Immune (The Rho Agenda #2)(102)

After retrieving the shoulder holster and sliding into his jacket, Eduardo stopped in the doorway, turning back to survey the scene. So much blood, his DNA thoroughly mixed within it. The police would certainly isolate it.

As he turned and walked out of the room, Eduardo laughed out loud at the thought. Finally, the Americans would have real proof that El Chupacabra exists.





104


Mark held Heather’s arm as he walked her down the line of cars in the dark parking lot, her eyes as white and unseeing as the full moon in the night sky overhead. Suddenly, her eyes rolled back to normal.

“This one,” she said, pointing at the car to his right.

“You sure?” Mark asked.

“I’m sure. Just do it.”

Mark ran the coat hanger down between the driver’s side window seal and the glass, jerking back up with a quick stroke that popped the latch on the old Ford Pinto. Reaching under the steering column, he ripped away the plastic covering and pulled out the wires, found the pair he was looking for, and stripped the insulation to short them together and ignite the engine.

By the time Heather had moved to the passenger door, Mark had unlocked it and settled into the driver’s seat. Heather sat down beside him, slamming her door.

“She may be ugly, but at least she’s old,” Mark said with a grin that showed more bravado than he felt.

Heather managed a smile. “Let’s just go.”

Mark knew she didn’t like stealing a car any more than he did, but she had worked out the odds in her visions. No other method of travel except hopping a freight train provided them much of a chance of escaping capture. The problem with the freight train idea was that they still had to get to Santa Fe before they could hop on one going in the right direction.

Mark headed out of town, taking highway 502 toward Santa Fe. From there they’d get up on I-25 until they got to Albuquerque where they could catch I-40 west.

“How long do you think we have until they sic the cops on us?”

Heather shook her head. “Our folks won’t miss us until morning.”

“And the guy whose car we just stole.”

“He’s in the bar, and I don’t think he planned on leaving before closing time. By then he probably won’t be sure if he drove or caught a ride with a buddy.”

Mark chuckled. “I doubt if he’ll be in any big rush to report his DUI ride home was stolen.”

“Borrowed.”

“Whatever. How far west are we going?” Mark asked.

Heather shrugged. “Several hundred miles at least. I could only get a direction from the headband signal. We’ll need another direction reading from a new spot before I can pinpoint Jen.”

“Right. Triangulation.”

“Same general concept. But subspace geometry is non-Euclidean, so it’s not quite as simple as laying down a map and drawing a couple of intersecting lines.”

Mark grinned. “That’s why it’s a good thing I have you along, eh? To handle all that jazz.”

“And all that jazz.” Heather reached over and touched Mark’s arm. “I’m so glad I have you with me. I don’t think I could do it by myself.”

Mark squeezed her hand, a lump rising in his throat. “I’ll always be here for you. I swear it on my dead mother’s eyes.”

Heather laughed out loud at the old B-movie line. “Thank you. I think I’ll sleep now.”

True to her word, Heather leaned over until her head rested on Mark’s shoulder and closed her eyes. Long before they reached Santa Fe, she was sound asleep. For the next several hours, the pressure of her head slowly put Mark’s shoulder and right arm to sleep as well, but he ignored it. God’s archangel Michael could come down and smite him for all he cared, but he’d be damned if he’d make a move to wake her.

Her head rested on his shoulder. If Mark could have made the moment last for eternity, he would have. And, just so, they passed through Santa Fe, then Albuquerque, then Gallup, as the stars rose higher in the sky and the moon sank toward the west.

Jennifer was out there somewhere to the west–northwest. What she was trying to do, he had no idea. Mark just knew that he wanted his sister back, wanted the three of them back to what they used to be. But that wasn’t likely. Jennifer was a runaway, and he and Heather were now car thieves, all of them pulled forward by forces well beyond their control.

Mark’s thoughts went back to the day when he had found the Second Ship, when they had first tried on the alien headsets. If he had known then what he knew now, how they would be augmented, how it would change their lives so drastically, would he have even tried the damn thing on? Would he have even ventured near the alien starship?

The answer struck at his heart. Yes. God help him. Given everything he had learned, everything they had suffered to this point, he would still do exactly the same thing.

As the white lines that divided the lanes of I-40 swept by beneath him, Mark looked up at the sinking full moon. If he could have bayed like a werewolf, he would have.





105


Heather yawned and stretched, wiping the sleep from her eyes. It was morning. At least the sun was thinking about rising above the eastern horizon, a peachy glow having lit the skyline outside the car window.

“Good morning.” Mark’s voice brought her head around. He leaned in the open driver’s side car door.