Case:Black - 20. Chapter 20

Texarkana, Arkansas

1840 CST

Pete Brenner parked his truck at the Interstate Lines Terminal company warehouse. Thanks to the damned Feds and their alert, the drive across Arkansas had taken all day. The check points and National Guard were all over the place by the time he rolled into Little Rock. Things didn’t get any better on I-30.

The office was closed so he got in his car and drove home.

At every intersection on the interstate, there was a road block and questions: where did you come from? Nashville. Did you stop anywhere? No. What are you carrying? Machine parts. Where are you headed? Texarkana.

Every time they had let him through and had ordered him to go home non-stop.

Hump. Non-stop would be a lot easier if you soldier boys didn’t stop me at every exit.

He thought about getting some dinner but blew it off. He didn’t have any appetite. He also had headache and maybe even the start of a fever that he attributed to sitting in lines at roadblocks across half of Arkansas.

Brenner went home, waved at the neighbors and noticed the empty spot in the drive way where his ex-wife used to park.

He took two aspirin and collapsed into bed.