Chapter 3 - HITTING THE ROAD
The fixers left, but Arthur knew they would be back, and next time, they wouldn't ask nicely. Julian Sterling had the local police in his pocket and enough money to make a single mother disappear permanently.
"We can't stay here," Arthur told Elena as he helped her pack a small hospital bag. "They know where you are. They know you're weak."
"I have nowhere to go," she cried. "I have no money, no family. I'm a burden to you."
"I drove alone for twenty years, Elena. The silence was killing me anyway."
Arthur didn't take her back to the condemned trailer. Instead, he drove to a used car lot on the edge of town and traded his beloved, custom-built Peterbilt rig—the only thing he owned in the world—for a rugged, inconspicuous, heavily modified RV and a thick envelope of cash.
They slipped out of the county under the cover of darkness. Elena slept in the back with Leo, the gentle hum of the RV's engine serving as a lullaby. Arthur gripped the steering wheel, his eyes scanning the rearview mirror. He was no longer just a freight driver; he was a protector.
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For a week, they lived off the grid. Arthur taught Elena how to shoot a hunting rifle in the deep woods of Kentucky. She taught him how to properly burp a newborn. For the first time in two decades, Arthur heard laughter inside a vehicle. He felt a father's fierce instinct returning to his hardened heart.
But Julian Sterling wasn't a man who accepted defeat. He placed a $50,000 bounty on Arthur's head, labeling him a kidnapper on the dark web.
