I’m Fixin’ To Play Dead (Part 48)

Here I was, knocked in the head and hogtied, and at the mercy of a ruthless red-headed thief and murderer. They say bad luck comes in three’s and I supposed the third part was that Red had found the map stored in my pocket to Sissy’s cabin up on Lake Tallapossa where the girls were hiding out.

I silently cursed Red when he drug me out of the back yard and across the front lawn where the grass was still wet with the morning dew. He had me by the collar of my leather jacket and was dragging me lake a sack of potatoes. I felt the hard bump of the curb of the street when we reached it, just before he dropped me to open the rear hatch door of the vehicle.

When it opened a dim light came on with just enough illumination for me to memorize the license plate number. I didn’t know what good that might do, but it was something to hold on to. His brute strength surprised me when he bodily lifted me and tossed me into the back of the Dodge SUV.

When he closed the door there was just enough early morning light for me to see that the back seats were in the down position so there was plenty of room and it was warm and dry. “Nice to be comfortable during my last ride,” I thought.

It only took about five minutes before we were on the interstate. That’s when I saw the first rays of the sun caressing the eastern horizon, and figured it was about six o’clock in the morning. Remembering the instructions I had given Sissy, I figured the girls would be okay and call the cops when I didn’t answer the phone, and would be gone from the cabin before Red and I arrived; that was, if I made it that far.

The minutes kept ticking by while I desperately tried to think of some way out of my situation, but nothing came to my mind.

When we exited off the interstate I strained to look out the side glass and saw we were turning onto Highway 229 North. I knew he was reading the map correctly so far. “Keep thinking, something will come to mind,” I told myself.

A half-hour later the sun was over the horizon and shining brightly. I felt confident that Sissy and Louise had made the phone call and were on the move. Now I had to worry about myself.

A short while later, when Red pulled off on the side of the road, I figured he was lost. My suspicion was confirmed when he looked back at me and said, “I can’t read this map, it ain’t nothing but a bunch of hen-scratching’s. You scoot yourself up here behind the passenger seat.”

Once I had worked myself into the requested position he reached back and ripped the tape off of my blood-crusted mouth and said, “I’m going to make you a deal.”

I licked my dry and swollen lips, tasting dried blood and asked, “What kind of deal?”

On the carpet in front of me he smoothed out the map, pointed to the spot where we were now and made his offer. “The deal is that if you can figure it out and get me there then I’ll cut you loose.”

I knew he was lying, but also knew that in his deceiving promise there just might be an opportunity for escape, so I decided to play along. “Only if you cut me loose when we get within sight of the cabin—not after we get there.”

“You’ve got a deal,” Red confirmed. “Once I see it I’ll open the back and roll you out. The tape stays on. That’s the best I’ll offer” he concluded.

“All right, let’s go,” I said as I pretended to study the map. “We’re in Red Hill right now. Stay on 229 until it dead-ends into Highway 63, and take a right. I’ll tell you which way to go from there.”

I worked myself into a sitting position as close as I could get behind the front passenger seat with my back up against the sidewall and my knees pulled slightly up so that my heels were resting on the carpet. From there, through the gap between the driver’s seat and the passenger’s seat, I began to measure the striking distance from my feet to Red’s jawline. I knew I would have to deliver a perfect kick, not to his head, but directly to his jaw in order to knock him out–just like boxers do.

A half-mile after we turned onto Highway 63, I spotted a small two-lane road, pretended to look at the map again and said, “Take that next left. It ain’t fixing to be far now.”