David & Jessi Ch. 01

A deal was worked out between David and the security company for the use of some office space and periodic use of some personnel that was acceptable to both of them and David started the work on finishing and testing his program and getting it ready to market. Everyone was anxious to say the least. The owner of the security company had quietly talked to a close friend of his in the FBI and was told the government would go nuts for this program if it worked as advertised, and that it might even be confiscated by the Feds (with a huge compensation) just to keep it out of the hands of others but was told to not even think about it. The friend was not thinking as much about the reward money as he was the countless high profile arrests the FBI, and hopefully himself could and would make, which would cause a media frenzy for years as various unknown and hidden criminals became known and were prosecuted.

"Loose lips sink ships." They used to say during and right after World War II, and the same thing can be said today, for some anonymous underling from the security company evidently wanting to make a name for himself and spur sales for his company leaked the information to a computer magazine and the local newspaper and TV station. All Hell broke loose right then, and it immediately became apparent that their worst fears were justified, as first various lawsuits claiming either that proprietary information would be compromised if this become public knowledge, potential invasion of privacy, and others claiming the software was stolen from them or a client and therefore could not be marketed and all manner of other claims. None of those lawsuits worried either David nor the company that he was working with. What did worry them was the multitude of people who suddenly seemed to be watching the company and following anybody leaving the building where ever they went. They were so worried for his safety that they make secret plans for David to get away and hide until the program was fully debugged and tested and then marketed. Marketing the software would take the pressure off everyone, but that would be in maybe 5 or 6 months. David was afraid to go to any town or city to hide as someone might recognize him or figure out who he was and pass the word along, so he decided to hide himself in the places his grandfather had shown when he was a boy, the area known as Four Corners as Spring was starting and the snow had melted with the warmer days and nights.

The company quietly gave David some cash to carry and use just in case and told him to lock his wallet, credit and ATM cards, and his cell phone in his office along with his laptop and leave them there and to give the keys to Thom. He bought several prepaid burner phones to take with him but did not give anyone the numbers saying if he called and no one answered, he would leave a vinyl siding sales call message and a callback number. He went into a different office and called his mom and then his sister and let them know he would be out of town and unavailable for quite a while. There were so many calls made every day from the company's phones that no one could ever isolate a single call to his mom or sister without prior knowledge of their numbers.

David got everything he wanted ordered on line by a friend and had it all shipped to a different address. The day he was going to disappear was at hand. This knowledge had been kept from everyone but three people, all of whom he trusted. David had picked this night as it was a new moon and dark as blazes. David had eyes like a cat thanks to his grandfather and his Special Forces training. Making doubly sure he was not followed, he slowly picked his way away from his own home to where he had stashed a bicycle. He chose a bicycle as they were quiet and efficient and able to turn and move and hide like you would not believe besides being able to navigate tight areas, and they were fast when they needed to be. Wearing black BDUs and a sweatshirt, David quietly made his way a couple of miles to the north making many corners and around the block trips to make sure he was still unfollowed, he reached a remote garage that had a dark blue SUV loaded with all his gear inside hidden.

David had had the foresight to have an electronic bug detector with him and before David touched or did anything at all, he checked everything in and around the garage and the SUV from bumper to bumper and door to door, including himself. He found no bugs at all, which made him feel lots better as it meant no one was aware of where he was at the time. Now if his luck only held and he could get away and up into the hills where he intended to camp and hide in an area he knew of thanks again to his grandfather. Once there, it would be difficult for anyone to sneak up on him except possibly at night while he slept and he did have sensors to help with that. Besides, he would be heavily armed "just in case." Packed in the SUV were two 40 caliber Glocks, a Remington 700 with a 12-power variable scope in 7 MM Winchester Magnum and also a Colt AR-15, the civilian model of the M-16. He also had a fold out compound bow with an assortment of razor sharp broad tip arrows as well as his usual compliment of razor sharp knives including a couple made for throwing.

Yes, besides his special ops trainings, what his grandfather had taught him would make him a very formidable opponent and an extremely dangerous one to boot. Along with two pair of tennis shoes David had also packed his thick soled knee high leather moccasins like those he had worn as a boy and young man as with them he could move as quietly as if he were barefooted. He also had a spare pair and some leather repair items in case something happened to his first pair. He had received lots of special training and had combat experience that he figured those that might be after him probably would not have, thus allowing for costly mistakes. Costly to them, that is. David had no plans to take prisoners if it came to battle action. This was his life at stake.

With there being no bugs in the garage or on the car, David opened the door and pulled the SUV out of the garage and pushed his bicycle in and locked the garage up, and hid the key in a prearranged spot. David took a quick look around and got into the SUV and started it without turning on the lights. The SUV had been backed in so he could slowly pull out onto the street without using any brakes but the emergency brake so no red lights could be seen. After about 10 blocks and 4 turns without any signs of a tail, he pulled out onto a busy street and turned his headlights on and then quickly drove into the night and away from his home and toward the mountains.

Keeping a constant watch for tails and making several sudden moves, exits and turns he was still pretty sure he was not being followed. David drove a preplanned path to the mountains 200 miles away to the area that he had toured, camped in, and hunted in as a boy with his grandfather. There would be diverse terrain around with the lower parts being desert and the higher parts being rather heavily forested.

David put the SUV into four-wheel drive and following one of the many sets of tracks he drove across the desert floor and then around a large hill and parked near a large set of boulders and unloaded his packs. A few minutes later a light airplane flew down the valley and as it neared a single person wearing a parachute exited the plane and descended to the ground to be met by David after a few minutes' observation. As David approached him, he held up his hand for silence and when he got closer the first thing he did was pull out the bug detector and scan the new man from head to toe. Finding no bug or electronic devices David led him over near the SUV and handed him his car keys and told the man to drive carefully and to take a circular route home making lots of turns and direction changes.

The man told him that a plane would fly up the valley starting Monday week at 9 AM and then every eight days and 1 hour thereafter so there was never any once a week or every Monday sort of routine to take notice of. The plane would bring supplies and any news and they would parachute or just drop a package from his plane in this same spot first, then a mile down the valley and that there would be a coded note telling where the next drop would be. It seemed as if the security people at his company were pulling out all the stops to keep him healthy, and he appreciated it.

While David did not have access to a computer, he had brought several thick spiral notebooks and a package of erasable pens and some mechanical pencils with him to enable him to work longhand on a book that he had had an idea about for a long time based on his experiences in Afghanistan and he was kind of anxious to see what he could do with that idea. He would have to have it typed into a word processor when he got back to civilization but for now he could manage nicely. He had also brought one of those emergency radios that had a hand crank that you could wind up and then listen to it for a bit so he could check the news and sports and listen to some music periodically. He had included ear buds so no one could hear as some noises like music can travel for miles under the right circumstances.

He took all of the things that he could carry and hid the rest in some rocks and made his way up the rocky hill towards an area that while was still rather desert like but did have several trees back away from the cliff on top and continuing over the mountain toward the other side. This is where he planned to make his camp as there was a small spring nearby that his grandfather had shown him and from the edge of the cliff he could survey the entire valley and any approach for 240 degrees of arc, so he had a wide view and as dusty as that valley floor was, the only way anyone could sneak up on him from that direction was possibly on foot, but anyone trying that had best be in excellent physical condition as it was across close to 20 miles of sand and desert. The other direction was national park land and a mixture of desert and forest with lots of boulders, jagged rocks, knarly trees like juniper and pinion and some larger pines. Any attempt from that direction would surely entail an overland trek of many miles with no distinguishing landmarks to guide anyone plus there was always the likelihood of the presence of rattlesnakes and mountain lions. His grandfather had shown him an almost perfect spot to hide and watch from those many years ago.

It took David a total of 3 trips to get all of his things to the top of the ridge. He pitched his small tent in the trees just far enough back into them to avoid being sotted from the air if anyone should try that. Nothing was out in view to an aircraft anywhere and his tent was camouflage colored in a pattern that blended well with this surrounding. His firewood would be dry Juniper and pinion which did not emit much smoke. He doubted any smoke would escape the tree cover to identify his location and besides this was a popular camping area at times but to be safe he would make only small fires to cook with and keep the coals hot for coffee.

David had used a folding shovel to dig a fairly deep hole to put his trash in so it could be covered and not litter the mountain. He would probably have to dig a second if he stayed there very long. He did have some quick lime to help decompose his waste and he would also use his cold ashes to aid in that endeavor much as his grandfather had taught him.

David survived the first week with no problems and made his way to the site of the next drop about an hour before it was scheduled to arrive so he could scout and survey the area. The plane arrived right on time and flying low over the valley. A package of some sort suddenly started falling from the plane and hit the dusty ground with a puff of dust before continuing on its way. David watched for another hour without noticing anything unusual and so he made his way to the drop site to first scan the package for bugs and then to pick up the package and make his way back to his camp by a different route.

When he got back to camp he unwrapped his package to see what he had received and found more or less what he had expected in a package of fresh meat plus some canned meat and some canned goods, rice, a small bag of baking potatoes and other supplies, he also found two envelopes. One had the location of next week's drop in it along with some newspaper clippings of the main stories and news. The other had a letter from Thom, his friend and the owner of the security company saying that there appeared to be an increased interest in finding him. The switchboard was fielding numerous calls each day and was telling the callers that David was on vacation fishing in Alaska, Canada, South America, or any number of other places and that if the caller left a number that they would give it to David when he checked in. Few did.

This routine continued for another month and a half and David was starting to feel better about the situation out there, but back home it was a real mess. David's friend, Thom, told him in a note that they were all being followed and that it was taking all the efforts of their computer security software and security team to fend off the various attempts to hack into the system. Also the authorities were starting to make inquiries about where David was as he had been reported missing. The company kept telling the authorities and everyone else that David was fine and was indeed on a vacation to fish and write a book and once it was finished he would be back.

The authorities were not satisfied and demanded to know where David was so they could talk to him personally. They were told that no one knew where David was or how to reach him, which was technically true and would allow someone to pass a lie detector test if need be, and that they would tell David to contact them when and if he called to check in. This did nothing to lessen the efforts of those who really wanted him found quickly. The lawsuits increased and demanded that David show up in court to answer various allegations. David thought it kind of funny that so much attention was being given to him and leaving the company alone and they had the software in their hands to complete the debugging and final testing. At least no one had had any physical threats of violence directed at them as yet, but there had been a few innuendos about accidents and such made. Their security people were on a high alert status 24/7.

After a little over two months of solitude David was shocked to see a dust cloud from a vehicle way off in the distance and coming towards his area at what looked like a high rate of speed. Just in case, David got one of his Glock 40's, his AR-15 and donned his high-top moccasins, stuck his hunting knife into his moccasin boot, then made his way down the slope and hid in the large rocks that lined the edge of the desert floor and climbed on top of one to wait for the car to arrive and see what was going to happen when it got there.

When it was maybe 20 yards from his hiding and vantage point and a little below him, the black SUV stopped and both back doors opened and what looked like two huge gorillas got out and then one reached into the SUV and drug what looked like a tall slim and terrified woman out that was bound hand and foot and then hitting her with his fist knocking her down he reached under his jacket and produced a pistol and took three quick shots at the woman and then they jumped back into their SUV and raced off as fast as they could back in the direction they had come.

David blinked and stared open jawed at what he had just witnessed, then waited for several minutes to make sure the killers did not return before making his way to where the woman lay, dreading what he might find when he got there. It took him maybe six minutes to navigate the obstacles and reach where she lay. When he got to her, she had blood all over the top and side of her head and face plus what looked like a wound to her upper left chest. He was afraid she was dead but went to check on her anyhow and was surprised to find a small but distinct pulse. Deciding that he had to move her, he carefully lifted her into his arms and started to make his way back to where he would start the assent up the slope to his camp.

While he knew he needed to hurry and get this woman to his camp so he could start some first aid, he had to take care at the same time to erase his footprints from the sand at his trail up the mountain so he could not be followed. He knew he would probably have to stop for a rest several times before he finally made it to camp. After a short breather, he picked her up again and restarted up the hill, thinking how glad he was that she was as thin and light as she was. She was thin, but she felt firm and even muscular under her clothes as he carried her. He would have loved to have been able to put her over his shoulder to carry her, but knew that that would only increase the loss of blood from her wounds, so he carried her like a baby. Thank goodness for his strong arms and back.

When he finally reached his campsite, he carefully laid her on the ground outside the tent so he would have more room to function and to have more light to work by. He first looked at her head wounds and saw that both were grazes that had plowed furrows into the bone of her skull, knocking her out and causing lots of blood flow but had not actually penetrated her skull. He unbuttoned her shirt but had to cut the bloody thing off of her arm and side to expose the injury, which looked to be a through and through of the muscle under her left arm. He took her bra off as it was blood soaked, thinking he would wash it for her later. He tried not to notice her firm and high riding medium sized breasts, but failed miserably thinking it would have been a real tragedy for one of those bullets to have penetrated or marked one of those beautiful and perfect orbs before recovering his mindset and returning to his examination of her wounds. He did lay a towel over her to help preserve some modesty, and hide them from his view.

He boiled some water to make it sterile and after it had cooled a little he washed the wounds and her hair as well as he could, going to the little spring twice for more clean water to boil to clean her wounds with. He added some clean cloth cut from a tee shirt to the water to boil and sterilize.

As soon as he had her as clean as possible, he got his grooming scissors out and carefully cut away her hair near the wounds so he could put in the stitches needed to pull the sides of the wounds together and prevent horribly wide scars from developing as the result of being left open to heal. David had a well-supplied medical kit in his tent and he got it out and started checking the contents for what he needed he found his sterile needles and silk suture thread and a pair of forceps. All Special Forces types take a lot of first aid classes while in training so he was proficient at what he was doing, having done it in Afghanistan a couple of times. After he had stitched the wounds up as well as he could, he used some of the sterilized cloth to make pads and to bind her wounds. He next got out some powdered antibiotic wound dressing like the army uses and an antibiotic ointment to put on the wounds. He also found some better bandages, which he would use next time he changed her dressings. He checked his back pack and found his supply of personal pain pills and antibiotics he had packed. Because of his leg wound, he had a ton of such medicines at home and always had some with him, but they would have to wait until she was awake and lucid.

After the woman was treated as completely as possible under the circumstances, he got one of his flannel shirts and slipped it over her wounded arm and shoulder first and then got her other arm through its sleeve and then buttoned it up. He found a couple of large safety pins in the first aid kit and used them to fasten the sleeve on her injured arm to the body of the shirt. He looked at the situation and saw that there was no way he could get her into the tent without hurting her unless...