Sometimes the Good Guy Wins

Kathy said, 'About three hours ago I was having dinner with three women I work with. They were talking, complaining really, about the love they aren't getting. They are married and wanted to know if I shared their feelings of loneliness, of not being taken care of. I told them I touch base with you every day and that every time I touch base I know I am loved right down to the marrow in my bones."

Megan asked, "How about right down to your g-spot?"

Kathy laughed and said, 'They wanted to know how long it is between times we get to be in bed together. I thought about it and the truth is I was there in the truck with you tonight. I can tell them tomorrow that we connected tonight and all my needs were met.'

'Just don't tell them I was in New Mexico at the time.' I said.

'Don't worry, I won't. Sometimes I still have trouble wrapping my head around the magic.'

'Ladies, I need sleep.' I said.

Megan kissed me and I felt each of them in the kiss. She spooned with me and I was gone.

When I woke up it was because the noise level changed. Kelly had gotten off the Interstate and was headed for a truck stop in San Antonio. I got up, washed, shaved and dressed before she parked at the fuel pumps. I jumped down and filled pink with 94.6 gallons. Megan stood beside me and said, "That's almost seven miles per gallon. A little less than the first leg."

Kelly walked to us and said, "The wind at my back let up at about midnight. We still did Ok."

Megan went inside and paid for the fuel for both trucks while Kelly and I did safety checks on both trucks. When Megan came back the five of us went for a walk. It's a big truck stop. One lap around the edge takes fifteen minutes. The conversation we had as we walked was lively and included waving hands and facial expressions. Near the end of the first lap I realized that if someone was watching four women and a man walking like we were, they'd notice we weren't talking! When I had the thought we all stopped.

Sammi asked, "Anyone need food or anything before we get back on the road?" For some strange reason they all looked at me. I put my arm around Sammi and said, "What I need is food. What I want is for someone to bring Kelly and I something when you've eaten. I'd like to spend some time in the bunk with her, if y'all don't mind."

"Let's do one more lap on our feet and then get some exercise, Ok? I like your idea." Kelly said.

We walked. I held Megan's hand for part of the second lap and Andrea's hand. They switched with Kelly and Sammi and we kept talking out loud. As we made the final turn before getting back to the truck stop restaurant and store I saw three truckers watching us.

Kelly thought, 'I've had trouble with the guy in the gray shirt before. He has trouble with the word "No".'

When we were within twenty feet of them I raised my voice and asked, "Do you have any idea where we can get some really good Tex-Mex food? I mean really good stuff?"

The man in a plaid shirt with the sleeves torn off said, "Here in San Antone? The best is La Hacienda on Redland Road. Their Huevos Rancheros are incredible!"

Kelly asked, "Have you had anything else they make for breakfast?"

"I have." The guy in the gray shirt said. "I had their menudo. I was a little hung over and it was spicy enough to help. It tasted pretty good, too."

I asked, "So, out of here I turn?"

The muscled arm in the gray shirt waved to the left as he told me how to get there. I turned slightly to Sammi and asked, "Would you write all that down for us? Next time we're here I want to eat there."

Sammi nodded. I thought maybe we had successfully diverted his attention, but the voice in my head said, 'Nope. He wants to assert his Alpha dog status.'

Mr. Gray shirt asked no one in particular, "Think it's fair that he's hangin with four beautiful women and we're alone?" Both of the men with him smiled and shook their heads.

I heard Sammi in my head, 'Let me take this one.' She said, "You'd like to hang with one or more of us?"

"Little lady, I'd be honored to buy you breakfast!"

"I thought you meant you wanted one of us as a co-driver. That I could talk about over breakfast." Andrea and Megan nodded.

"You drive?" He asked.

"Yup," Kelly said. "The pink Freightliner is mine."

He looked at Sammi and asked, "Which truck is yours?"

"Don't own a rig. I'd like to, though. You own or drive for someone else?"

"I've got the blue Mack over there," he said, pointing.

"Are you looking for a co-driver, a business partner or just a toy?" Megan asked.

"It depends."

"I'd give the same answer, "Sammi said. "Maybe we can figure out the answer over breakfast... if you're buying."

"Buying for all of you?" He asked.

"Nope." I said. "We have some phone calls to make and a little repair work to finish. Be back before eleven, OK? We have a lot of miles to cover."

Kelly and I walked off towards pink. Gray shirt bought breakfast for Sammi, Andrea and Megan. Kelly and I danced in pink and after, while we snuggled, Kelly checked on their progress. Mr. Gray shirt's name was Jethro. Between ordering and the arrival of their food all three women agreed that he was looking for a co-driver at best. By his thinking, more than what he said, he leaned toward Megan as a toy. He didn't take her seriously as either a driver or a business partner. As a business partner, he thought Sammi might be best, if she was great in the sack. He could easily accept either Andrea or Sammi as a co-driver with benefits, if the financial arrangements were to his liking.

Kelly told me all about what was happening. I learned a valuable lesson. Never attempt to negotiate with a woman who can listen inside your head. You don't have a chance.

At ten minutes to eleven they walked out of the restaurant carrying breakfast for Kelly and me. Jethro was happy. Sammi said that next time we were to meet up they would continue the conversation and she asked if then she could take a look inside his sleeper. He was so happy he paid for the breakfasts, even Kelly's and mine.

In Megan's plan I was driving pink, Sammi was driving white, Andrea was sleeping in pink and Kelly in white. Megan climbed into pink. My breakfast was a burrito filled with refried beans, eggs, tomato, onions, some potato pieces and a healthy splash of napalm. I drank two diet Cokes in the process of getting it eaten.

It was quiet on the road between San Antonio and Beaumont. Four plus hours of listening to the radio for weather and news, a few country songs and talking with Megan. The trip had shown her a lot about how we lived on the road. She had adjusted her thinking and had been making plans about her main job, our business. She shared a lot of her thinking with me.

When we were fifteen miles outside Beaumont she got quiet. Five minutes later she turned down the radio. As I got into Beaumont she softly said, "Nick, get off at the next exit, please." I didn't ask questions, I just slowed down and got off.

At the stop sign she pointed to the left. Her eyes were closed. The curtain opened and Andrea looked out as she dressed. We were in an industrial area of Beaumont. At a little after three in the morning there were few trucks and no cars moving around us. Three blocks farther and Megan said, "Right turn."

I turned and saw one building with three lit windows and a roll-up freight door open. Megan said, "Park right here." She sat still for a few seconds and I heard Andrea in my head. 'She's calling the police. They will get the urge to drive here. They will get the urge to see what's going on in there.'

'Why are we here?" I asked.

'For after.' Andrea said. I got the feeling I'd know what I needed to know when the time was ripe. I checked my mirrors and saw the white parked a hundred yards behind me.

Two men came out of the roll-up door, jumped to the ground and went to a van. From inside the van they got three canvas bags, big bags. At the sight of the bags I knew they were body bags! Megan had heard the fear and screams of three people about to die!

Andrea's voice said, 'Right. They aren't dead yet. The cops are close.'

The men took the bags inside the building and I saw headlights coming in my side mirror. The police car slid through the gate near the door and stopped. Thirty seconds later I saw two more sets of headlights in my mirror. Andrea said, 'Back up.'

I reached for the gearshift. She touched my shoulder and I heard, "Back up police.' I put my hand back in my lap. The three police cars effectively blocked the gate and the back up officers left their cars. One officer went to the left and one to the right around the building. The two officers in the first car got out of their car and slowly approached the loading dock and the open roll-up door.

The two officers entered the building and disappeared from our sight. Ten seconds later I saw three flashes of light through the windows and heard three reports of gunfire. The first shot sounded different than the two that followed.

I looked over at Megan and Andrea. Megan had relaxed and opened her eyes. Andrea was crying and shaking. Megan looked at me and said, "I'm sorry. I wanted to explain but I was afraid to lose them. They're Ok now. The two bad guys are down and cuffed."

"Why are we here?" I asked.

"It's what you do." Andrea said.

We watched as the two officers assisted the two bad guys out of the building. One looked injured. They loaded one bad guy in each of the police cars and the other two officers came back to their cars. They left the original two officers and their car. One of the officers went back into the building and I saw and heard three more shots. When he came back he was carrying a handgun in his hand. He tossed it in a dumpster. The two officers had a conversation and then got in their car and drove away.

"What the hell?" I asked.

Megan said, "They left the women! If we hurry, we can save them. Pull in by the dock, please Nick! Hurry." I pulled into the yard and backed to the dock. Megan and Andrea jumped down and ran inside. Less than a minute later they were back, helping three women to the truck and stowing three body bags in our outside storage bin. They helped them up and in and as Megan climbed up she said, "Drive, Nick!" I shifted and stepped on the accelerator.

They all fit inside. Megan sat shotgun and the rest crammed onto the bunk. Andrea got our first aid kit and worked on one of the women. She had been shot and the bullet went through her thigh. Sammi turned the white around and followed us back to I-10 East. I focused on following Sammi. There was lots of noise a foot behind me that I did my best to block out. Sammi stayed just below the speed limit and drove carefully. We saw three police cars headed towards where we had come from.

It got quieter in the sleeper. Andrea came out and sat on the ice chest. She and Megan talked to me, Sammi and Kelly. 'I heard Renee as soon as we were close to Beaumont. She was terrified! The two men were sent to rape and kill all three of them. The men work for a drug cartel and these three were mules. They didn't know they were mules until tonight when something went wrong. All Renee knows is that they were picked up by those two men and brought here. Catherine, the oldest of the three, figured out what the men were up to when she saw one of them loading a syringe. He fully loaded it. She figured out it wasn't for fun. She offered the men sex "anyway they wanted it". Renee and Randi figured out they were going to die so they went along with the offer of sex. When the officers arrived one of the bad guys fired at them and they each shot back. They both surrendered and were cuffed and taken away.'

Andrea took over, 'They left the three women on the floor. The cops knew the guys worked for the cartel. As soon as the other cops left Benton went back inside to kill them. He didn't. Megan was so deep in his head he believes he killed them. He did hit Catherine but the bullet went through her leg without hitting an artery. I got it bandaged and applied Neosporin. As soon as the cops left we went in and got them.'

'What do we do with them?' I asked.

Kelly said, 'Right now we let them sleep. Megan got them to sleep. Sammi and I will look inside their sleep and see what we find. When we get to Mobile, we'll talk with them, then decide.'

'Pull over, Ok? I've got too many bodies in this truck.' I said.

Sammi pulled over. Andrea climbed out and ran to the white. Half a minute later we were moving again. Where I was it was quiet. The three women on the bed were breathing. How Megan and Andrea got them to sleep and kept them asleep I didn't know, but they did sleep. Megan curled into a ball on the shotgun seat and she slept, too. I felt rather than heard the mental activity going on around me.

The sun was starting to come up as we slid through Baton Rouge. I lowered the shade on Megan's side of the windshield and she didn't move. We were through Baton Rouge without much traffic at all. The temperature outside read eighty-two degrees. Another sultry day in the south.

At the outskirts of Mobile Sammi said, 'Nick, lead us to where you want us to park, please.' Even her voice in my head sounded tired. I passed her and led us to a parking area for a company that had gone under late last year. There was plenty of room for our rigs and no one around to ask questions. We parked and Sammi, Andrea and Kelly came over.

We crammed into the pink. Kelly said, "We learned a lot from them while they slept. Renee is twenty-three and is what she calls an adult orphan. Her Mom ran off with a man in the Army and her Dad drinks, a lot. She hasn't seen or spoken to either in four years. This is her first party weekend with Catherine and Randi. Catherine is twenty-one and is a licensed beautician. She loves to party and be the center of attention. By her count she has fucked over a thousand men and boys. A month ago a man named Carlos got her high on coke and she lost an entire week of her life. Carlos introduced Catherine to Randi who has been hooking for Carlos for almost a year. He got her hooked on Coke and it really made her sick. He helped her kick it, but kept her hooking for him. She owes him a thousand a day. That's pretty much the bottom line."

"Sex, drugs and we have three dead woman sleeping right there." I said, pointing. "They don't know us. They don't even know where they are. We stepped into a big risk when we got off I-10 and brought them with us. What do we do?"

"We need to talk to them." Megan said. "They knew they were dead. They knew those two guys were there to put them in the body bags and they'd never be seen or heard of again."

"Ok. I guess we should wake them up." I said. Megan closed her eyes and Sammi opened the curtain. All three women shook themselves and woke up. I looked them over, really for the first time. They were dressed and their feet were closest to me. All three wore high heels. All three were in short, tight skirts and when they sat up all three parted their legs enough for me to see that none were wearing panties.

The woman farthest from me, closest to the shotgun seat where Megan was sitting had short black hair, curly and was very cute, or at least would be cute without the three pounds of make-up she was wearing. She had on a pink tube top that tightly held her rather large chest. She shook her head as she sat up and again once she looked around, seeing all of us.

Sitting up next to her was a woman who was visibly scared. She grabbed onto the woman next to her and looked at all of us. She asked, "Where? Who?" Then lapsed into silence. She had long wavy brown hair, big brown eyes, and looked like a college girl. Looked like someone Megan would have introduced me to at her college in Florida. She had on a black miniskirt and a black scoop-neck pull over shirt. Her right thigh was bandaged. Her nipple bumps were evident in front of her small breasts.

The third woman sat all the way up before her eyes opened. She had a tattoo on her neck of a spider's web. It was the first feature on her that I noticed. The second thing I noticed was that she was wearing a blue wife-beater t-shirt that barely covered her nipples, leaving her breasts almost completely uncovered. He hair was dirty, blond and her make-up was old. I thought, 'All three need a make over, clothes and a bath.'

I noticed Andrea, Kelly and Megan nod.

To answer the questions the one in the middle asked I said, "You are safe and we are the good guys. You have some options, some choices to make. Before we get to those choices there are some things that need to happen. Do any of you need a bathroom?"

All three nodded. Megan opened her door and we sent them to white one at a time. That used up five minutes. When they were back I asked, "When was the last time you had food?"

They couldn't remember eating in a long time. Andrea got some snacks out of our stash and they shared a bottle of water.

As they ate Sammi started to speak to them. She reviewed their situation. They became more aware of how close they had been to dying back in Texas. The blond asked, "Who are you?"

Sammi answered, "Friends you never knew you had. You have disappeared from Texas. As far as we know, no one has any idea where you are, where you're going or even if you're alive. Not everyone gets a chance to start over in life. I think the three of you have that chance. If you can stop using drugs, clean up and stay clean now is the time to start."

The blond asked, "What about Carlos?"

"Carlos thinks you are dead." Megan said. "He thinks the cops disposed of your bodies."

"How do you know?" She asked.

"Just believe her. She knows." Kelly said. Her tone and body language reinforced her statement.

The blond said, "I'm free?"

Andrea said, "Yes. No more tricks, no more pimp."

She visibly relaxed and then tensed again and asked, "But, what do I do?"

I asked, "How long have you been with Carlos?"

"Just over a year. Before him I belonged to Francisco. I've been on my back almost three years."

"That ended last night. We can't make you stop hooking, but the relationship you had with Carlos and the cartel is over unless you do something stupid like go back to Texas or get your picture on the news." I said.

"I don't know how to do anything else." The blond said.

Kelly said, "You can learn. There's more to the world than the look of hotel ceilings."

"God, I hope you're right."

The woman with black curly hair asked, "Where are we?"

"Alabama. Where do you want to be?" Megan asked.

I heard her voice in my head, 'Somewhere I can call home.'

'The orphan wants a place to settle down.' I thought.

I heard Linda's voice, 'Send her to us. This is a good place for an orphan to make a home.'

I asked, quietly, 'Do we have clothes any of them can wear?'

Kelly answered, 'I can loan the little one a bra.'

Megan said, 'I can loan her one with lots of extra room in it!'

They both smiled and I said, 'They need clothes and they need to change their hair styles, too.' I saw nods.

Kelly said, "There's a shopping center not far from here. We'll go there and buy some decent clothes for you. If there's a beauty parlor in there we'll do something about your hair, too. Then, if you want our help, we'll help you get started outside Texas."

We drove the two miles to the shopping center none of us had ever seen before and Kelly, Andrea and Megan went inside. Megan wore the same shoe size as Randi and Catherine. Andrea wore the same size as Renee. An hour later they were back and all three had clean, new clothes. I drove us to a cheap motel and parked behind it. Kelly rented a room and we sent our three new "friends" inside to shower and dress in new clothes. Kelly informed me that Linda and Donna were interested in both Randi and Catherine. Catherine could easily pass the license exam in Nebraska and start work in the truck stop cutting hair. Randi could start work on the night shift with Donna and Linda doing clean-up and move up to working in the store or restaurant.