Overall, good job on getting to a safe spot without incident. Given what you had to work with, I think you did fine! :congrats:
Now, let's take it apart, a bit. I try to take absolutely nothing for granted, so take that into account. I doubt everything, consider everything as a "sign" and being indicative of something, and try very hard to vary my routine to guard against exactly this sort of thing. Though I have been followed on several occasions for brief periods, through town, I have yet to be caught out at night on a scooter, alone in the boonies. So, you've got at least one experience under your belt that I've not had. Still, let's see what we can do ...
... 10:00 ... exited the freeway and began to travel 9 miles through a rural environment ...
On a scooter and now off the beaten path. That's a tough one. Only after you're out of sight and into the boonies are you sure there might be a problem. Not many choices. Is your scooter very, very fast? How rural is "rural", in terms of how quickly can you be back where people are seeing you or can help you? Boonies, literally, with no restaurant, gas station or any other place with people? If none of that around, your own turf was probably the best option.
As for the .380, how well-armed are you, normally? In that situation, did you feel under-gunned? By much? Did you have many spare rounds/magazines? No? You can easily rectify all of that.
Scooter, hm? Completely open and visible to anyone following. Apparently, a slow vehicle. Obviously not capable of high speed or off-road endeavors. Not incredibly well-lit. In other words, at 10pm with a solitary rider, fish bait ... a target. As was apparently the case in this instance.
... I noticed a car following too closely. It matched my every turn until I entered the paved country lane 0.33 miles from my driveway ...
At that exact point, exactly how many alternative directions could you have gone? Would any of them have been more-secure, better-lit, more-populated than your own driveway? Got a "goat track" or trail you could have scooted up, where a car could not travel?
There is something comforting about your own home ground, but as you know: they now know where you live.
... my wife had left our gate open (the driveway is another 0.25 mi), and I scooted up to the garage without incident.
Good reminder to have a long-range garage opener
on your person, if you're going to be coming in late at night on the scooter. No different than if you were coming in via car. All the more important, now that you've got someone who has sensed a pattern with you ... that you're a scooter-mobile target that lives at that house. Caution is due.
Which is the response least likely to get me hurt if confronted by an armed BG ...
Dropping the BG before he drops you. Next to that, prayer the BG(s) doesn't hurt you while you dither on whether to drop the BG before he drops you. Standard rules and laws apply, but you've got a lot of circumstances suggesting you're being attacked, at this point. Waiting all the way until forced to toss your wallet the other direction (in the dark, mind you, which won't help his demeanor much) provides few guarantees. The only given here is: the BG is apparently making a move, so decide on what to do about it. Evade, avoid, outrun, go defensive. Until he/they actually attack overtly, you're on shaky legal ground, so have caution and keep your wits. As at all such times, you picks your response and takes your chances.
One thing: Darkness can be your friend, particularly near or on your own home turf. It works against an attacker and for a defender. If on your own home turf, you can use that. You ought to be well aware of every blade of grass within a 100yd swath from your house.
I don't want to be a hero, just a healthy husband and dad.
With an apparent BG that knows where you live, on a lower-powered scooter, having a .380ACP and on a darkened country lane, alone, you've got few choices. He knew that. Now, so do you.
Think for a moment. Put yourself in the BG's shoes for a moment ... and think. You want to attack the guy 150yds ahead of you. He's getting deeper into it, as the minutes roll on. He's on a dark lane, going deeper and darker away from any help. He's not on a high-powered vehicle. He's apparently not armed, but you don't know that. You're possibly with your BG cohort(s), thinking this might be an easy score. One lone GG to be taken down, possibly with firearms; possibly with force of numbers.
Suggestions for guarding against this sort of thing:
- Keep your "radar" on at all times, when out and about. Expect the unexpected. Anticipate that anyone turning off the larger roads to the rural ones is likely following you ... so, prove yourself wrong before you do anything else, such as drawing them to your family.
- Speak with your family immediately. Describe the situation and the risk. Clearly identify that this car's occupants know where you live, know your scooter-based, late-night pattern. Enlist their assistance to beef up the perimeter security and communications. Y'all don't need to be paranoid or fearful, but you do need to be working together on this.
- Get more firepower and keep it with you at all times. Keep spare magazines with you at all times.
- Secure the house. Keep it secured. They know where you live. Might be a good opportunity to review your perimeter-defense plan. Check the alarm's batteries, silent alarm, perimeter/zone capability, comms to the alarm service or police, etc.
- Got dogs? No? If you live in the country ... get one or two.
- For late-night excursions, ditch the scooter and select your higher-powered motorcycle or a car. Keep a locked area on the bike with spare magazines in a pouch that you can quickly access if need be. If you needed to head into the weeds, you could quickly snatch another 4-6 mags and be reasonably well-prepared for a firefight against even a carload of perps.
- Vary your routine. They know where you live, that you're on a slower scooter, that you drive alone at night. You're at risk. Drive elsewhere. Pick another couple/three routes for getting to your country lane. Don't have any? Then, you might have a problem with little recourse.
- Have communications physically on you. The moment you notice turn-for-turn matching, get on the horn and call in the cavalry. (Here's where you see the usefulness of a one-button 911 function on a cell phone.) Cell phone doesn't go everywhere out in the boonies? Consider a GMRS radio and enlist the help of a dozen of your closer rural neighbors as sort of a "neighborhood watch" committee.
- Have a method of opening your gate and/or garage door automatically from a fair distance. Have a quick-opening gate at the opening edge of the property, one that optionally relays a signal to your garage door to open as well (ie, if a "panic" button is hit).
- Listen to that internal "voice" that tells you when the scat's hitting the whirly thing, because, like as not, it is. At that instant, it's time for an alternative plan ... different direction, different speed, proof that all's well, and proactive decisions if it's not.
Given what you had to work with, I think you did very well. Had I been in the boonies and had as few options, I might well not have done much differently. I'd like to think I would not have shown then where I lived, but on a lower-powered scooter and on a dark country lane with few alternatives, frankly I think choice of my own home turf would be the best in that situation, all things considered.
Kudos on surviving. I think the mere fact the car matched your turns and then turned out its lights proves you were being followed. Had you not zipped into a protective area at that moment, I think you would have been attacked. A guess, but a good one I think.
Now, keep your "radar" on HIGH for the couple of mos. They
do know where you live. They can now monitor your path and be on the lookout for a scooter-bound single guy. They can lie in wait. I don't mean to scare you. They've already got the ability to ambush you, so don't ignore it; rather, be aware of it and leverage it to your advantage, in terms of preparations. Be cautious. Be aware. Vary your route, times. Vary your vehicle. Ditch the scooter for a few months.