There was the quizzical quirk of light brown eyebrows before I put my attention back to driving for our lives. The car banged loudly into a green Dumpster at the back corner of the gas station and sent it chasing after a bald man with a beer belly who had just exited the bathroom. He fled promptly, his legs pumping and toilet paper fluttering from his shoe. I followed, bypassing him and the metal box on wheels before taking a sharp corner at the front of the building. After dodging a row of pumps, I took out a flock of plastic pelicans and then an equally gaudy fake purple pig.
That put me right behind the Ford as it smoked its way through the parking lot I’d just vacated fifteen seconds ago. Slamming into it, I propelled it several feet into a three-foot-high metal drainage pipe that marked the back boundary of the lot. The Ford flipped. There were sparks flying from the metal striking metal and a distinct crunching accompanied by the cacophony of smashing glass. The sound of a catastrophic wreck wasn’t one you could mistake, but it usually didn’t give you a warm glow.
Shifting into reverse, I could see a modest group of diners boiling out of the barbecue joint. It was a good thing I’d chosen an older model car or I wouldn’t have seen much at all. It was generically inconspicuous, so the eye slid away from it naturally and it had the added bonus of no airbags. Instead of breathing in powder and plastic, I could see the pig crowd. I could also see something else, something a whole lot less pleasant than slightly greasy pork lovers.
Colors of gray, black, and red coalesced into the driver crawling with painfully slow deliberation from the overturned car. The man was as indestructible as a New York cockroach. “Who the hell is this guy?”
“Jericho.”
With a pale face even paler, Michael had straightened enough to see out of what remained of the windshield. “Jericho,” he repeated before sliding back down to wrap arms around his legs. Eyes far away, he rested his chin on his knees, to all appearances completely disinterested, completely gone; the poor goddamned kid. If there had been fewer people in the parking lot, I would’ve stopped the car, walked over, and taken the shot from a distance where missing wasn’t possible. I didn’t care if I was seen, but as far as I’d fallen, taking a chance on hurting an innocent if deluded bystander still was beyond me—I hoped.
This Jericho might still be moving, but he wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon. For this moment, that would have to be good enough. His name was ironic, considering that when I’d first seen the compound I’d thought of the biblical walls of the same name. It was ironic and not a little goddamn spooky, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on creepy coincidences.
Within minutes I had us back on the road. The interstate was a challenge with cars still snarled and sirens approaching, but it cleared out after the first few miles. And then we were just one more car in a flowing stream of them. Granted we were missing some glass and were pocked with bullet holes, but no one’s perfect. Jesus, as conquering heroes went, I left a lot to be desired.
“We’re going to need a new car,” I commented brusquely. Looking over, I added in what I hoped was a more encouraging tone, “You can get up now, Misha. We’ve lost them.”
Blue and green, a fog-bound and frozen lake, he wavered, then focused on me. “We have?” If it had sounded doubtful, I wouldn’t have blamed him, but it didn’t. It wasn’t even politely skeptical, merely mildly indifferent. Michael had gone back to the safest place he knew . . . inside himself.
Reaching out with slow and infinite care, I brushed granules of glass from his hair. I knew I was seeing a child that was no more, but knowing and feeling don’t always go hand in hand. “Yeah, kiddo, we have.”
The unspoken “for now” I kept to myself.
Chapter 12
We ended up sleeping in the car.
I didn’t want to take a chance of Jericho and his crew checking the local hotels with our descriptions. The son of a bitch might be in a hospital bed right now, but I didn’t think that had much chance of stopping him. Slowing him down was the best I could hope for, and I’d long used up my hope for better things. I chose a small town off the interstate and eventually found a road that started as asphalt, wound its way to gravel, and finally ended up as a dirt track through kudzu-choked woods. The sun had gone down several hours ago by the time I parked. Stepping from the car, I stretched and grimaced as bones and tendons popped. Michael followed, hauntingly visible in the yellow spill of the car’s dome light. As the scattering of blond in his hair was haloed into a phantom nimbus, he folded his arms and scanned the area with a frown. It was the most emotion I’d seen out of him in hours. “What’s wrong?” The bullet burn on my jaw from the night before itched fiercely and I gave it a soothing rub of my knuckle. “You still hungry?” He’d put away two cheeseburgers, a large order of fries,, and a chocolate shake for supper, but I’d seen his stomach in action. That may not have been enough. Godzilla descending on Tokyo had nothing on the ferocity of a teenager’s appetite, and if Michael didn’t behave as a teenager in anything else, he did in that.