“They will make beautiful butterflies, don’t you agree?”
“Magnificent, sir.”
The music, playing on a continuous loop came to a dramatic end just as Arkdone flipped the switch off. “It’s all in the timing,” he mumbled to himself. “I play Mozart’s Requiem to mark the death of the Winter Clan and the birth of my most powerful Monarch Slaves. It’s all in the timing, Bjorn.” Arkdone began to chuckle to himself, but the laughter morphed into gales of mirth that echoed off the stark walls of the laboratory.
White mouse ate.
Brown mouse huddled into a corner of the maze and buried his nose.
Chapter 57 Tough as Nails
“Okay, the trap should be right up here past the curve in the road.”
“Why does highway patrol always like to put speed traps between two small towns?” Farrow grumbled.
“Well, these guys aren’t highway patrol. They’re local cops and they are probably asked to keep a certain quota of ticketed speeders so their townships gather some funds.”
“Do you know that, or are you just guessing?” she narrowed her eyes at Alik, unconvinced.
“I’m completely guessing,” Alik grinned mischievously. His head pivoted to watch the black-and-white vehicle as they passed. “There’s Officer Small-Town now and sure enough he was noshing on a bear claw.”
“You have to be kidding!” Farrow giggled.
“Yeah, I’m kidding. He was holding his radar gun in one hand and noshing on a bear claw with the other,” Alik chucked at the image he painted.
“Have you ever—”
POP!
Flap, flap, flap
“Damn it!” Farrow gripped the steering wheel tightly, trying to control the pull of the wheel toward the blown left front tire. The whole vehicle shuddered enough to make their heads hurt.
“Okay, it’s okay, just slow down and pull over,” Alik coaxed yelling over the rim on asphalt screams.
“That scared the hell out of me.” Farrow white-knuckled the steering wheel to force it to the right side of the road against its will to pull left toward the flat. Sparks were flying off the metal rim as the entire rubber tire disintegrated immediately.
She pulled to a stop just off the shoulder of the four lane road. She was breathing hard, fear and adrenaline still pumping through the fright of nearly losing control of the SUV.
Alik gave her a moment to be still and breathe before speaking. “Well, either we have a flat tire or you just gained a ton of weight,” he nodded toward the tilted horizon of the SUV’s dashboard making his side sit much higher than Farrow’s left.
“Please tell me we have a spare,” she groaned.
“We have a spare.” Alik didn’t move to get out of the SUV.
“Please tell me you know how to change a tire!” Farrow frowned at Alik.
“Of course I do! I was just giving my retro-cog time to process what happened.” He squinted his bright indigo eyes. “I think a truck passed by here earlier and a few nails rolling around the bed fell out.”
“Great,” Farrow breathed, unbuckling her seat belt. She checked her side mirror to be sure a car wasn’t going to barrel into her when she opened her door.
Alik jumped out, too.
Together they stared at the tire, or what was left of it anyway.
“We are so lucky we weren’t going 90mph when we hit that nail,” Farrow shivered at the thought.
“No such thing as luck. It was a blessing,” Alik heard himself say the same words he’d heard his mother say his whole life. He looked over at Farrow and grinned. She was still shaking from the fear of trying to control the SUV. “You did great, Farrow. Mom and Theo will be proud of you when they hear how you didn’t lose control of the SUV. You have some skilled reflexes.”
“Oh yeah, well when I get my shakes under control, I’ll help fix this.”
“I don’t need help, pretty little lady,” Alik said in his most exaggerated East Texas drawl. “I can have this fixed faster than a cat on a hot tin roof.”
Farrow smiled despite herself and watched Alik John-Wayne walk to the back of the SUV. She crossed her arms and leaned against the hood, telling herself to calm down.
You’ve been in worse scrapes than a stupid blown tire, Farrow. Get it together.
Then it occurred to her that it wasn’t the blown tire that got her so worked up. It was the thought of letting down all the people whose very lives were depending on her to get to Louisville safely that made her heart panic. She sighed, intentionally forcing herself to breathe.