chapter 3 - the journey

The officer walked Mia outside. “So, you are seriously putting me in jail?”, Mia asked.

“No, no, we have a special facility you are going to. We ain’t going to throw you in with common criminals.”, the officer replied and the motioned for Mia to climb into a 4wd Bronco.

“Get in, the roads are rough where we are headed.”

Mia climbed up into the front of the Bronco. It was an old one from the 80s and set high on big off-road tires. The back of the Bronco was stacked full of boxes and crates.

“Why can’t you just let me go, I am not even from here?”, Mia asked.

“You broke the law here, that is all that matters.”

Mia buckled up while the officer started at her. “I think you have a pound or 2 more than 175 on you.”, he said then started the Bronco.

By now the sun was coming up as they pulled out of town and onto a dirt road. About 20 minutes down that dirt road they pulled off onto what was little more than a trail. The officer reached down and put the Bronco in 4wd. “It’s going to get rough now.”

It was slow going, with branches rubbing up against the side of the Bronco as they slowly made their way up the track. They wound their way up the side of a mountain. At the top there was an open glade and all Mia could see all around her was rolling low mountains and forests. They wound their way back down the mountain and arrived at a rocky clear river driving along it until they hit a low point and the officer drove across. On the other side the track continued more or less along the river and after about another 30 minutes or so, they pulled into a clearing with a large old house and several outbuildings. A couple of viscous looking bulldogs came barreling up as they pulled to a stop in front of the old house. The officer looked down at the barking dogs and then back at Mia, “You don’t want to walk outside unaccompanied here.”

“Where are we?”, Mia asked.

“Well, that is Tom Ball Mountain we just went over. It’s a long ways back to a town.”, the officer replied with a slight grin.

A young man, no more than 20 or so, stepped out of the house and onto the porch. “That’s my youngest, Charlie. I ain’t here much due to my police work, so him and my other son run this outfit for me.”

Charlie motioned to the dogs to go lay down, then asked, “Daddy what did you bring us?”

The officer turned to Mia, “Get out.”

Mia looked at the officer and could see there was no arguing with him, so she opened the door and climbed out. Charlie looked at her up and down, “You are just in time to eat breakfast.”