More Than Just a Shady Motel

Not long after submitting his materials, Link had basically confirmed his university admission, and his days became much more leisurely. He no longer stayed at school. Every day at home, aside from his regular workouts and target practice, he occasionally took Peggy out for fun or stayed in to read.

More than a month passed like this. As the reporting date approached, Link packed his things and prepared to drive there in the used Ford Robert had given him.

Peggy had originally wanted to go with Link, but since she needed to live with Linda rather than in the dorms, she flew over several days ahead of him to find a place to stay and get settled.

If he had a choice, Link would actually have preferred flying there. But that would mean leaving the car in Texas and buying another one in California.

With his little stash of savings not exactly abundant, driving himself was more economical.

The United States was vast and sparsely populated, with very few long-distance trains. Besides planes, cars were the transportation people used most often.

After lunch, Link drove out of town. About two hours later, the car suddenly jolted violently. When he got out to check, he discovered that three of his tires had gone flat.

If only one tire had gone flat, Link had a spare. But with three tires damaged at once, there was little he could do.

Still, three tires going flat at the same time was hardly normal. It reminded Link of remote roads from his previous life, where some auto repair shop owners loved scattering nails across the road and waiting for drivers to come to them for patches and replacements.

He returned to the car, pulled out his map, and studied it. His location was truly awkward—the nearest small town behind him was fifty kilometers away.

Going forward, Wolfforker was also forty or fifty kilometers away. He had been stranded right in the middle.

After thinking it over, Link could only grab his bag and get out of the car. Fifty kilometers was nothing to him, but right now, he actually hoped to run into a shady repair shop owner. At worst, he would only get ripped off for a few dozen US Dollars.

Yet he had not gone far before he spotted another vehicle parked by the roadside ahead: a pickup truck towing a camper trailer.

As he approached, Link saw a middle-aged man and woman arguing. A girl around seventeen or eighteen lay on a folding lounge chair, while a boy around sixteen or seventeen played with two dogs.

They looked like a family traveling together, so Link spoke up. "Hello!"

The middle-aged couple seemed to notice Link only then. The man said, "Hello. You are?"

"I wanted to ask whether you have any spare tires. My car has a flat." As Link spoke, he pointed toward his car, which was still faintly visible from here.

"Oh, actually, our tires are flat too. We don't have any spares either."

Seeing that, Link could only keep walking. He thought that if he really made it to the town ahead, he could call a tow truck for them as well. Not seeing the shady repair shop he had hoped for made him feel uneasy.

After walking for less than half an hour, he saw a building ahead. Once Link drew closer, he noticed the sign hanging above it. It was clearly a motel.

Link entered the motel and saw no one at the front desk, so he called out, "Anyone here?"

A moment later, someone emerged from the passageway behind it. The man looked ordinary enough, though somewhat unkempt. Link asked, "Do you have any tires here? I had a blowout."

The man gave an "oh." "We don't have spare tires."

"Do you have a phone? I'd like to borrow it and call a towing company."

"We don't have a phone here."

"Then do you have a car? Could you give us a ride?"

"My wife drove out to buy supplies, so we don't have a car right now either. Well, are you staying the night?"

Link frowned. He vaguely understood what the man meant: unless he paid to stay for the night, the motel had nothing.

It was no different from the scam repair shops Link had imagined, and this place was probably even more unscrupulous. He glanced outside. There were still one or two hours until dark, and Link did not want to waste too much time here, so he continued.

"Do you have any old tires you don't need? As long as they work, I'm willing to buy them for the price of a night's stay."

But the owner's answer remained the same. His wife would drive back from Wolfforker with supplies the next morning, and then she could take them there.

Link did not agree immediately. Instead, he first walked a circuit around the motel. As expected, there really was no car and no phone.

The motel was only so big, and the surrounding area was barren. Any phone lines would have been easy to spot, as would a car.

At that point, Link could only admit that they had done a thorough job. They likely arranged for someone to deliver goods and daily necessities on a regular schedule, leaving no obvious flaw for anyone to pick at.

Live off the mountain when near a mountain; live off the water when near water. Naturally, a place beside the highway had to profit from passing vehicles. Link even maliciously suspected that they might have a deal with the towing company in Wolfforker.

No matter what, Link had decided that this place was even more unscrupulous than the repair shops across the Pacific Ocean.

They made money from the room, then from the food, and then from towing and repairs. By the time it was all over, it would probably cost at least three hundred US Dollars to solve the problem.

In the end, Link could only pay for a room. Then, because the owner looked so filthy, he bought some prepackaged food at the counter—sandwiches and canned goods, among other things.

These things cost more than twice as much as they did at a supermarket in town. Link casually filled his stomach, then discovered that the family of four he had encountered on the road had also arrived at the motel.

They had clearly chosen to walk here as well. Link chatted with them casually and learned that they really were a family. The middle-aged couple were Bob and his wife Ethel, while the other two were their daughter Brenda and son Bobby.

When Bob heard that Link's father was a sheriff, he became a little more friendly and said that he was a police officer too.

The motel owner heard their conversation but showed no reaction, merely pouring himself drinks nearby.

There was not even a television here, so everyone could only chat idly. Later, they found a deck of cards to pass the time. It was not until after ten at night that Link excused himself and returned to his room.

After showering, Link went to sleep. The surroundings were silent, with only the faint chirping of insects outside.

At some unknown point, Link sensed his room door opening, followed by someone approaching his bedside.

He immediately became alert and tried to get up, only to find his entire body weak and his eyelids as heavy as if he had not slept for days. Link instantly realized that he had probably been drugged with some kind of anesthetic.

Then he heard someone say, "Move faster." He felt two people lift him up, and moments later, he was thrown heavily into the bed of a pickup truck.

Link fought with all his strength against his numb body, but the effect was not obvious. He still could not move, and the groggy sensation showed no sign of fading.

Yet he stubbornly refused to fall asleep. His heart turned cold. He had not expected this to be more than just a shady motel.