Kate's Run
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: You know the drill. Rating: K. Time: See below.
"Wha'? Huh?" Alexis muttered.
"We have company."
The boy spoke.
"Hi. I'm Joe Hill and this is my girlfriend, Mae Clark. You have a motor vehicle? I've never seen one up close before. Can I look it over?"
"Sure." Kate said. "But don't touch anything."
The boy went around the truck, looking at everything. The girl stayed where she was, glaring at the women.
"Joe's daddy owns a thousand-acre farm. It's the biggest one between New Windsor and Port Bellamy. He's the only son and he's going to marry me! Understand?"
"I'm sure he's quite a catch, but we're just passing through." Kate said.
"I need to go pee." Tilla said.
"Okay. You two give us a couple of minutes, okay?" Kate said.
They were back to find Joe still looking at the truck with awe.
"Is there any place around here we can get some food?" Kate asked. "We're getting tired of energy bars and we're running out of them as well. And we need some gasoline."
"You can get food at Tiny's. His place is about ten miles down the road. I don't know if he has any gasoline."
"Would you like to ride with us?" Kate asked.
"You mean in the truck? Sure. We'd love to." Joe said. Mae didn't look as happy.
As happens, Tiny weighed about three hundred pounds, mostly in his stomach. He said he'd make them a full breakfast and sell them food for the road.
"Now about gas, I just don't know. Mr. Sherwood comes through about every six months with his truck selling stuff from Firenza. He's even got stuff from off planet. The gas I have, I'm saving for him. He's a good customer."
Kate smiled and took a fifty-dollar bill from inside her jacket and out it down on the counter. She put her hand over it so just the 50 on the corner was visible.
"Well, Mr. Sherwood was last here three months ago, and I reckon I could find him some gas between now and when he comes through. That'll be five dollars a gallon."
Kate smiled and lifted her hand off of the bill. It disappeared.
Now fed and with food and gas they were about to leave when a man came up to them.
"Is this your truck?" he asked.
"No, a friend lent it to us." Kate replied.
"Would you be interested in making some money?" he asked.
"Doing what?"
"My name is Don Hill and I own a big farm here abouts. I need someone to take my crop to Port Bellamy."
"What the crop?"
"Cannabis. Oh, don't worry. Cannabis or marihuana is legal here in New Windsor."
"More like it ain't illegal." Tiny said. "Our dumb great grandparents didn't have time to go around making many things either legal or illegal before things started turning to shit. Even if it was, the damned lazy New Windsor Patrol ain't been out here for over three years. Useless twits."
"Once at Port Bellamy, it's going to be put on a ship for Firenza. Now Firenza is a conservative Catholic colony, but cannabis is allowed for some medical uses, such as depression. I understand there are a lot of depressed wealthy people in Firenza."
"How much marijuana are we supposed to take and what's the pay?"
"You'll be taking about six hundred pounds and I'll pay you fifty dollars each, plus, I'll pay you for the gas you already bought, the food you've bought and the fifty you gave Tiny. I'll also add in three five-gallon cans of gas since you have just about enough to make it to Port Bellamy. If you run into trouble, you could end up pushing the truck for a ways."
"What do we do when we get to Port Bellamy?"
"Go to Mikkleson and Company. Port Bellamy isn't that large, so you'll have no trouble finding them."
"Let me talk with my friends."
They went out by the truck and talked.
"What do you think?" Kate asked.
"We might as well. There doesn't seem to be much law in this place. I say we take the job."
Tilla nodded.
"It's not like we're law-abiding citizens anymore. Not that I was always so law abiding."
"Okay, we go." Kate said and returned to Hill.
"We'll take the job."
"Okay, but there's one more thing. I'm sending one of my people with you."
"Don't you trust us?" Kate demanded.
"I don't have to worry about trusting you. I know if three strangers showed up trying to peddle six hundred pounds of cannabis, anyone you'd try to sell it to would know right away that you'd gotten it from me and gotten it illegally. We don't have a lot of laws out here, but we do know how to take care of thieves."
"Okay." Kate said, although she was worried.
"Timmy, come out here and meet your new traveling companions."
Timmy was at least six feet, four and probably weighed about two hundred and thirty pounds, all muscle. He was broad shouldered and narrow waisted. Over one shoulder was an obsolete but still dangerous Chinese automatic rifle and over the other shoulder was a bandoleer of rifle clips. He had on a backpack and a pistol belt. The belt held a heavy automatic pistol, spare pistol ammo, two canteens and a first aid kit. Kate thought Timmy might be all of sixteen years old.
"How old are you, Timmy?" She asked.
"I just turned seventeen five days ago, ma'am."
"Have you ever shot anyone, Timmy?"
"No, ma'am. I've shot at a few people trying to steal from Mr. Hill, but I always aimed to miss, and I always missed."
"This is the best you've got? Suppose we run into trouble?"
"Timmy, what do you do if you run into trouble?" Hill asked.
"I keep shooting until either the bad folks are dead or I am."
"Okay, he goes with us. But there's one thing. Timmy is a good name for a boy, but not for a man. From now on he's Tim."
Tim smiled.
"Yes, ma'am."
The truck was loaded up, with the cannabis, food and gas was stored wherever there was room, and the four took off down the road. Tim sat in the back of the truck while the three women sat in the cab. Kate kept an eye on Tim and one hand on the butt of her pistol.
"I'll say one thing for Tim." She said after a few hours. "He's keeping his head on a swivel. No one's going to sneak up on us."
They stopped about an hour before sunset and turned off the road into a stand of trees in a small gully. With any luck, no one passing on the road would notice them. They ate and decided that Tiny's food was very good. Once it was dark, they got ready to go to bed. The women were on one side of the truck and Tim was on the other. No sooner had Alexis lain down, than she got back up again.
"Where are you going?" Kate asked.
"I'm going to go sleep on the other side of the truck."
"Do you know what you're doing?"
"Really? Do you have to ask me that?" Alexis laughed.
Kate slept lightly and was woken up several times by high pitched female squeals, moans, groans and one loud male yell.
When they got up the next morning, Alexis looked quite rested, but Tim looked a bit tired.
"Get a good night's sleep, Tim?" Kate asked sarcastically.
"Yes, ma'am. The best I've ever had."
Once they'd eaten, they got back on the road.
"Guess what?" Alexis said when the noise of the engine was too loud for Tim to hear them. "I was his first. I didn't think anyone in the whole universe could reach seventeen and not have ever been laid. Oh, and I'm not calling him Tim anymore. From now on he's Horse."
"Why?" Kate said without thinking. Then she realized what Alexis meant.
"Is it because he has cloven hooves and iron shoes?" Tilla teased.
Alexis stuck her tongue out at them.
"You're just jealous because he chose me."
"Actually, you chose him." Kate shot back. "And be sure to tell him that we're not available. At least I'm not."
"Me either." Tilla said quickly.
"Don't worry. I already told him that neither of you can compete with me. He's my man."
"I thought he'd be your horse." Kate said.
The trip to Port Bellamy took five days. Each day when they woke up, Alexis looked bright, cheerful and ready for anything. Tim, or Horse, looked more and more haggard and worn out as each day and each night passed. Finally, on the last day of their trip, he fell sound asleep in the back of the truck.
Kate didn't mind that their bodyguard wasn't doing his job. The area they were passing through was quite well populated. Well populated for New Windsor, anyway. There were farms and little villages along the way and people came out to gawk at the unfamiliar sight of a motor vehicle and wave at the occupants. After a bit, the three women smiled and waved back.
They reached the city of Port Bellamy and the first person they asked directed them to Mikkleson and Company's office and warehouse.
"Is Mr. Mikkleson in?" Kate asked, pulling into a warehouse.
"That's me. You must be bringing me cannabis from Don Hill."
"That's us." Kate said.
"Timmy?" Mikkleson yelled. "Are you there?"
Tim came staggering off of the truck and walked to Mikkleson.
"Yes, sir. I have the bill of lading right here. Six hundred pounds of cannabis."
Mikkleson looked at the bill of lading and then at the cargo.
"Six hundred pounds it is." He said and signed the bill and returned it to Tim.
"How is the cargo going to get to Firenza?" Kate asked.
"It'll be put on a sailing ship, the Goddess of the Waves. That's what they call her, although she's a pretty beat up goddess. You thinking of going to Firenza?"
"We might." Kate said, not wanting anyone to know too much about their plans in case some of Bracken's goons showed up.
"Well, I sure wouldn't recommend going on the Goddess. The Gray Funnel Line has a steamship headed for Firenza in a few days. It's the Fantastic, Captain Bell. You'd get better accommodations as well as better food and since she's steam powered, you won't be at the mercy of the winds."
Kate wasn't too sure what steam powered meant, but she was sure it meant the ship had an engine.
"How much would three tickets cost?"
"Um, first class would be about one hundred and fifty dollars in gold. Do you have that much?"
Again, Kate didn't want to let on too much about their finances.
"I think we can swing it."
"Do you own that truck?"
"Of course." She lied.
"I'll give you five hundred in gold for it. I have a lot of things I have to move around town. It'd come in handy."
"Five hundred? No way. A thousand."
"A thousand? That's just too much. I could go to five seventy-five."
Kate counter offered and they eventually settled at seven twenty-five.
TBC