awhile." He came out from under the hood and straightened his cap. Grease from his fingers stained the bill. "He was a real nice guy, worked hard. I was really upset that he had ta leave."

"It's hard to find good help."

"Yeah, don't I know it! 'Specially in this town! Can't get any kids outta high school, they jest wanna leave town and go ta college or inta the military." He shook his head. "Evrybody else, well, the other guys I tried jest didn't have the aptitude, ya know?"

Dani smiled and leaned her arms on the fender. "So, this guy must have been something special."

"Yeah, he was." Suddenly, a shadow of a frown crossed his face. "Well, I'll, uh, get ta work here and have this fixed in a jiffy!"

"What's the matter?"

"Nothin'. Jest don't wanna waste yer valuable time." He tried a smile, but it was uneasy.

Dani knew in an instant what was wrong. She hesitated, glanced at Elsa, and then got under the hood with him. "Darrin, did Jake ask you not to tell anyone about him if someone came around asking questions?"

"I... I got no idea what yer talkin' about."

"Uh huh." She pulled her credentials from her purse and held them up for him to clearly see. "My name is Danielle Pearce. I'm with the CIA. That woman with me is Elsa, Jake's girlfriend."

Darrin glanced at her, shock written on his face, and quickly turned away. "I don't know nothin'."

"Darrin, please. This is life or death. If you know anything about Jake, it's very important that you tell us. His life may be in danger, and the sooner we figure out where he is right now, the better off he'll be."

Darrin turned back to them. He studied her identification. To him, it looked legitimate. He let out a sigh of surrender and straightened. "Okay. When Jake came in here, he had some expensive repairs to his truck that he didn't have the cash fer, so he right away offered to work fer me to pay it off. He did, too. Busted his butt takin' care of my customers." Darrin stuck his head back under the hood. "When word got out, a whole bunch of people who were takin' their vehicles to the next town started comin' in here." He turned his head. "I'm sorry, Miz... Agent Pearce, ye probly don't care about my little sob story, missin' Jake and all the business he brought me."

"It's okay. We'd like to hear more about him." Dani gave him a smile of encouragement.

"It's not like I know a whole lot 'bout him. Jake pretty much kept his personal life private. He stayed at the motel, came in here ev'ry day and worked hard, and when he paid off his debt, I started payin' him fair and square. He seemed to like the work."

The bell sounded, signaling that Darrin had another customer.

"Be right back."

It was a customer with a car that needed fixing, so he took a little while working with them. Then he was back, and the customer left with the promise that the car would be ready later that day.

"How long was Jake working for you," Elsa asked.

"About a month, I'd say." He got under the hood and tugged on something, and the whole truck shook. "Dang, ya got somethin' stuck in here good! No wonder ya got problems, Agent Pearce!"

"Please, call me Dani."

"Alright, Dani. You ladies care fer some coffee? I got some in the office. Or ya can grab a soda from the little fridge under my desk." He looked at Dani and grinned. "It's my lil' stash fer customers. The machine out there's fer the ones that stop by jest fer a drink and to shoot the breeze."

"Thanks." Dani acknowledged the invitation but didn't make a move. She stayed where she was. "So, did Jake ever tell you about himself? Where he was from, or where he was going?"

Darrin pulled back from the truck and gave her a hard look. "Is he in trouble with the government?"

"It's a long story I don't really want to get into. Let's just say we're trying to help him." Dani paused. "Please, is there anything else you can tell us about him or where he went?"

"Not really," Darrin answered with a shrug. "We talked about baseball and typical guy stuff, y'know, but he never wanted to talk about himself. I know he was in the Navy. My wife figured that out."

"How did she do that?"

Darrin finished up the repair as he told them the story of the day that Jake saved the two boys from the experiment that went wrong in the Jackson family's garage. He laughed. "Those boys caused a lotta damage. The Jacksons'll have to rebuild that garage, and the car inside was totaled. They weren't too happy 'bout that, but at least Corey survived the ordeal. Their momma was disappointed that Jake left town so fast after that." He paused and thought. "Was kinda strange how he was like... like he was afraid of the attention. He was always so low profile. Don't know if it was shyness or what. I got a feelin' somethin' else was goin' on, but he couldn't tell us. And I was like the closest thing to a friend he had around here."

"Sounds like Jake," Elsa said.

"Yeah? I tell ya what, though, he never once hesitated when it came to savin' them kids. He just tore down the two blocks to their house, stopped maybe a few seconds to get a gander at what was goin' on, and then he went in. He came out with Corey, laid him on the grass and jest started doin' that mouth to mouth stuff. Saved that boy's life for sure."

He told them about the aftermath, and how Jake wound up at his home. "My wife discovered that tattoo on his arm and she went lookin' on the internet. Wasn't long after that he left. He shoulda stayed overnight at least. He had a burn on his back, and my wife coulda taken care of it."

Elsa looked at him with alarm. "A burn? Was it serious?"

"Second degree, Katie said. He had some meds fer the pain, but he left 'em behind. Katie's still got 'em, but she was gonna take 'em back to the clinic fer disposal." He wiped his hands on a shop towel and smiled. "I think we're all set now, if ya wanna try it out."

"Okay, thanks." Dani got into the truck and turned the key. The engine started right up. She grinned.

"Alrighty, now take yer foot off the gas and see how it idles."

She did so, and the engine practically purred like a kitten. After a few seconds, she turned it off and got out. "Wow, I think it sounds even better since you fixed it!"

"Yeah, shouldn't give ya any trouble now. I cleaned out some gunk from the other valves while I was in there. No charge."

"Thanks, Darrin. I appreciate it." Dani followed him into the office to settle up the bill. She handed him sixty dollars, ten more than they agreed. With a smile, she asked, "Do you mind if Elsa and I swing by your house and talk to your wife about Jake?"

"No, not at all." Darrin looked at them strangely. "But only if you tell me what's really goin' on here. Why are you so interested in him?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that." Dani looked deeply into his eyes as she spoke. "It's a matter of... national security."

Darrin paled, and his mouth dropped open. "He ain't like some terrorist or somethin', is he?"

Dani laughed. "No, he's not. He's one of the good guys." Her expression turned serious. "But if anyone else comes around asking about him, deny everything."

Darrin dropped into his chair, and the women looked at him with concern. "This is serious, ain't it. It's probly best that I don't know nothin'. I promised Jake that if anybody came around askin' about him, I wouldn't say a word. I'd deny I even knew him." He took off his hat and slapped it on his thigh. "And what'd I do? I flapped my gums like a kid outta school!"

"Yeah, you did, but we're the good guys, too. Anybody else, be suspicious. Very suspicious, even if they show up with a CIA badge." She met his scared eyes. "There are things going on here that you don't need to know about. But the information you gave us might help us find Jake and save him from the guys who aren't so nice."

Darrin looked up at the two women as he tried to digest what he'd heard. Then he reached into the fridge and pulled out some sodas. "Here. I don't know 'bout you, but I could sure use one of these." He popped the caps off, took a long swig of his, and said, "Come on. I'll close up the shop and take ya to meet my wife. She's workin' at the clinic right now."

"Thanks, Darrin," Elsa said.

He looked into her eyes and saw that this woman loved Jake and was eager to find him. Darrin locked up the garage with Dani's truck still inside. He figured that might be safer than leaving it out in the open, if things were really as bad as this agent implied. He walked with them the three blocks to the clinic and entered to find a few people waiting to see the doctor. Katie was behind the receptionist window looking at a chart.

"Hey, honey!"

"Darrin, are you okay?" Concern clouded her features and she entered the waiting area.

"I'm fine, darlin'. Can you, uh, come outside fer a minute?"

"Sure." She set the chart on the counter. "Mary, can you put this back? Thanks." She followed Darrin and the two women outside, and they stopped at the side of the building away from traffic. "Darrin, what's goin' on?"

Dani decided to skip the coy disguises now that Darrin knew who she was. She pulled out her credentials. "I'm Agent Dani Pearce, CIA. We talked to Darrin, and we know about Jake. Your husband said that you took care of him."

"Jake," Katie breathed his name and stood with her mouth hanging open a little. Then she recovered and shook her head. "I'm not sure what I can tell you. He came to our house with an injury, and I didn't do anything for him, just helped make him comfortable. He left not long after he arrived, and he left his medication behind."

"Do you still have it?"

"Yes, I do. Funny, I've had it in my pocket all mornin' and jest never got 'round to disposin' of it." She pulled it out and held it up, but pulled it out of Dani's reach. "If I give this to ya, promise you'll give it to Jake when ya see him?"

"I promise. Although, hopefully by now he won't need it." Dani smiled.

"Alright. Here ya go."

Dani glanced at the label. She didn't see anything that would help them find Sam on it, so after a few seconds, she handed it back to Katie. "Why don't you just get rid of it? Like I said, he shouldn't need it anymore, right?"

"No, he shouldn't. I'll take care of it."

"Thanks. And thank you both for being a friend to him while he was here. In his situation, friends are hard to come by."

"That's why yer tryin' to find him?" Katie asked with a deep furrow to her brow.

"Yes. And like I told Darrin, we're very concerned for his well-being. He's in danger, and we need to locate him."

"I see." She hesitated, biting her bottom lip. "I heard from one of the locals who came in here the other day that Jake was seen up in Alberta about two weeks after he left here."

"Alberta, Canada?"

"Naw!" Katie laughed. "It's a little town, well, bigger'n this town, anyway. He was buyin' a truck with some guy."

Dani let out a breath. "Do you think you could tell us who said they saw him?"

"I'm sorry, I can't. They were a patient here."

"Okay. So where can we find Alberta?"

Darrin gave them directions, and after Dani and Elsa retrieved the truck, they thanked him for his assistance and prepared to leave.

"Hey, if ya see Jake... can ya tell him I miss him?"

"Sure." Dani smiled. "Maybe you'll see him again some day." She and Elsa waved goodbye and went on their way. They checked out of the motel and headed down the county road that would lead them to Alberta.