Blood Trade

January 16th, 2002

Wednesday

Chapter 1

He kept his distance from her car, letting up on the gas pedal just long enough to release her rear bumper from the imposing beams of his headlights. The evening had already been awkward enough. The last thing he wanted was for her to think he was following her back to her apartment to begin a new round of arguing.

If the traffic weren’t so sparse, it wouldn’t have been a worry. He would have just faded into a sea of other beams and she never would have even known he was still there. It would have spared him the mental torment of worrying about what might be bouncing off the walls of his twenty-year-old daughter’s head as she glanced into her rearview mirror. He’d already caught her doing it twice.

Andrew Carson didn’t have an appetite for more drama. He had no interest in further badgering Katelyn about wasting her time and energy on a loser boyfriend who had no ambition and didn’t treat her right. He certainly hadn’t the stomach to listen to more details of how blissful his ex-wife’s life was with her new husband, either. Katelyn clearly liked her new stepfather, which made the repeated mention of him even harder to swallow.

All Andrew wanted right then was to clear his head and get over to the 24-hour Walmart to pick up some supplies for an accounting conference down in Colorado Springs the next morning: last minute items, like printer paper and binders for his presentation of a new software line. The late night detour to the store had been planned in advance, but he’d failed to mention the side-trip to Katelyn during dinner.

He sat in gratuitous silence that soon grew cumbersome under the intermittent glare of overhead street lamps. The muteness let his mind race with odd thoughts and regret. He leaned forward and twisted an illuminated radio knob, then went for the tuner. He found an unfamiliar song that was winding its way through a long, lonely guitar solo. It seemed to fit his mood, so he returned his hand to the steering wheel.

A light drizzle that had been sprinkling down across his windshield began shaping into fine flakes of snow, much like what he’d observed the night before from the upstairs bedroom window of his bare house as he laid awake in bed, unable to sleep.

He lifted his hypnotic gaze from the back of Katelyn’s car and met his own dim reflection in the rearview mirror. He looked as tired as he felt. Above his brows dangled the bangs of his long and wavy dishwater-blond hair. He knew that most men his age would kill for such a dense mane. He mused that it was one of the few things beyond his job that he now had going for him in life.

Quickly approaching the adulthood milestone of a half century, his appearance often led others to speculate that he was younger than he was—perhaps not even a day over forty. He kept himself fairly trim, too, which added to the perception.

He certainly didn’t feel young, however. For the most part, he had physically recovered from the automobile accident that had crushed his leg two years ago, so it wasn’t his health that weighed on him. It was the emotional toll. Though his body was nearly mended, his marriage couldn’t be. For someone once so content with every aspect of his life, the strange new world of solitude and self-doubt felt like a persistent opponent intent on keeping him off a game he had forgotten how to play.

Brake lights flared brightly in front of him, and his attention swept back into focus on the road. Katelyn’s right blinker began pulsating. He smirked at the sight, knowing he needed to make the same turn.

He sighed. Just another mile or so, sweetie, and then you’ll be rid of me for the evening.

A years-old memory of how he used to read stories to his daughter before putting her to bed at night flickered through his head. It brought the slightest of curl to his lips, but the expression soon returned to one of sadness. It was good that they drove separate cars to the restaurant. He couldn’t imagine riding back with her in close quarters after how they’d left things. Who knows what else would have been said?

He watched her veer onto the side exit, which led down a mild slope to the waiting interstate below. He was following her maneuver with his gaze when an unexpected sight grabbed his attention. A cloudy cloak of what appeared to be fog suddenly engulfed her automobile.

His eyes absorbed the transformation of her taillights from clearly defined rectangles to a pair of red blurs inside the fog. He found himself pressing his foot down heavier on the brake pedal that he had already been pumping to make the turn.

As best he could tell, Katelyn wasn’t at all fazed by the billow that surrounded her. She even seemed to be picking up speed, prompting Andrew to speculate that she may have decided to use the opportunity as a proverbial smoke screen to put some distance between them.

His car entered the swell, and once inside, an odor of thick exhaust and burnt rubber poured in through his slightly cracked window. He quickly realized that he wasn’t inside a dense fog but rather the product of some form of combustion. The cloud was thicker to his left where plumes of it rose up from the bottom of a steep gully off the shoulder of the road. He sat up in his seat and peered out his window over the edge of the slope to try and determine its source. What he saw was another set of taillights. They pointed upward toward the top of the hill. An automobile had gone over the embankment and crashed front first at its bottom.

Christ, he muttered.

He quickly checked his mirrors before veering over to the opposite shoulder of the road, away from the ledge. He came to a stop about thirty yards past where the car had most likely gone over, skidding the last couple of feet along gravelly dirt. He flipped the transmission into park and twisted the ignition off.

Katelyn was already far off in the distance, speeding down the interstate, and most likely feeling relieved that he was no longer trailing her. It seemed that she hadn’t noticed it was a car accident that had caused the cloud.

When Andrew opened his door, the cold and crisp January night air quickly flooded in along the open chest of his leather jacket. Guided only by a dim dome light, his hand found the brass handle of the wooden walking cane he occasionally used where it was wedged between the passenger seat and the center console. The slope of the road had a more than moderate angle to it, so the cane could be useful.

He knew from the lingering fume in the air that the accident had to have just happened. From the glance he had stolen, the drop-off was steep, but was probably no more than forty feet in depth. It didn’t appear that the car had rolled. It possibly wasn’t even totaled. No flames were present, which made him question if the thinning cloud was even actual smoke or a combination of exhaust, scorned pavement, and possibly steam from under the hood. There was definitely a stench of antifreeze in the air.

Even if the car was spared major damage, there was a decent chance that the driver was injured. Andrew felt obligated to help.

He stepped out of his silver Lexus LS and into the brisk darkness. He clearly remembered the night that he and his family had been in that accident two years ago on a remote road in the mountains where help hadn’t arrived for thirty minutes. It had felt more like an eternity. It was a horrifying experience, especially for his teary-eyed, then teenage daughter, whose inability to pry her father free from the wreckage or wake her mother added to the chaos of the quandary. It was a night none of them would ever forget.

He wouldn’t wish such torment on his worst enemy. If there was a chance he could spare someone else from such suffering and a sense of helplessness, he was at least going to try.

Feeling the tingle of cold moisture brushing across his face, he whisked his way out from under the dull light of a street lamp and walked across the road. Once on the other side, he began making his way back to the incline to the spot where he believed the car had gone over. He could hear no moans or cries for help, only some distant, oblivious traffic from the interstate below and the crinkle of patches of frozen grass that strayed up from cracks in the pavement beneath his feet.

The brake lights of the car below were no longer on, nor were the headlights. The darkness wouldn’t let him make out the outline of the automobile or the shape of anyone who might have exited it.

Don’t go down there! commanded a loud, unexpected voice from the night.

The abrupt order nearly caused Andrew to drop his cane. It hadn’t come from below, but from above—further up the hill. He halted in his tracks. His head twisted back and forth as he struggled to pinpoint the voice’s source.

A pair of headlights quickly flicked on and off about twenty yards up the road from him. There was another car, a van, hidden in what was left of the diminishing cloud. It was parked along the ledge of the embankment. The flash of the lights acted as a homing beacon, sent to Andrew from the van’s driver.

He glanced down at what he could make out of the wreckage below before turning his gaze back to the parked van. He walked toward the vehicle, intermittently planting the tip of his cane into the gravel-laced shoulder as he did.

The van was a full-sized Chevy, a few years old. It looked to be white, and was possibly a work-van, though there was no company name visible on its side. As Andrew approached the vehicle, he could make out the driver’s hand draped outside of the open window, motioning him to step in closer.

The guy’s crazy! said the same voice, now nervous. He was driving like a madman. The police are on their way.

Andrew reached the driver’s side door and leaned forward to greet the man inside. Dim, blue light from the dashboard gauges offered little clarity, but enough for him to distinguish the contour of the man’s face and body. He had curly hair under a dark baseball cap and a mustache with a crowded thickness that seemed a bit outdated for the current styles. He wore thick-framed glasses with even thicker lenses and looked to be of average weight and height. He was dressed in a dark sweatshirt and jeans.

What’s going on? asked Andrew.

I think he’s drunk. He was all over the road up there, replied the man, nudging his head in the direction of the highway. He took the turn way too fast and went over the edge. He held what looked to be a cell phone up for Andrew to see and explained that he had already been talking on it with a dispatcher to report the erratic driving when he witnessed the crash.

Andrew nodded. "You keep saying he. Are you sure it’s a man?"

There was some hesitation. I’m just assuming, the man finally said. I guess I don’t know.

Okay. How long has the driver been down there? Andrew asked. He twisted his head again toward the wreckage.

Just a few minutes. Not long.

You haven’t gone down there to check on him? Or her?

No! The response was impulsively defensive. The man took a deep breath before continuing. Listen, he was driving like a lunatic. He didn’t care one bit about anyone else on the road, so I say we should just let him sit down there in his car until the police come. Let them deal with him. He doesn’t deserve our help.

But what if he’s injured? asked Andrew.

The man said nothing at first, and then shrugged his shoulders. Better him than us.

Air left Andrew’s lungs. He considered the man’s attitude, but couldn’t bring himself to share it. Well, maybe he’s crazy or drunk, or whatever, he said, but he might also be injured.

The man blew a chilly exhale from his mouth in frustration. He shook his head. The lights from the dashboard danced across his glasses.

I’m going to check it out, said Andrew. He turned his back to the driver, gripped his cane firmly in his hand, and readied to begin a careful descent down the hill. He had only made it a couple of steps across some snow-blanketed earth when he heard the man behind him sternly shout.

Wait!

Andrew’s head snapped back in annoyance. What?

He’s trying to drive out of the ditch. Look!

Andrew’s eyes narrowed at the faint sound of tires skidding on grass and slush. He turned his attention back to the car below and noticed its white reverse lights now illuminated brightly. The hum of its engine could barely be heard. The wheels didn’t sound as if they were gaining any traction as the back of the car only bobbed up and down slightly from the motion.

He’s not hurt, said the man in the van. He craned his neck to grab a better view around Andrew of the trapped motorist.

The car below suddenly jerked up the hill a foot or two. It didn’t get far, but it was enough for the person inside it to step on the brakes to lock in the progress. After a few seconds, however, the car slid begrudgingly back to its original position. A muffled snarl of frustration came from below. It sounded like a man’s voice.

You see? He’s fine, insisted the man in the van.

Andrew sighed in relief. I guess you’re right, he conceded. He sounds pissed, not hurt. He felt some tension leave his body. He would have made his way down the steep hill with his cane, but he was now glad he wouldn’t have to.

I suppose you’re a better man than me for wanting to help, said the man. He seemed more at ease now, too. That’s good. The world needs more Boy Scouts.

Andrew drifted back over to the window and smiled. I was kicked out of the Scouts when I was twelve.

Both men laughed.

So what brings you out on a school night? asked the driver in a gamesome tone.

Just a late dinner in town.

By yourself?

Andrew sighed. That probably would have worked out better.

An uncomfortable muteness fell between the two, and Andrew silently scoffed at the strangeness of the conversation.

The flakes of snow that fell from the sky seemed as if they were growing in size. The frosty air made Andrew raise his cupped hands to his mouth and blow into them. He eyed his own car parked along the exit ramp as the whine of spinning tires again ascended from the bottom of the gully.

There’s no sense in you hanging out here man, said the driver. He’s okay. And like I said, the police are on their way. I’ll catch them up to speed.

Andrew took a moment to digest the man’s offer, and then nodded. Yeah, I suppose there’s no point in me sticking around out here in the cold.

No sooner did he finish his remark than he heard the unmistakable thud of a car door closing from down at the bottom of the hill. He turned his head and saw a dark, male figure in what appeared to be a snug white t-shirt climbing up the hill toward them. The climber looked to be a large man with broad shoulders. Deep grunts of effort bellowed from his mouth.

Ah, shit! The van driver suddenly appeared nervous again behind the thick lenses of his glasses. He leaned forward and began fiddling with something below his steering wheel. A second later, the engine cranked.

Go! Andrew thought he heard someone say from inside the van. It didn’t sound like the driver’s voice.

Andrew’s eyes widened in curiosity. What are you doing? he asked loudly over the roar of the van engine.

The driver kept facing forward on the road, ignoring Andrew’s query and his questioning gaze. A grimace etched across the man’s teeth as he popped the transmission. Wheels spun for just a moment on the wet ground before the van lurched forward and took off quickly down the exit ramp.

Andrew felt the spray from the tires slap his face. His chest tightened as he struggled to comprehend the driver’s bizarre reaction. Though largely concealed in the darkness, he knew that his reaction was clearly prompted by fear—fear of a confrontation with the large man who was now nearly at the top of the hill behind him—the man who Andrew was about to be standing with . . . alone.

The loudening racket of hands and feet digging into frosty earth suddenly stopped. Andrew could feel warm breath bearing down on the back of his tense neck as the rest of his body turned ice cold. He swallowed before slowly turning his head to meet the eyes of the person standing behind him.

It wasn’t the man’s darkened eyes, however, that greeted Andrew’s line of sight. It was his neck. The man was huge. He towered above Andrew, who had to lift his head to meet the man’s opaque stare.

Andrew stumbled backwards a step, digging the tip of his cane into the ground after carving out some marginal distance between himself and the imposing stranger who hovered much too close for comfort.

The man didn’t say a word, which made Andrew nervous. He wasn’t sure if the man was just trying to catch his breath or if he was evaluating Andrew’s reason for being there. He had short, dark hair and appeared to be Caucasian and somewhere in his mid- to late-twenties. His large biceps looked like upside-down tree trunks rooting out from his receding shirtsleeves. Half a dozen earrings snaked up the sides of each of his ears and a slightly larger ring looped through the bottom of his nose. The man should have been freezing with his bare arms and thin shirt providing no insulation from the brisk temperature, yet he didn’t seem too affected by the elements. The strong, repellent stench of alcohol skimming the air perhaps explained why.

Andrew forced himself to speak, hoping to assess whether the paralyzing anxiety that rushed through his skin was truly warranted. Are you okay? he timidly asked.

There was no reply. Only heavy breathing.

Andrew opened his mouth, searching for something else to say when the man suddenly spoke.

Yeah. . . I’m fine. His voice was eerily deep and somewhat hoarse.

Andrew didn’t feel any less on edge. I saw the exhaust from your car, he sputtered out in a single breath. From the road. I was worried you were hurt.

The man just glared. A moment agonized by before he nodded. He slowly turned to gaze at the sight of his disabled automobile below. A couple of cars quickly sliced along the interstate beyond it, with their headlights casting brief shadows along the overpass. The man’s head twisted back to Andrew.

Who was that guy who drove off?

Andrew hadn’t been sure that the man had even seen the fleeing driver, but he apparently had. Based on the driver’s abrupt departure, Andrew considered that the two men might have been engaged in some kind of late night road rage. Just some guy who also saw your car, he answered, thinking it to be the most harmless response. He took a second before continuing. He called the police to report the accident. Help should be here soon.

The man’s body tensed at the word police. Andrew questioned whether he should have offered up that information. He had done so as a way of incapacitating any hostile intentions the man may have been weighing in his mind.

The man’s stoic presence suddenly shifted to one of worry, even though he tried to conceal the change.

Andrew watched him clench his fists until his large arms trembled slightly.

Can you give me a ride to Denver? he asked. I need to get to Denver.

Andrew bit his lip and swallowed. Denver was over an hour’s drive south. The man was trying to leave the scene. Andrew suspected, based on the alcohol he could smell, that he was trying to avoid a DUI charge. He seemed more glazed than drunk; his footing was solid and his speech wasn’t slurred. Regardless, he clearly wasn’t interested in waiting around for the police to arrive.

Feeling the weight of the situation pressing down across his shoulders, Andrew searched for an excuse to decline the request—one that wouldn’t provoke a physical confrontation with the large man.

Listen, I’m not headed to Denver, and besides, I’m just about out of gas.

I’ll pay you for the gas, said the man. We’ll stop at the next gas station.

Andrew’s pulse picked up. He felt the situation quickly spiraling out of his grasp. He speculated that the man was not going to take no for an answer. In the developing tension, he strained to hear the hopeful sound of faint police sirens. There was none.

Come on, urged the man. Do me this favor, all right?

Anxious indecision jetted through Andrew’s veins like electricity through a wire. He weighed different tactics in his mind, but none felt promising. If he said no, the man might get angry, toss him down the hill, and take his car from him. Maybe the car stuck at the bottom of the hill was stolen and that was why the man didn’t have any qualms about leaving it behind. If he said yes, he was trapping himself in a situation that he might not be able to get out of. The guy could be an axe murderer for all Andrew knew.

He repeatedly glanced up at the highway above, yearning to find the headlights of another car making its way down the ramp toward them. It would give him a chance to wave down some help and inject a buffer into the situation. Not a single automobile had passed down the road since the driver in the van had abandoned him. Andrew was on his own.

His mind raced, desperate to avoid a physical confrontation with the giant man. An idea filtered into his head. I have a tow rope in my car! he spewed. I can pull you out of that ditch with it.

Though he was sure that the man’s first priority was leaving the scene, Andrew banked on his preference to do so in his own car. If he’d stolen the car, however, that might change things. Andrew prayed that wasn’t the case. It was best not to give the man too much time to dwell on the proposal. Wait here, he said. I’ll be right back with my car.

Andrew spun away from the man and began walking briskly down the shoulder of the road. He had begun his career in software sales. Taking away the luxury of choice was a classic professional maneuver from a seasoned salesman, and he used that now. Andrew kept his stride even over the cold ground, with only a hint of his typically more pronounced limp. He was wary of advertising any sign of weakness to the more physically endowed man. It made him feel like a small, injured animal fearful of distinguishing itself to a stalking predator.

Even with his back to the man, he could sense the stranger’s imperialistic eyes scrutinizing his every step and movement. He discreetly brushed his hand along his front pants pocket, panicking for a moment when he didn’t feel the bulge of his car keys inside. He breathed again when he found them in the other pocket. He rehearsed a drill in his mind—quickly hop in the driver’s seat of his car, crank the engine, and leave the confused stranger behind in a cloud of exhaust as he tore down the interstate alone.

He had no intention of helping the man out of this predicament. He didn’t even have a rope in his car. He wasn’t sure exactly what kind of situation he had come upon there on that exit ramp in the middle of the night, but he was certain that if he didn’t cut things loose right now, he’d undoubtedly end up paying some kind of price.

As he put more distance from the man, he started to feel more at ease. His mind flew through his drill again.

The faint shift of gravel and the intermittent scuffing of wet pavement behind him caught his ear.

Andrew’s heart sank.

As nonchalantly as possible, he bent his head over his shoulder for a glimpse. The man was walking after him—quickly.

Andrew’s head snapped back around to face his Lexus, holding the lingering image of the pursuing man in his mind. Obviously, the stranger suspected he was being deceived or had made up his mind that he wasn’t going to accept the proposal. The Lexus wasn’t far away, but to Andrew it seemed frighteningly distant.

He crossed the street, stealing another glance at the stranger under the motion of checking for oncoming traffic. The large man was moving in faster now, displaying sternness and aggression with each lunge forward. A metallic rattle reached Andrew’s ears, something like keys in the man’s pocket or a wallet chain riding his hip. Andrew considered demanding that the man stay put and wait for him to back his car up, but he doubted the suggestion would be heeded.

He held out the small remote on his keychain and pressed a button to pop the trunk, hoping that seeing the trunk lid spring open would convince his pursuer that he was retrieving a tow rope. The move didn’t faze the stranger.

Andrew concentrated on the steadiness of his footing; he couldn’t afford to trip or lose his balance along the sloped pavement. He wouldn’t stand a chance of getting away.

By the time he reached his car and tucked his fingers under the handle of the driver’s side door, his arms were trembling.

The stranger’s footsteps erupted into a near sprint. The metal rattling sound turned wild.

Andrew’s eyes bulged and his chest stiffened. He yanked his door open. The man was bearing in fast, too fast for Andrew to slide inside his car, close his door, and lock it before he was reached.

He gripped the brass handle of his walking cane and quickly raised it hand over hand until his fingers clasped it around its base.

Hey! the man shouted from just a few feet away.

Andrew felt the wisp of the man’s hand slide along his shoulder. He clenched his teeth, choked back on the cane, and swung it into the large man like a lumberjack axing down a tree. The sickening thud of metal landing on flesh and the crack of splitting wood echoed, drowning out Andrew’s strenuous grunt. The cane connected with the man’s forehead. The streetlamp added new visibility, highlighting the man’s face as it contorted in shock. The man went down.

Andrew knew he’d gotten a clean, wicked shot in, but wasn’t in any less of a hurry to get away. He dropped what was left of his shattered cane and slid inside his car. His rapid heartbeat nearly tore a hole through his chest. He yanked the door shut and snapped the lock. His hand shook uncontrollably as he managed to slide the right key into the ignition, twisting it so hard it nearly broke off. He popped the gearshift into drive and mashed his gas pedal to the floor. His tires spun madly along the road before gripping, sending him rocketing forward onto the off-ramp.

He roared in adrenaline-fueled triumph. He looked back and forth from the road