Law & Order - 3. L & O Chapter 3

During the hike the winds picked up again, making it hard to walk, especially with the road being mostly uphill. When I finally arrived, I entered the Post Office first and asked them to call an ambulance to Pioneer Park down by the lake, as my cousin was gravely ill, I gave the dispatcher my cousin's name, age and home address, and instructions on where exactly to find him.

I would need to return to camp and pack it all up call, so I called my parents to come and collect our belongings including the two kayaks, and take me back to Trout Creek, and inform Uncle Oliver that I had called an ambulance to take Tyler to hospital. Next, I decided to go next door to get a drink and snacks, at the local general store, and it wasn’t until I was well inside the shop that I realised that I had just walked into the middle of a robbery, and I quickly turned around and dashed outside, just as a shotgun fired in my direction, which hit my arm, as I struggled to stay upright, and I ran straight into the grip of a mean looking man, who grabbed me, just as I heard noises behind me.

“He’s a witness, let's take him with us and decide what to do with him later,” a voice said behind me and I was suddenly shoved into the back of a vehicle, that I had just realised was parked at the front with the motor running, and moments later I felt this sharp pain in the back of my head and I blacked out. I was not sure how long I had been unconscious, but when I woke up the vehicle was no longer moving, I heard distant conversation happening nearby, who I guessed to be my abductors.

“What are we going to do with him, he looks fairly young, maybe not even 18 yet. Should we kill him and keep going or just bring him with us until we are over the border, then dump him somewhere,” I heard a voice say when the wind direction changed, and I could hear their discussions clearer. “How far are we from the border? And how are we going to get over it without being detected?” I heard a second voice ask, which was female.

“From here in Oliver to Oosoyoos is about twelve miles, and it is about another 3 miles to the border. I think we should keep the little rut as a backup in case we have any troubles getting across the border,” I heard a third voice say, and I heard mutterings of agreement from the others, which I was relieved to hear, as I tried to move and I realised that my hands were tied up as were my legs and feet, and I groaned in annoyance.

“What was that, he must be awake, let's get to the next town and fine-tune our plans once we get there,” I heard one of them say, as I tried to roll a bit to get a little more comfortable as I was getting numb from lying on my side for too long, and soon two faces appeared, “He is awake, what do we do now?” one of the men asked. “Hey boy, do you want a drink or anything before we set off,” I was asked, and I looked down towards my crutch, trying to indicate that I needed to take a piss badly, and they got the hint.

I was untied and forced to stand up which was a little difficult at first, and once I was steady I was led to the restrooms at the back of a service station, with a whispered warning, that if I tried anything I would not live very long, which made me nervously nod my understanding. So far, I had not said a single word to my captures so they had no idea that I was an international tourist, here just for a family holiday.

Once I had peed and washed my hands, I was led back to the vehicle where I sat in the back, and I was still feeling a little dizzy, probably from the grazed bullet wound to my arm, as I was given a sandwich and a soft drink, and we were soon on our way again, with the woman driving and the two men sitting on either side of me in the back seat, which made me quite nervous.

Their accents were different from that of my Uncle and Cousin, so I was guessing they were from the USA, and that is where they were heading, taking me with them. When we stopped at a park right near the lake, I guessed that we were only a short distance away from the USA border, which made me very nervous, not only because I had heard so many stories about the out-of-control gun laws there, but also I didn’t have my passport with me, it was back at Trout Creek with the rest of my luggage. All I had with me was my University ID card, which gave my name, date of birth and the university department where I was studying my major subject, which was Computer Science.

I realised that it was now late in the afternoon, so I was not sure where all the time had gone, and what had happened while I was unconscious. Unknown to me, my captures had robbed two service stations while I was out of it, and during that time I had been sat up in the back seat of the vehicle with my seatbelt on to keep me in place, so there was a good chance that my face had been seen during the robberies. My hands and feet were tied up again, as I remained in the back of the vehicle, while my captors were looking over a map spread out on the bonnet of the vehicle.

One of them pointed across the water towards a tall building, that looked like a hotel, and they were deep in discussions as they looked between the map and the building in the distance. Eventually, the discussions came to an end, and the woman walked off somewhere, returning half an hour later with a shopping bag, that contained burgers and soft drinks, which I gladly accepted, as I was rather hungry and thirsty. Afterwards, I was taken to a restroom nearby, where I could take a piss again before being saved into the back of the vehicle and tied up again.

I was tired so I closed my eyes, and I was soon asleep although it was not a restful sleep, with thoughts of what was going to happen to me once my captors decided that I was no longer useful to them, which scared the hell out of me, and I was starting to have a nightmare about what was going to happen. When I woke up with a start, as I heard a door close, I looked around and saw that it had just gone dark and we were on the move again, but only for about fifteen minutes.

Looking around as we came to a stop, I could see the lake across the main road, as we were parked opposite in a public carpark area, and a bright sign advertised a large hotel opposite on the banks of the lake, and next to it through the gaps in the trees, I could see a small marina, which made me realise this is possible how they were going to sneak across the border, on a boat on the lake under the cover of darkness.

Half an hour later, with just my hands tied, I was forced marched across the road towards the marina, and I tripped as I was about to step off the road onto the roadside path, hitting the side of my head as I went down, and once again I blacked out unconscious. When I woke up next time, I was in a comfortable bed, with intermittent beeps coming from a machine nearby and as I moved my hand, I realised that it was handcuffed to the bedrail in a darkened hospital room. A shadow stood up and took a quick look at me before walking out of the room, and a few moments later he returned with a nurse following close behind.

“Hello young man, do you know where you are?” the nurse asked me, “Hospital,” I responded in a very croaky voice, and I was given a small cup of ice chips, which I began to munch on, which relieved the soreness of my dry mouth, “Do you know how you got here? What is your name?” she asked me and I frowned, and shook my head no, as I touched my sore head, where I had banged it sometime in the past.

“You have a concussion, also burns and minor damage to your arm from a shotgun wound, which is the reason why you have those on your wrist,” the nurse said to me, “Where?....” I asked still with a croaky voice, “Where are you? In the North Valley Hospital,” the nurse replied, “Canada?” I asked in a whisper, “No dear, you are in the town of Tonasket, Okanogan County, Washington USA,” the nurse replied, and I started to get upset on hearing this.

I was given a couple of tablets to help me sleep some more, and I was soon dozing again, although now I knew that I was indeed in the USA, which had me very worried. When I woke up next, I was been shaken awake by two police officers. “Come on wake up, get dressed, you have places to be today,” one of the officers said to me. “Why, where am I going?” I asked sounding confused and disorientated. “To jail where you belong… Hey Nurse, do we have a name for this guy yet?” the officer responded.

“Only the name Andrew is all I have on my details, which came from a police report of some kind,” the nurse replied, which made me frown when I heard this. “Why am I going to jail? What have I done?” I asked as the nurse came in to help me get dressed. Suddenly I remembered something about an article that I read about travelling overseas, a distress signal, and as I turned slightly to face the nurse and block the two police officers’ view, I tucked my right thump into my palm and closed my four fingers over the palm, and repeated the action twice more.

I watched the nurse's face as I did this, and at first, she looked shocked, then she gave me a quick smile and a short nod of the head, to let me know that she understood. “Is there a hospital discharge form that I need to sign nurse?” I asked, “Yes, let me quickly get it,” she replied and dashed out of the room, returning a few moments later with a clipboard with two forms attached. “I quickly looked at the information in front of me, before I signed the first one, and the second one I folded slightly and quickly wrote down something on the back page of the second form, before unfolding it and handing the clipboard back.

The police officer snatched away the clipboard, and looked at both forms, to make sure that I hadn’t written anything that they needed to know about, and not seeing what I had written on the back, he handed the clipboard back to the nurse with a grunt. Moments later, with handcuffs on, I was marched out of the hospital, and into the back of a police vehicle. After we had left the building, the nurse slipped into a quiet office, to look at what I had written.