The silver Datsun 280Z flew down the highway, cutting through the quiet, dark town of Morongo Valley, desperately trying to leave the shadowy buildings and street lights behind it. Rosa was pushed into her seat, as was Theo, who was holding tight onto his dog, Arfie. Leanna was leaning forward in her seat, as if to push the car faster ahead and launch them out of the town.

Rosa watched wide-eyed as the dry grass and signs on the side of the road whizzed past them. She looked over to Leanna, and finally found here voice, “Lee, slow down! Are you crazy?”

Leanna quickly glanced over at Rosa, and seeing how she was frightening her friend, she eased up on the accelerator. “I’d better slow down, anyway. We don’t need to attract any more attention,” she said, quickly looking into her rearview mirror. “Crap, spoke too soon. A car just pulled out behind us… get ready to be pulled over.”

The lights of the following car stayed steady, and weren’t accompanied by the expected red and blue lights. Leanna maintained the speed of her car as they left the edge of town, and were surrounded by dark desert lit only by the night sky. “What to do, what to do, Princess” she mumbled to her car, repeatedly checking her rearview mirror.

“Well, I think we should stop and turn around!” Rosa shouted. “I don’t want anything to do with whatever crazy plans you have! I just want to go home!”

Leanna looked quickly at Rosa, checked the rearview mirror and scanned the road ahead. “I can’t tell if we’re being followed. Let’s pull over at the next intersection.” Leanna saw an unmarked side road, and turned on to it, driving down a gravel road to a clump of bushes tall enough to park the car in front of, concealing it from the highway. She turned the car’s lights off and hesitantly shut the engine off. Leaving the keys in the ignition, she got out and peered over the bushes at the highway they just turned off from.

The car that had been following them came up to where they had turned off, and in the moonlight, Leanna could see that it was indeed a police car. It continued down the highway past them, and didn’t stop as it disappeared from her sight. She leaned into the car and said to Rosa, “I don’t know if they saw us here, but I’m sure they saw us turn off the highway.”

“What’s going on, Lee? Please, I don’t want to continue on any further until you tell me!” Rosa pleaded. Theo stirred in the back seat, and Arfie jumped into the arm rest between the two young women.

“We can’t stay long, but let’s take a break and stretch our legs. I’m thinking the boys here need to have a pee.” Leanna flipped forward her seat and let the boy and the dog get out and run over to the bushes next to the car and relieve themselves. “Don’t go too far, you two. We’ll be leaving in a few minutes.”

Rosa got out of the car on her side and walked over to a boulder nearby, leaning against it and staring into the night sky. “Are we in some kind of trouble, Lee?” she asked. Leanna came over and leaned against the boulder next to her, keeping an eye on the deserted highway, and folded her arms, looking up at the twinkling stars above them, too.

“Man, where do I start?” Leanna sighed and took a deep breath. “It’s like this, Rosa: we came out to Joshua Tree Park to meet up with someone very important. He’ll help make things right again in this crazy world that only seems to be getting crazier. He’ll help make this country a better place… what it was always meant to be: a shining beacon to the world of equality, peace and justice for all!” She stopped as Rosa started shaking her head.

“Lee, you know I’m not interested in that kinda stuff! I just want to be back in my house in Ojai, with my family, doing the boring things that I like to do,” Rosa said. “I’m not interested in saving the world from whoever you think you are fighting.”

“That’s just it Rosa! You won’t be able to enjoy the quiet life you want so badly if things continue as they are! I want to tell you more, but it’s better that I only tell you what you need to know as we go along. At this point, I can only tell you that we are going to meet my old teacher, Kenji Nobu. We’re not too far from his home now-“

Rosa cut Leanna off with a wave of her hand, “And I can tell you right now that I don’t want any part of this. Take us back that town that we just left. We can stay at a motel, and you can continue on with your… mission, if that is what it is.”

Leanna opened her mouth to protest, but stopped and grabbed Rosa’s hand, putting her finger up to her mouth and listening intently to the sky above them. There was a faint whump-whump sound in the distance, that was steadily getting louder. She looked to where it seemed to be coming from, but she couldn’t see anything.

“Theo! You and Arfie come back to the car now!” She pulled Rosa with her to the back of the car and opened the hatch. She unzipped one of the suitcases stored there, and showed Rosa the contents saying, “Here’s another thing I need to tell you about now.” She gestured at the glittering pile of gold wafers, bars and coins stuffed in the bag. “This all belongs to you. There’s more in the other suitcase. You must bring it to my friend, Mr. Nobu, who will help you keep it safe.”

“This is all mine?” Rosa mumbled, mesmerized. “Wait, safe from who?”

The whump-whump sound was clearly getting louder, and Leanna started talking excitedly, “You don’t wanna know, Rosa! We’ve gotta get out of here now!”

*** This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. ***