Chapter 3 – Escape! V2.0

Johnny and Kimi spent their first night in the safe house on the outskirts of town. It was an old farm style house that had been rented that morning from a local realtor.  There was an FBI agent in a car in front of the house 24/7 and another one in the house with them. The first night, the agent brought some catered food from a nice restaurant in town.  Johnny and Kimi had been assigned separate bedrooms but sometime after midnight she snuck into his room and they made love. They were much quieter than out in the woods, but with no less passion.  She left his bed just before dawn.  

Johnny and Kimi's phones had been taken and stored at the Sheriff's office so that they could not be used to find the safe house location.  During the day there was not much for the two of them to do but watch TV and read the newspaper.  The only news about the murders was a short blurb about three bodies being discovered at the lake and that an investigation was ongoing.  No mention of the arrests of the suspects.    

Late the next day as they were eating lunch, a call came in from the Denver FBI office.  The inside man answered his cell: "Agent Sandberg here...yes sir...Agent James is on patrol out front...no sir, nothing significant to report...I understand sir...who will be relieving us? No sir, I don't know either of them...yes, I understand.  Okay we'll expect them this evening."    

After ending the call he said to Johnny and Kimi. "My partner and I have been re-assigned to a different detail. Our relief will be here in a couple of hours.  It's a little unusual, but orders are orders."

Kimi didn't say anything and Johnny just nodded. "Okay"

When the two new agents arrived.  Johnny recognized that something was not quite right.  Instead food from the restaurant they had been using since getting to the house, the new agent just brought pizza for dinner and he put a 12 pack of beer in the fridge. He smiled and said. "Go ahead, you kids have been through a lot, I won't tell."  He then smiled wickedly and left the kitchen.

Johnny waited for the door to swing shut and whispered to Kimi. "Something is really not right here."

She answered. "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing."

"Okay, let's play along, but be ready to bolt."

He went to the fridge, opened six beers and poured them down the drain except for two which he left half full and put them on the table. He left the four empties conspicuously on the kitchen counter.  "Have a couple of sips to make sure you have beer on your breath."

"No problem."

 'Why did you do that?"

"Someone wants us drunk.  So we play along, act a little tipsy.  You know, get the giggles or something." 

"Okay."

He continued.  "There's no way real FBI agents would give witnesses under their protection beer, especially an underage one like you.  I mean there is no way a Federal Agent would provide alcohol to a minor."

He then whispered. "Okay when you go to your room, keep all your clothes on except for your riding boots. Pull the covers over you and I'll do the same.  Pretend to be asleep when they open the door to check on you.  And then we wait and see.  Just wait for my signal."

"Are you scared?" she asked.

"Shitless!"

"Me too!"

While they were eating, Johnny noticed that an old-fashioned clock had been put up on the wall over the gas stove. It had not been there the day before.  He pointed at it and said. "There's something odd about that cl..."

Just then, the kitchen door opened and the agent came back and saw the empty bottles and gave the two friends a leer.  "You kids have a good time and I'll be back in a few minutes to take you to your rooms."

Kimi faked her best girly giggle and slurred. "Okey-dokey."

When they were placed in the safe house, the FBI had also taken their wallets. Johnny had been allowed to keep his Casio watch, but not much else beside the clothes on their backs.  The first two agents had taken their sizes and had promised to get some fresh clothes the next day, but nothing ever showed up.  At ten PM, the agent who brought the pizza and beer took them to their rooms.  Johnny said to Kimi. "See you in the morning babe." He got a quick kiss in. 

Once in his room, he set the alarm on his watch to go off every half hour and tried to get a little sleep. Each time the alarm chimed, he got out of bed, cracked open the door to see if anything had changed. Sometime between two and three AM he heard the front door open and a car drive off.  He waited a minute, grabbed his boots and riding jacket and slowly opened his door.  He immediately noticed the smell of gas.  He dashed to Kimi's room and shouted. "We gotta' get out of here!"

She also grabbed her jacket and boots.  He took her hand and they ran out the back door and into the woods. They got no more than about 100 yards when the house exploded in a huge fireball and burned fiercely. They both looked at each other in shock.

"What do we do now?" asked a terrified Kimi.

"I'm not sure, but I do know that we can't trust anyone right now. Someone has obviously got to the FBI."  He pointed deeper into the woods and said. "We'll talk later and get a plan, but for now we put some distance between us and the bad guys."

They ran a mile or so into the Pine forest and got to an old deer camp. There was a decent wooden shack and a fire pit which has obviously not been used since last winter's hunting season.  He slowly and warily walked up to the cabin, and motioned for her to be silent as he slowly opened the rickety door.  The building was empty.  He motioned for her to follow him in.  He closed the door and looked out the window to make sure they were not followed.  They both sat on the ratty old cot frame. He put his arm around her and she almost immediately broke down and cried and sobbed quietly.  He held her tight and could feel her shaking with emotion.  After few minutes, she got her composure back and said to her friend. "Those bastards tried to kill us!"

"Yeah, and as far as anyone knows they succeeded."

"Oh, no! My mom will lose it.  First dad and now me!  We have to call her!"

"No." he said firmly. "We can be sure these guys are watching our folks and have all the phones tapped.  Our houses are probably bugged too."

"Can they do that?"

"Not legally...and they probably hacked everyone's email."

"Oh yeah," she said. "That's pretty easy."

"Okay," he said. "I figure we have a 24-hour head-start."

"How's that?"

"Well, that fire burned super hot and fast. I'm guessing that there is supposed to be nothing but ash left.  We're supposed to be completely cremated, and trust me there was some sort of accelerant in there besides just natural gas."

"You think?"

"Yeah, the way it burned and exploded, you bet.  These guys were pros. They probably used some sort of untraceable material like acetylene welding gas or something we've never heard of."

"How do you know this stuff?" she asked.

"I took one semester of fire protection at the Junior College remember?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"And you know that fucking clock that appeared today?"

"Yeah."

"I bet that it was the timer and igniter."

She nodded in agreement.

"Okay," he continued. "So even though we were supposed to be completely and totally cremated, they will look for evidence like bone fragments, teeth or belt buckles; something like that.  So when they go through the ash they don't find anything, they will figure it out and come after us."

"Crap, it's like a bad movie!"

"No shit, so what we do for now is just stay put.  This place is as safe as any. Tomorrow we'll move, but we can't go anywhere we are seen...and we'll need to take care of the basics, like food and water and then we make a long-term plan."

"They took our phones, wallets, ATM cards, ID's, licenses..."

"Yeah, but we can't use any of that stuff anyway. That would help them find us. We have to go off the grid for a while until we figure this out..."

She put her arms around him and said, "I'm really scared."

"Yeah, me too, but we're together and we can handle anything."

She kissed him with intensity and passion and said. "I love you!"

He returned the kiss with equal passion.  "I love you."

They managed to get a couple hours of fitful sleep on the cot frame. As dawn broke, Johnny went outside and did a careful surveillance and made sure no one is around.  After watering the trees he went back into the cabin.  Kimi was awake and sitting on the bed frame. 

He said to her. "The coast is clear, so if you need to..."

"Yeah, gimmie a minute."

She exited the cabin and came back after few minutes. "I feel much better, but I'm pretty thirsty."

"No kidding, and we need to get something to eat."

"Yeah."

He dug through his riding jacket pocket and said. "It looks like..." and counted a few wrinkled bills and a couple of coins..."I got about $4.35. How about you?"

She went through all of her pockets, made a frown and answered. "Two bucks even."

"Okay that's enough to get us through the day, but we have to make sure no one sees us. I mean we can't even go to the Quickie Mart. Once they start looking for us, the bad guys will ask around."

"So what do we do?" she asked.

He smiled ironically. "I have an idea..."  He looked at his watch.  "It's just before five AM. Most people won't be up. There's a gas station about two miles on the other side of these woods."

"Uh huh, I know the one. We gassed up our bikes there after using the North side hill trails a few weeks ago."

"That's the place.  We'll walk there, and stay off the paved roads.  We'll get whatever we can out of the vending machines with our vast fortune of $6.35."

"Then what?"

"I'm starting to come up with a plan, but I think that coming back here is as good as anything."

"Okay."

A couple of hours later the couple returned their cabin with four sodas, two bottles of water and some assorted granola and candy bars. "Not exactly Outback Steakhouse," he said. "But it'll do."

They ate in silence. Finally she asked. "Now what?"

He looked at his watch again and said. "Okay, it's eight AM. Only six hours since the fire, so they probably don't know we are alive.  They may not have told our folks yet..."

She gasped and said. "Oh God, my mom, crap! We gotta' to find a way to tell her!"

"Yeah I know. My dad is a tough guy, but since the divorce I'm all he's got.  Here's my plan.  We hang out here until after midnight, and then we walk to my dad's shop. I know the alarm codes. We'll have to take a chance that the bad guys have not started watching it yet."

"Then what?"

He answered with more certainty than he really felt.  "We open the floor safe; there should be at least five hundred bucks from the week's cash customers. My dad doesn't go to the bank for a couple more days to make a deposit. So we grab the cash and leave a note that says we are alive but that he can't tell anyone except your mom and that they can't trust anyone!

She stood up and said with a panicked look on her face. "Oh shit! My mom will just lose it."

He went on with his plan: "Then we hit the road. You know my buddy Scott?"

"Yeah, your friend from the team who is the Army, right?"

"No, Air Force.  He's a JTAC.  Joint Tactical Air Control.  He calls in Close Air Support for the Army and Marine guys. Anyway, he's in Afghanistan for another six to nine more months. I've been building him the ultimate sleeper/highway cruiser bike. It started out as a box of parts from a stock Honda CB-1000R.  He had me put in this cool stealth twin turbo kit, an extended range gas tank and highway overdrive gear. So that little Honda has tons of power and will go a long way on a tank of gas.  The bike is all done, I test drove it last week. It's a sweet ride and no one knows that we have it except for Scott!"

"Sounds like an expensive bike."

"Yeah, he has over ten grand in it but it's not like he's been spending any money while deployed."

"Perfect, where do we go?"

"We hit the road and we go where they can't find us.  We'll start with Boulder."

"Why Boulder?"

He answered with more confidence as the plan came together in his mind.  "Two reasons: first my grandfather's old mining cabin is there, and second we can get some help for a few things we need."

"What things?" she asks.

"IDs for one.  There are a bunch of lefty progressives who declared Boulder a Sanctuary City. So there are folks there who make fake IDs for illegals and guys who grow dope in the hills. We should be able, as long as we are real careful to get some documents; driver's licenses, student IDs and at least one Social Security number."

"Why the student ID?"

"So you can get library and computer access so we can nail these bastards!"

"What else?"

"We can get a bank account with the fake documents."

"Why do we need a bank account?"

"It might take a while to sort this all out and we will need funds."

"Shit, where can we get money? Knockoff convenience stores..."

"No!  We can't commit any crimes other than the fake IDs.  The bad guys want to find us and if we get thrown in jail for something stupid, we're screwed. They will discredit our story and we'll both commit suicide or die in some mysterious accident behind bars."

"So what do we do?"

"You know my grandpa passed away late last year?"

"Yeah, sorry again. He was nice old guy, a little quirky but nice, and I know how much he meant to you."

"Yeah, he was a little paranoid about the Feds.  Shit, as it turns out he was right!  Gramps always said it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you!  He did really like you though. He kept asking me what I was waiting for..."

She smiled while looking at her ring. "The day before yesterday, as it turns out!"

He paused and smiled at the recent memory.  "Anyway, he owned the property with the mine claim free and clear. Only he, my dad and I have been there in years. My dad's name was also on the deed, so it didn't have to go through probate when Gramps passed. With a little luck, the bad guys will have to really dig to find out about it. We should be safe enough until winter. Anyway, Gramps was not a nutcase prepper or anything, but the place was always well stocked.  There should be some supplies; you know food, water, winter clothes, a couple of rifles and his 45 from the Army."

"Guns!  Is it that bad?"

"What do you think? And in reality it doesn't matter. If we end up in a shootout with the pros we most likely will lose. But after what they have done, I'm not giving up without a fight.  There's one more thing. My grandpa was doing better than he let on in the mine. Before he died, he said: Johnny, I did good last season, real good."

"His place is West of Boulder near the Arapaho national Forest. It's real isolated.  Just perfect for our needs.  Gramps told me the exact places in the mine and around the cabin where he stashed his gold. I don't know how much, but he spent a lot of time last year before he got sick.  He really wanted to help me get college paid for.  I'm hoping that there is at least five or ten grand in gold up there.  So that's my plan. We grab the cash and Scott's bike from the shop and head to Boulder.  Then we camp out at grandpa's mine stead.  We get some fake documents and establish what we need to cash in a little of Gramp's gold.  Not enough to raise suspicions, just enough to get by until phase two..."

"Then what?" she asked.

"That's where you come in.  We use your computer skills to find a way to expose Manwell and his buddies. You are gonna' have to do some of that hacker stuff and get the proof we need.  Doesn't look like the so called authorities will be looking real hard."

"I'm not exactly a Lisbeth Salander..."

"I know, but I've seen what you can do. We'll figure it out."  At the same time we're going to have to get new identities made up. We can use a trick I read about.  Your computer expertise will be critical there.  We will eventually need new legitimate on-grid identities.  And I don't mean second rate ones to buy beer with.  I mean perfect, flawless legitimate new identities, like the real FBI should do for people in witness protection.  With those we can sell as much gold as we need to as long as we pay the taxes.  That's all the Feds really care about."

"How do we do that?"

"Just like the Assassin did in that old movie The Day of the Jackal."

"You mean the one with Bruce Willis?"

"No, he laughed. "The old one written by Frederick Forsyth. I'll fill you in later."

**

That day in the hunting cabin, they took turns sleeping on the cot frame and keeping watch. Each of them managed to get a few fitful hours of sleep throughout the afternoon.  At about nine PM Johnny asked Kimi. "Are you awake?"

"Yeah..."

"How do you feel?"

"Like crap, but it could be worse, like dead."

He laughed and shook his head.  "No shit, me too and I had a couple of real bad dreams."

"Yeah, no kidding."

They shared their meager meal of candy bars and a warm Coke. He said calmly. "I could really use a double cheeseburger about now."

She responded with a grin. "Yeah with grilled onions and extra fries!"

Outside the moon was rising.  He asked. "You ready?"

"...as I'll ever be!"

"Okay let's go. We'll stay in the woods as much as possible but eventually we'll have to go through town.  I figure as the crow flies, it's about four miles to the shop. We'll take a big arc to the South and stay in the shadows. It'll probably be more like five miles."

After a few minutes of walking, they were within eyesight of the so-called safe house. All that was left was one wall of the garage. Everything else was completely burned. There were no vehicles or activity. He said to her "I think that is crime scene tape."

"Yeah, no kidding.  So just where are the CSI guys!"

They quietly slunk back into the woods and walked in silence for a few more minutes. He tripped a little on a tree root. She grabbed his arm to keep him from falling. She laughed quietly. "You know these black leather riding outfits make us look like a couple of Ninjas."

"Yeah for sure, clumsy ones!"

At just before two AM they got to the back door of the motorcycle shop. Johnny said to Kimi. "Just a sec." He entered the code into the alarm panel.  The top light went from red to green and an electric lock clicked open. 

As they entered the shop, she asked. "Why the fancy lock on a simple bike shop?"

"Oh, a couple years ago we figured out that a guy who worked for my dad was ripping us off, stealing parts and tools in the middle of the night. So now everyone has their own code.  Whenever someone leaves for whatever reason, you know quits, gets fired, whatever; we delete his code. I used mine just now.  When my dad checks the log he'll know it was me or my ghost as it were."

Johnny then grabbed a couple bottles of water out of the fridge in the office and handed one to his friend. They both drank deeply.

"Wow, I was thirsty!"

"Yeah, no kidding" he said and then continued. "I need a few minutes to load up the bike. He pointed to the washroom and said. "You can wash up a bit if you want to.  We'll probably be on the road for a couple of days after this."

She wiped her grimy forehead with disgust and said.  "Sounds great, I'll only be a couple minutes."

He crossed the garage area and carefully and quietly rolled the Honda to the overhead door at the back of the shop.  He then went to the merchandise area and selected a couple of sweatshirts and bike logo t-shirts and put them in one of the saddlebags. Johnny knew all of Kimi's sizes.  In the other saddlebag he placed as much bottled water, soda and snacks as he could fit. About that time, Kimi exited the washroom. "Wow did I ever need that, I mean it's been like two days."

He answered with a wry smile. "Trust me, I'll be in there in a minute. I got the bike all loaded up. I picked out some clothes for you.  While I'm splashing some water on my face, pick out a full face helmet with an intercom.  Mine's over there by the bike and the freq is set to channel 4.  Check out the intercoms to make sure they work."

"Okay."

A few minutes later he returned from the washroom. "You are most definitely right, it sure felt good to wash off today's grime from camping out, and hiking through the woods."

She laughed ironically. "Yeah and running from mob hit men!"

"Okay" he said. "We got one more thing to do."

They walked into his dad's office. He lowered and closed the blinds and put a small desk lamp on the floor under the desk and turned it on. "The safe is down here under the chair mat."

He slid the mat aside and pointed to the old-fashioned round in-ground floor safe and dialed the combination. The door opened on the first try. The safe had two bags in it.  One was the keys for all the bikes. He sorted through them to find the keys to Scott's Honda. The other bag was a bank satchel full of various denominations of bills. He looked at the stack and said to Kimi. "First break we've caught..."

"You mean like since almost getting blown up!"

"Yeah, it looks like the shop had a good week. I hate to take this from dad, but I'm sure he will understand."  Johnny counted out the money quickly and said. "Just over 900 bucks.  He handed her a stack of cash and said. "Half for you and half for me...just in case."

"In case of what exactly?"

He answered with a serious look.  "In case of things getting shittier than they already are.  This is not going to be easy."

He got a pad of paper and a pen from the desk drawer and started his note. He looked at his watch and wrote down the time and date. He then wrote in long hand: Dad, Kimi and I are alive! They tried to kill us and make it look like an accident. Don't believe anything they say and don't trust anyone! Assume that you are being watched and that everything is being listened to.  You have to make them believe that we are dead for as long as possible. They will eventually figure out that there are no bodies in that house that burned up.  I'm sure that they will come after us. Try to tell Kimi's mom when you can. You guys have to go through with the funerals and everything.  Make them believe! Thanks for the loan of $907 bucks. I promise to pay you back when I can. We are taking Scott's Honda; take it off the books as parted out. I love you and will contact you when I can. JW

He handed the pad to Kimi. She had tears in her eyes as she wrote simply: Mom I love you and it will be okay. She signed Kimi with hearts over the i's like she always did. Johnny took the pad from her now shaking hand and wrote under her note: PS Gramps was right.  He put the note in the bank bag and placed the bag back in the safe and locked the door.  He replaced the mat and turned out the light and they both stood up. He reached over and put his arm around her and kissed her gently. She responded briefly but passionately and then said. "Let's get the hell out of here."

They walked over to the Honda. He unlatched the overhead door and quietly pulled the chain loop on the side and opened it just high enough to get the bike through. Without being told to, Kimi rolled the bike outside and onto the driveway. He started to lower the door and said. "I'll lockup and be right back."

Johnny walked to the door by the office; made sure everything was turned off, closed the door and re-armed the alarm system.  He walked around the building to where Kimi was waiting at the side of the Honda.  She had her riding jacket zipped up and her helmet on. She said, "I set them to the same intercom freq and they work good."

He zipped up his jacket, put on his helmet and straddled the front seat of the Honda. She got onto the backseat and put her arms around him and held him tightly.  He started the bike and they rode into the night.