The final encounter had taken less than two seconds. Toby watched from the doorway, her hand over her mouth and her body trembling.
“Are you okay?” she squeaked out.
Danya retrieved her cell phone and punched the buttons.
“I’m fine,” she replied. “But your friend needs some medical attention.”
“9-1-1. What is the nature of your emergency?”
“I’m at a gas station on Highway 39, near the California border. There’s an adult male who appears to have fallen and smashed his face. His nose is bleeding pretty badly, and he’s unconscious. I think he needs an ambulance.”
There was a pause, and then the voice said, “You said Highway 39. Are you at Hatfield?”
“Just outside, on the Oregon side of the border.” She gave the name of the gas station.
“What is your name and phone number?” the voice said.
“Just get an ambulance here, quickly.” Then she disconnected the call.
“Thank you,” Toby said. “That creep and his brother started bothering me a month ago.”
“Did you file a complaint with the sheriff?”
Toby rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but it didn’t do any good. We’re in Klamath County. And only about five hundred feet away,” she pointed to the south, “is the California border. That’s Siskiyou County. That’s where Cole and his brother have their ranch.”
“I see. So the Klamath County sheriff doesn’t want to get involved in a cross-jurisdictional complaint.”
Toby nodded. “They took my statement. But the deputy said that since Cole and his brother were only verbally harassing me, and they reside in the neighboring county and state, it was unlikely they could do much.”
“Has Cole ever threatened you before?”
“Not directly, no.”
“But the meaning was clear?”
Toby nodded again and wrapped her arms around her chest.
“He said that I needed a man around for protection. That all kinds of bad things could happen to people out here.”
“Do you live alone?”
“I live with my mother. She inherited a hundred acres from my father, just a few miles east of here. She’s old and needs someone to cook and clean up the house. We lease the grazing rights and get a little bit of income from that, plus what I can make from pumping gas and working the store.”
“The owner treats you well?” Danya gazed over the store’s exterior.
The construction was dated, but appeared to be maintained.
“Pays you a fair wage?”
Toby shrugged. “Missus White—that’s my boss—she’s all right. Pay is minimum wage, but she’s pretty nice about giving me time off if I need to take care of Mom. We make do. Watch our expenses, and all. Somehow we manage to cover the medical bills…most of the time. Mom has Alzheimer’s and high blood pressure.”
She stared at Toby, whose eyes glistened with gathering teardrops, and she was chewing on her lower lip.
“Do you have a gun?” Danya said.
Toby raised her eyebrows. “No,” she said. “I wouldn’t know how to use one if I did.”
“Any brothers or cousins nearby who can stay with you for a while?”
Toby shook her head. “I don’t have any family in the area except for an aunt, my mother’s younger sister. She lives in Klamath Falls. She visits us sometimes and stays for a while. She’s going to be here in a few days to take care of Mom. I’m supposed to go with a group of people to San Francisco for a couple days. It’s a protest against social injustice, but I don’t know if that’s a good idea now.”
Danya placed some crisp bills into Toby’s hand.
“That should cover the gas.”
Toby looked at the wad of hundred-dollar notes.
“That’s way more than the cost of the gas. I can’t accept this.”
“Yes, you can. Take your mother with you. Who knows? She might enjoy it. Anyway, give this some time to blow over. Right now, Cole is going to be looking for trouble. In a week or two, he’ll have calmed down.”
“You sound like you know the type of person Cole is.”
“I’ve dealt with a number of men like him. They prey on those they perceive to be weak and defenseless. But when someone stands up to them, they quickly back down.”
Toby shook her head and offered the money back to Danya.
“Mom doesn’t do well in a new environment. If her routine changes, she’s easily confused. If we go stay in a motel or campground, she’s likely to just walk away when I’m asleep or in the shower.”
“Then you go away for a while, and have your mother stay with your aunt.”
“We’ve tried that before, and it didn’t work. Mom became very upset. She walked out of the apartment one day while my aunt was working. Fortunately, the police found her the next morning. She was cold and dehydrated, but it could have been a lot worse.”
Danya glared at Toby. “He’ll be back. You know that. I may have broken his nose, but he’ll be treated and released. And he’ll be looking for payback.”
Toby dropped her head, and tears traced two lines down her face.
Danya sighed. “Is there a campground nearby? Someplace I can park my trailer and stay for a few days?”
“Nearest campground is about fifteen miles south of here, beyond Tulelake Wildlife Refuge. The campgrounds fill up quickly, though, and unless you have a reservation, you probably can’t get a spot. But you can park at my house.” Toby’s face brightened. “There’s plenty of room inside the barn, and I can give you an extension cord to plug into.”
Danya considered the offer, knowing where this was headed. Her number-one objective in life was to shun attention, avoid contact with law enforcement, and live anonymously. The later had forced her to adapt to an existence off the grid by using forged identification, no permanent address, and paying for everything with cash. Since holding down a job was contrary to those requirements, she used her considerable skills to liberate ill-gotten funds from gangs engaged in criminal commerce. Typically, she preyed on Mexican drug cartels running operations on both sides of the border.
It was bad enough that she’d assaulted Cole.
