Susan saw the cars moving her way and put everything quickly back into her car. She climbed in and pulled away heading back to her home. They all would meet there later tonight if all went as planned.

Jay drove the Nova back toward the main road. The wind was blowing slightly. The dust kicked up from the Nova on the dirt road was quickly pushed into the darkness in front of Jason’s van as it followed closely behind Jay.

“Well, that went better than I could have hoped for David,” Jay said as he watched the bumpy road ahead. “Yes Jay, my life flashed before my eyes when Jason came back from the van. I thought he might have had a gun on us by then. They could have killed us and just taken the money.” “I trusted that Sam likes me enough to do more business with me in the future, David. Killing us at this time would only bring him more trouble. Somewhere down the line it might be necessary for Sam to want to kill me, but our plan will prevent that, no doubt.”

Jay pulled up to the main road and came to a complete stop. There was no traffic but there was a steep drop off from the desert floor to the wide, smooth road. He slowed down and carefully passed from the desert over a berm of earth then down onto the highway. Jason followed and did the same. Then Jason continued to follow Jay for a few miles.

The blue and red lights appeared on the road just over a ridge. It was a police road block. There was no place to go. Jason looked in his mirrors and saw more police behind him. “We’re trapped Cheeto, what can we do.?” “Nothing Jason. We will have to just wait and see what happens. Maybe this is set up to stop the trafficking of immigrants and not for us.”

Jay continued to drive until he reached the road block. Four cars sat across the road. There was no chance of escape. Two offices stood on either side of Jay’s car at a safe distance. They spoke loudly and clearly from behind opened black police car doors with guns held tightly in their hands. “Get out of the car with your hands held high over your heads,” they shouted. The two men in the Nova did as they were asked. “Do it now!”

Two policemen walked to the car with one man holding a large dog. The dog walked around the car and then sat down, perfectly still, looking at the trunk. “We have drugs here Sargent.” One of the cops walked over and tried the trunk. It was locked. He walked over to the driver’s side and pulled the keys from the ignition. He then walked back to the trunk and opened it.

There were three small boxes there. He opened one and took out the paper stuffing lying on the top. “Looks like cocaine or heroin, or maybe meth.” Another cop walked over to Jay and asked him what might be in the boxes.” “You might need to ask my attorney that when we get to the station,” Jay answered back. The officer looked at David. “Do you know what’s in the boxes?” “What boxes?” I was just hitch hiking and he picked me up.” David looked at Jay and smiled.

Jay and David were led off and put in two separate patrol cars. Dave recognized one of the cops on scene. He didn’t recognize Jay.

Then it was Cheeto and Jason’s turn to come up to the road block as they were waved forward. The van moved slowly forward as it had been asked to do. The two men remained or at least, looked calm. “Maybe they won’t look Cheeto, after catching those two in front of us.” “Maybe, but I wouldn’t count on it.” Cheeto pulled the car forward and stopped. The man with the dog was on Cheetos side. Jason was driving. “Where are you guys coming from?” “Oh, we were at our sisters house for a birthday, officer.” Jayson seemed calm as he answered. The other man with the dog got closer to Cheeto and the dog sat down. “Crap, Cheeto thought.”

“We have a signal here Brad.” “I see,” the officer answered quickly. “Put your hands up and come out of the van, now.” Jason’s heart was beating fast as he stepped out. He had just been out of jail for a few months. One of the officers looked under the driver’s seat as Cheeto was leaving the van, “We have a gun here.” Jason’s heart sank. The dog still sat by the passenger door. Cheeto looked at Jason. “What the hell, we don’t haver any drugs with us, why did he sit down?”

The officer with the dog asked Cheeto to get out of the car. He opened the glove box and quickly found the wad of money wrapped tightly in paper. There was small amount of weed wrapped in with the money to attract the dog. Jay had wanted to make sure that the money was found.

“Look all over the van, we have some suspicious money in here.” Two officers searched the van with flash lights in the silent darkness. Soon several bundles of one hundred dollar bills sat on the hood of the nearest cruiser. It totaled about thirty-eight thousand dollars.

“Put the cuffs on them Bob, they’re going downtown with their two friends. Call a couple of tow rigs for the cars.” “Where did the money come from boys? You been out gambling or something?”

As The four men were riding to the police station a few miles away, Loretta received a call on her cell phone. It was two in the morning. It was from her father down in Panama City.

“Hello daddy, why are you calling at this hour?”