Fear (Gone #5)(75)

No.

At the same time, Darius was not interested in spending the rest of his life in a windowless cell at Fort Leavenworth. That would be the hard part: to do the right thing and manage not to get caught doing it.

He lay back on his bunk and gave it some thought. Time was short. He was morally certain of that. There was way too much activity out there. Those boys were in a hurry.

If he left his cell phone here and went out they’d know he was up to something. They would have to see his cell phone move. Texts, email, all of that would be intercepted. This would have to be old-school. Face-to-face. And if it all went to hell later, he’d have to have left no evidence whatsoever.

He tried to recall everything he knew about Connie Temple. What would she be doing right now? Where would she be? What was today? Thursday? No. It was Friday.

Too early for Connie to be cooking ribs. But not too early for her to be shopping for the Friday-night cookout.

It was a long shot.

But if Connie Temple was cooking ribs then there were only two places she could buy them. Fortunately the Vons grocery and the Fat N’ Greezy rib stand were in the same strip center.

Darius stuck his phone in his pocket. He stopped by a buddy’s room on the way out, said he was going to drive down to Vons for some munchies and beer. His buddy told him to pick up some Cheetos. The spicy ones.

It was a twenty-minute drive to Vons. And since it was a straight shot down the highway he was pretty sure he wasn’t being followed. They had no reason to suspect him, anyway, and they had lots of other people to watch.

He passed Connie’s trailer on the way. Her silver Kia was not in its usual spot.

Unfortunately it was also not in the Vons parking lot.

Darius killed some time filling his tank at the Chevron. He had a good view of the parking lot.

He drove through McDonald’s for a coffee.

After that all he could do was wait. An hour he could explain. Two hours? That would be pushing it.

Then he spotted the solution: the movie theaters. Three movies showing, all of them crap, but he’d seen one of them. Perfect. He went to the theater and bought a ticket using a credit card. He went inside and bought fifteen dollars’ worth worth of popcorn and candy.

As soon as the previews started he ditched the junk food and let himself out through one of the side exits. He was careful to keep his ticket stub.

Outside he almost instantly spotted the silver Kia.

There would be security cameras inside Vons, which was where Connie went. So he moved his own car until it was parked beside Connie’s. And waited.

She came out with a cart half-full of plastic bags. She didn’t notice him sitting there until she was behind the wheel of her car. Then he rolled down the window.

She did the same.

He looked at her. “I’m putting my life in your hands, Con,” he said.

“What are you talking about?”

“Life in prison if I get caught and convicted.”

Her brow furrowed. It made her look older. Which was fine with him; he liked a woman who looked like a woman.

“What is it, Darius?”

“They’re going to nuke the dome.”





TWENTY-SIX

11 HOURS, 28 MINUTES

THE ARTFUL ROGER shouted from the deck of the sailboat. Edilio heard and knew instantly that something had gone terribly wrong.

Roger was waving furiously, directing Edilio to look toward the shore.

Edilio felt his heart drop into his stomach. A rowboat moved quickly toward the land. Edilio raced downstairs, grabbed Sam’s binoculars, and raced back up with Sam and Dekka breathless in his wake.

Edilio jabbed the binoculars into his eye sockets. The boat was inches from shore, scraping along the gravel. There was no mistaking the tentacle arm that jerked Diana rudely up and tossed her onto the ground.

“It’s Drake,” Edilio said. “He’s got Diana. And Justin.”

Drake, as if magically hearing his name, turned toward him, raised one of the oars, and waved at Edilio.

Then he smashed the oar down, breaking it in half. Now he had the jagged wooden stump of it in his tentacle. He pointed it at Justin’s throat. The little boy was crying. Edilio could see the tears streaming down his face.

With his hand Drake made a mocking come and get me move.

The message was clear. And Edilio had no doubt Drake would do it.

“Where is Breeze?” Sam raged. “Edilio. Fire a round!”

Edilio didn’t hear or at least didn’t connect those words with any action. He swiveled to look at Roger. Roger looked like he’d been gutted.

Edilio raised one hand in a fist for Roger to see. So that Roger would know that Edilio understood and had not lost hope.

Sam pulled Edilio’s pistol out and fired three rounds into the air.

If Brianna were anywhere close, she would hear and know what it meant.

Drake hurried up the bluff with Diana stumbling ahead and Justin trying pitifully to help her. In seconds they would be out of sight.

Sam cursed Brianna for a reckless, irresponsible idiot. Dekka was already running down the dock. But there was zero chance of her catching Drake, not at this distance.

Sam spun to race after her. He might not catch up, either, but Edilio knew he couldn’t just stand there.

“Sam, no!” Edilio snapped.

Sam missed a step, then stopped. He looked at Edilio, puzzled.