
<Episode 20>
Jack stood there as the old guy claimed he was there only friend they had in the world. He glanced back at Rachel who was just as confused as he was. Still keeping his left arm part of the way up he asked, “Why should we believe you?”
The other man just gave him a ragged grin, “Do you think y’all have another option?”
Wiggling the fingers on his left hand slightly he answered, “I’m pretty sure I can make one if I have too.”
Dusty coughed out a laugh, “Bet you could too, and in record time I’d bet. But like I said I didn’t come to fight I just come to help you guys out.”
“How did you know where to find us?”, Rachel demanded.
“It wasn’t easy I’ll tell you what.” Dusty waved an arm wide, “Do you have any idea how many places there are to hide in this city? Well… I guess you two would have a good idea. The guy who asked me to find the two of you owes me a ton of gas money though.”
Jack lowered his arm, but not by much, “Somebody asked you to find us? So you’re not our only friend in the world.” That was one lie he caught him in
“If you want to get technical, but I’m here and he ain’t. That got to count for something.”
“Who asked you to find us?”, Rachel asked him.
Dusty looked hesitant to answer. “Let’s just say he’s a mutual acquaintance and leave it at that. Be trouble for him if the wrong people found out about this huge favor he asked me to do.”
“I don’t trust him,” Jack mumbled.
“I agree,” she replied, “but right now any port in the storm is a good one.”
He looked at her in disbelief, “You can’t be serious.”
“Like he said we don’t have a whole lot of options right now.” To Dusty she said, “What do you want us to do?”
He pointed to the light behind him, “Y’all can hop in the truck and I’ll take you two were you can be safe.”
“I think,” Rachel countered, “we’ll follow you on our motorcycle.” He mouthed the word ‘our’ but she ignored him. “Jack isn’t in the mood to give it up just yet.”
The older guy scratched the side of his head, “You do realize Anderson has his boys on the look out for that ride of yours?”
“We’ll chance it,” Rachel told him.
“Suit yourself,” Dusty walked to the driver side door and opened it. “How do I know you two won’t ditch me when I ain’t looking?”
“How do we know you’re not leading us into a trap?”, he shot back.
“A bit paranoid ain’t ya. Then again who could blame ya.” He got behind the wheel of the truck and waited while Jack pulled his bike out of the tunnel and they got on. Dusty backed his truck up a bit and they got a good look at the rust bucket of a truck he was driving. He shouted out the passenger window, “Now don’t out run ol’ Bessie with that fancy cycle of yours.”
Jack looked back at her, “You got us following a guy who named his Sansford and Son truck ‘Bessie’.”
“Would you feel better if he named it Mertle?,” she told him. “Besides if he can find us so can World Inc. . If he’s offering us a safe harbor we can at least listen to him. It not like you can’t handle it if things go wrong.”
He strapped on the helmet saying, “Why do I keep listening to you? You’re not even my boss anymore.” He started the engine and followed ‘Bessie’ down the road.
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