Michelle turned the car and proceeded down Aberdeen’s main street. She kept glancing in the backseat, but didn’t look Mokoto’s way too often. She glanced at Mokoto’s face again and frowned. “Weren’t you in Herberger’s earlier today?”
“I was.”
“Have you been following me all day?”
“Mostly. It’s hard to lose somebody in a town this size.” Mokoto adjusted herself in her seat slightly, and the gun was briefly not fixed on Michelle’s location.
“If I agree to cooperate, will you stop pointing that gun at me?”
“I’ve heard that one a few times” Mokoto said, as she kept the gun pointing towards the car radio. “Sometimes I believe it.”
“Are you going to kill Phil and Bob?”
Mokoto didn’t answer her question instantly. She looked ahead to a red light and simply stated “Keep going straight, I’ll tell you when to turn right.” She lifted up the gun and once again pointed it at Michelle, keeping it lower than the windows. After glancing at Phil and Bob, she again looked forward and spoke. “I don’t want to kill them. I don’t plan to kill them. I shouldn’t have to kill them.”
“You didn’t answer my question” Michelle said as she shifted to the right lane.
***
Dale Roberts slowly opened his car door, but decided to try his on-board computer one more time. For the third time, his computer read “ERROR” when he typed in the black Jetta’s plate. He shook his head and got out of his Highway Patrol cruiser. The sun had mostly set, and he could see a handful of stars in the sky. The Jetta’s window slowly came down, revealing a smiling brunette, whose hands were still on the wheel. Dale flashed his light inside the car, but he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, with the exception that the car was unusually messy for a female driver. “What seems to be the problem officer?” she said, her smile not breaking for a moment.
“Well ma’am, you were speeding just a bit, and by just a bit I mean you were going 113 miles per hour in a 75 mile per hour zone.”
“I’m sorry officer. I’m meeting some friends up North and I got a bit carried away. But, I want you to know I’m not trying to talk my way out of a ticket.”
“I need your l-”
“License, registration and insurance?” the woman said, cutting him off in mid sentence. She slowly lowered her sun visor and handed Dale a license, along with some other folded paper under it. Dale lowered his flashlight slightly and took the papers. The name on the license read ‘Laura Dell’ and it indicated she lived in Sioux Falls. He unfolded what he thought was the registration paperwork, but the paper felt really odd. He noticed what looked like two threads coming off of it, that almost looked like wires. His eyes followed the threads and noticed they were really long. In fact, it looked like they went all the way back to Laura’s front seat. Laura smiled as Dale heard some kind of click…
