The Greed Factor
Chapter 1
Every
time the bomb rattled in Dane Kanter’s trunk, icy neurons fired through his
bloodstream. With each sharp turn his
heart stuttered with anticipation. It
was pure greed that put him in this situation, driving up the Pacific Coast
Highway at five in the morning, heading toward Los Angeles. A college dorm prank that turned into the
scariest driving experience of his life.
Traffic
was light on this portion of the winding road, but his brain throbbed with
every creak that came from the back of his Honda Accord. The ocean waves were just peaking out of the
morning fog to his left as the sun seeped between the tree line to his right. He’d been gripping the steering wheel so
tight that his arms were getting fatigued.
How did he ever consider taking the envelope from that stranger in
Tijuana?
A fine
mist was spitting on his windshield as he manually engaged his wipers every
thirty or forty seconds. The road
glistened with moisture and he felt his tires hydroplane on the sharpest
turns. Everything seemed to conspire
against him. Even the city planning
wouldn’t cooperate. His gas gauge had
been on empty for twenty miles, but this stretch of road was quiet and lacking
a gas station. Just trees and asphalt
and the continual threat of an explosion to keep him company.
Dane
kept imagining ways to rectify the situation.
He couldn’t abandon the car, the Mexican had made sure of that. The detonation device was strapped to his
chest and the bomb would explode should he move even three feet from the
driver’s seat. A code-locked keypad
secured the chest strap and only one person knew the proper code to detach the
strap. One wrong sequence of numbers and
Dane’s worries would disintegrate. Along
with Dane.
The
‘low gas’ warning light blinked on and Dane almost puked at the sight. He was being monitored with a GPS device and
a miniature camera attached to the windshield so even a slight disruption to
his movement would be considered suspicious.
A gas stop might be tolerated, but a prolonged stoppage like running out
of gas on the side of the road could only expedite the explosion.
Plus
there was the deadline. He’d been given
eight hours to get to his destination.
At eight hours and one minute he became extinct. There had to be a way of getting rid of this
device without exploring the next world, but nerves and rain and wet roads kept
him focused on just one thing. Get to
the drop and have the detonator removed safely.
He
wiped a patch of sweat from his forehead, then squinted as he turned around a
sharp bend and saw flashing lights swirl against the trees to his right.
“Shit,”
Dame muttered. Less than a mile ahead
was a road block with white and green SUV’s parked on each side of the single
lane bottleneck of cars. He thought
about turning, but saw that it was Border Patrol vehicles. It was rare to see a road block this far north,
but Dane was a pasty white teenager with blonde surfer hair. He should be of no interest to them. Unless he acted suspicious.
Dane tried
to control his breathing as he approached the line of cars waiting for the
inspection. Even in the morning chill,
Dane’s hands were clammy around the steering wheel. There
were three cars ahead of him, the first car was waved through by the
green-uniformed Border Patrol Officer as he bent over to inspect the contents
of the small sedan. The line crept
forward as each car received a quick glance and a wave of an arm.
Finally
it was Dane’s turn. With his window
open, he rolled the car forward expecting the officer to wave him through
without stopping, but the guy held up a hand and Dane nearly dropped a load in
his pants. That’s when he looked at his
side view mirror and spotted the German Shepherd sniffing at the back of his
car. Another officer was pulling on the
leash to restrain the dog.
“Are
you carrying any weapons with you?” the officer asked.
The
question surprised Dane and he stammered.
“N-no, of course not.”
The dog
was sniffing so hard Dane could hear him snorting at the base of his car. The two guards glanced at each other.
“Would
you please pull the car over to the side of the road?” the officer asked.
That
was it. There was no chance he could
survive a car inspection. And the
Mexican was hearing everything. Seeing
everything. He could detonate the bomb
remotely at any moment. Dane’s heart
pounded the inside of his chest like a jackhammer.
There
was no choice.
Dane
slammed on the accelerator.
No comments:
Post a Comment