Blown for Good - Marc Morgan Headley [162]
“Okay. So how will I know where to go?” she asks.
“I already found a bus online that leaves around 12:45 p.m. It is only going to take you around twenty minutes to get there from Wal-Mart. You will have a few minutes to call me, get your ticket and get on the bus. It is going to Barstow. When you get to Barstow, call me from a payphone and I will give you your ticket to Kansas City and I will pick you up there. As long as you can get to Barstow okay, you will be fine. We can get you the rest of the way. Barstow is north and even if they do figure out that is where you are going; you will be heading a totally different direction once you get there.”
“Okay, so I am going to do this,” Claire says. “I have to go, I think someone is coming.”
“Okay, call me when you get to the bus station! I love you!” I say before she hangs up.
Wow, is this really happening? I think to myself. I think it is. If she gets out of there, we are going to have to figure out what she can do. We might be able to actually have some kids! Wow, this is going to be great! I try not to get my hopes up too much as she could get caught and then they would lock her up for good. It would be years before she was ever allowed off the property again, if ever. I have seen that happen enough times to know that for a fact. The wife or husband leaves and then the other one gets caught trying to leave. They make the person a dishwasher for the next ten years and restrict them to the base forever. That is probably what happened to Annie Tidman. She was married to Pat Broeker and was restricted to the Ranch and then the Int Base for years. Wow, I hope that does not happen to Claire!
The next two days are murder. Before this, all I was trying to do was forget and now there might be a chance that Claire and I could be together and then, no matter the consequences, we could start over and have a life. All I can think about were the chances she would get caught. Was there something else that we were not taking into account? Would she get interrogated before she tried to blow the base? Would she get caught calling the cab? It was torture just not knowing.
Chapter Thirty-Five – Route 66
The day arrives. It is just about 2:00 p.m. my time. I am expecting her call any second. 12:20 p.m. her time comes and goes. Nothing yet. Then the phone rings. It is her calling on the damn Nextel!
“Why are you calling on the Nextel?” I yell into the phone, instantly concerned, knowing that this will allow Security to trace her.
“I didn’t know what else to do. None of the pay phones here take any coins! They only take calling cards and I have no idea what a calling card is or even where to get one. The bus is leaving in a few minutes so I had to do something! I called so I can get my ticket number! Do you have it?” she explains.
“Yes, I do.” I give her the number. “So how the hell did you get out of there?”
“Well, everything was good up until the morning I left. I was expecting that Jocelyn from the Medical Office would drop me off as she usually does. Then at the last minute I was told that I would be escorted instead and that Christi Mullins would be driving me there, would be with me during the appointment and would then bring me back.”
“Oh, crap, how did you manage to get away then?” I was amazed that my wife was this good at being “out-ethics”.
“Well, when we pulled up to the Wal-Mart, I could see the cab waiting at the other entrance. I told Christi that I would run in while she found a parking spot.”
“Good thinking!”
“Yeah, huh? Anyway, I went in one entrance, ran across the store, went out the other exit and got right into the cab that was waiting.”
“Oh, my god, baby, you did it!” I am so happy. “So, did they follow you, what happened with Christi?”
“Well, after a few minutes she called