Chapter Four
Reno went over to where he sat and looked over his shoulder. The phone in his hand rang and Reno snatched it from his hand to answer, “Mom, where are you?” she whispered shakily. “Are you okay?”
Crank waited with bated breath.
Reno listened, then she said, “Be careful mom.” She listened again and glanced at Crank while nodding at something her mother was saying, “Ok mom, I’ll be ready and waiting for you.
Just don’t let them catch you. Do you hear me, mom?
Don’t let them win. I love you.” Reno shuddered before handing the phone back to Crank. Her hand was shaking.
Crank stood and wrapped his arms around her. “What did she tell you?”
“She’s on the run again. She said they kicked her door in and she barely got away from them.
” Reno's voice was muffled as she leaned into her father’s chest. “She said there were two men and as she ran for the back door, one of them called out her name. She didn’t wait to hear anymore, she just ran.
She said she thinks she got away but it's too soon yet to know for sure.” She looked up at Crank and she whispered, “She's really scared this time. I’ve never heard that kind of fear in her voice before. She told me to be very careful tonight.”
“We just have to wait for her to get here,” Crank told her. “Then I’ll keep you both safe enough.”
Reno closed her eyes and snuggled into his chest. “I want to be so mad at you right now,” she whispered. “I want to hit you and ask where you have been for all my life but I can’t. I’m too worried about my mom.”
Crank groaned. “I would have been there, right beside you and your mom if I could have found her all those years ago. I would have traveled anywhere she was if I had only known. I had a ring in my pocket the day I came home and found her gone. I had rehearsed my proposal all day.”
Reno looked up at him and studied his eyes for a minute then she asked, “You were gonna marry her? Really?”
Crank nodded. “I knew my family didn’t like her much but they never gave me a solid reason why.
All dad would say is I had obligations to him and the business and I told him I’d leave if he wouldn’t accept her.
He told me not to be delusional. He had higher expectations for me.
I said I didn’t care what expectations he had for me, I was my own man and would make my own decisions.
He never gave up pushing me and a week after she left, I just walked out.
I did look for her. My search lasted for three years in fact, but I couldn’t find her.
Now I realize I was looking for her under the name Bennet, not Smith. ”
“Do you know what vehicle she’s driving?” Bouncer wanted to know.
Reno looked back at him and said, “She’s got a blue Bronco with a grey hood.”
Bouncer nodded and texted the information to his back up IT guy at the clubhouse. He told him to watch all the roads coming and going from Oakville as they didn’t know which road she was coming in on.
Bouncer looked around and sighed hard. “Now we play the waiting game. And pray that they don’t find her before we do.”
They sat down around the table at the bakery.
Ruthie got them all some coffee.
Crank held Reno’s phone and watched the red dot move closer. Time passed slowly with the tick of the clock.
After the second hour, Bouncer got a message from Hot Rod, his back up IT.
He said he saw a blue Bronco with a grey hood racing down the highway with a car in pursuit and the Bronco was moving fast. It was coming in on the 231 highway.
Bouncer told him to keep an eye on it. Then he looked at Crank and Reno.
“I think they found her. She’s speeding up and leading a chase. I got Hot Rod watching her.”
Crank looked down at the phone in his hand and he watched as the red dot was moving fast. Just then the red dot disappeared. “What the hell?’ He shook the phone. He looked up at Reno and said, “She’s gone.”
Reno took the phone from him and shut it down then she started it back up. She hit the tracker button and nothing showed up. She shook the phone and still nothing. She looked up at Crank and paled. “She wouldn’t just turn it off. Something’s gone wrong.”
Crank got up from his chair so fast the chair tipped over backward. He looked over at Titus and said, “You guys get her back to the compound. I’m going to try and find her mother.”
“You ain’t going alone, man.” Bouncer glared at him. “Titus can get Reno under protection. You and me we’ll find your Ursala.”
“Well, come on, let’s go,” Crank snapped.
Reno stood from the chair and reached inside her pocket. “Take my truck, it's out back and has a full tank of gas.” She tossed the key to Crank.
He grabbed them out of thin air and went through the kitchen to the back door.
Bouncer was right behind him.
When Crank got behind the wheel and turned the key, he paused a moment to listen to the engine purr. He nodded and then took off fast while spitting gravel under the wheels. As they left, a cloud of dust rose up in the parking lot behind the bakery.
Bouncer got a text on his phone and after he read it, he looked over at Crank. “Hot Rod says the other car must have forced the Bronco off the road. That's probably why you lost the signal.”
Crank’s fingers tightened on the steering wheel. “Can he see if she’s alive?”
Bouncer texted Hot Rod to see if there was any sign of life where the car went off the road.
Hot Rod texted back quickly and Bouncer read it.
“No sign of life yet, he says the car is only five miles out. He says it looked like there’s very little traffic and no car stopped to see if there was trouble or not. ”
“Fuck,” Crank swore while he sat forward searching for any sign of trouble.
Bouncer was searching as well and before long, he pointed at the dark tire tracks on the other side of the divided highway.
Crank nodded and began looking for a way to the other side of the highway. He found the closest turn around and made a complete turn with squealing tires and then hit the gas. Racing back to the spot where there were black tire marks. He slowed down and crept along the highway.
Bouncer leaned out through the open window of the truck to look.
Then Bouncer pointed to where the tire marks ended.
Crank slowed the truck down and finally stopped along the highway.
There were signs that a vehicle had gone into the ditch.
Crank stopped the truck and put it into park.
Then he threw the door open as both he and Bouncer jumped down.
They swiftly followed the flattened grass down into the ditch.
They found the Bronco and the accident looked bad at first. They saw a sizable dent in the back.
The Bronco had taken a direct hit and the back end looked crushed.
Crank moved around to the front and he held his breath as he reached the driver’s door.
There she was, a woman held into place by a seat belt but he could see blood on her face.
She looked pale and unconscious as he reached for the driver’s door.
The door held tight. He yanked and tugged on it then finally it popped open.
He reached inside with a shaky hand to place his trembling fingers on her neck to see if she was still alive.
He kept looking for her pulse, praying he would find it.
His own heart beat harder and faster in fear.
No, not after... Then finally, he felt it.
It was weak and slow but she was still alive.
He had to dig out his jacknife to cut the strap holding her in place then he gathered her into his arms carefully and gently.
All of his breath rushed out of his lungs as he just held her tight. “Ursala,” he whispered her name softly. “I lost you once but now I’m never letting you go. You belong to me.”
Bouncer nudged him. “Come on Romeo, tell her that shit later. Right now, she can’t hear you and we need to get the fuck out of Dodge, you hear me? That chaser car might come back. Let’s git.”
Crank glared at him then he saw he had a purse and a backpack with him. With a long sigh, he nodded.
They both headed back to the truck.