Blown for Good - Marc Morgan Headley [163]
‘Okay, so they definitely know that you have blown by now and will be watching to see where you call. Damn! Well, whatever, get on the bus and get to Barstow. Turn your phone off and hopefully they don’t figure it out so quickly. At least you are out. Do you have anything with you?”
“Just the clothes that I am wearing and my purse which has a few small things crammed into it. I wore three layers of clothes but any more would have looked too suspicious. So that is all I have.”
“Do you have any money?” I ask.
“Not much - $200.”
“Okay. Well, save what you have for food for the trip. Sleep as much as you can on the bus,” I tell her, almost not even believing that this is happening.
“I love you, baby,” she says.
“I love you too.” I hang up.
It is happening! I run in and tell my dad.
“She got out!” I tell him.
“She did?”
“Yes! She is on her way to Barstow!” I am so excited that I get on the computer to see when the bus will get to Barstow. People bad mouth Greyhound, but they keep a pretty tight schedule. The bus schedules are literally down to the minute on arrivals and departures. I have mapped out the entire trip and know every time that she would be in every single city. I will be able to track her the whole way to Kansas City.
The trip to Barstow is not that long. I have the entire itinerary printed out starting in Barstow and am going to make sure that she makes it through every stop. I even know the route she will be taking, too. It is almost like I know it by heart, but backwards. She is going to be traveling on Route 66!
Location
Arrives
Departs
BARSTOW, CA
03:55pm
LAS VEGAS, NV
6:30pm
LAS VEGAS, NV
Transfer
08:15pm
HENDERSON, NV
08:35pm
08:35pm
KINGMAN, AZ
11:00pm
11:20pm
FLAGSTAFF, AZ
01:45am
FLAGSTAFF, AZ
Transfer
02:45am
HOLBROOK, AZ
04:25am
04:25am
RS GALLUP BURGER KIN, NM
06:50am
07:10am
GALLUP, NM
07:15am
07:20am
GRANTS, NM
08:30am
08:30am
ALBUQUERQUE, NM
10:00am
11:10am
TUCUMCARI, NM
02:00pm
02:30pm
AMARILLO, TX
05:20pm
06:50pm
ELK CITY, OK
09:20pm
09:40pm
EL RENO, OK
11:05pm
11:05pm
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK
11:40pm
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK
Transfer
12:01am
WICHITA, KS
02:45am
03:00am
KANSAS CITY, MO
06:05am
She would be arriving in Barstow in about two hours. I get everything ready to track her the whole way.
At 4:45 p.m. my time, the phone rings. It is an unknown number.
“Claire?”
“Yeah. I am here in Barstow.”
“Awesome. Okay you have a bit of a layover there. The bus is supposed to leave around 3:50 p.m. your time.”
“Okay, I am going to get something to eat and get my tickets and get on the bus,” she tells me.
“It is going to take you two days to get here. You know that, right?” I want to make sure she knows that because taking a bus that far has got to be the longest way to get across the states. But for the price, what are you gonna do? Also, the airports will be crawling with people trying to track her down.
“Call me when you get to Vegas. I will be waiting for your call,” I tell her.
“Okay, I will call you as soon as I get there. I love you.”
“I love you, baby. This will all work out okay,” I say, hoping that it will.
We both hang up.
This is going to cause my entire head of hair to turn grey. The suspense between bus stations is excruciating, knowing that at any point, they could try and capture her and bring her back to the Int Base.
It is around 8:30 my time. Claire should be arriving in Las Vegas any minute now. Five minutes goes by and no call from Claire. Another ten minutes goes by and nothing. Then the phone rings. It is not Claire. The caller ID on my cell says “Greg Wilhere.” Not good! He knows my new number? They tracked that Nextel call! I answer.
“Hello, Greg.” I say, realizing he knows Claire has blown and is most likely coming out to see me.
“Hey, Marc. So I am here with Claire in Las Vegas,” Greg says.
My stomach literally drops