“Get in the goddamn car,” Tony shouted, as he walked toward the driver’s side of the sedan.
Tony started the Subaru, slammed the gearshift into drive and continued in the direction the sedan had already been pointed, toward SR 21. It was an old car, but still in better shape than the 1965 Impala.
He had no remorse for taking another life. Since the first time he had stolen a kid’s lunch, his mantra had been “there’s a right way to keep ahead of the authorities—leave no witnesses.” Natalie had let two slip away in their Jeep and he had left one last night at the convenience store. Those mistakes alone might yield dire consequences and thwart his plan, so he couldn’t afford to repeat them. He wouldn’t give the cops the satisfaction of the last word. Yet with work still to do, the noose ratcheted another notch tighter. Time was running low. He had to act soon.
He looked over at Rudy. The rain had transformed his sweatshirt into the spotted gray coat of a leopard, and he had pulled the hood over his head again sulking over some stranger’s demise. Tony knew he wasn’t cut out for this. He was a weak excuse for a human being. He didn’t deserve the air he stole to exist. The world would be a better place without him, yes, but he had shown not a single quality that he was worthy of Ma’s vindication. His sacrifice, if it came to that, wouldn’t absolve anyone.
“I’m sure that cop made us,” Tony said, “and they’re probably laying a trap for us right now. We’ve got to find another way out of here.”
Rudy didn’t move.
“Damn it Rudy, get the map.”
Rudy didn’t reply but looked around the front bench seat, and finally found the map inside a plastic grocery bag among some of the supplies from the convenience store. He unfolded it, and tried to orient himself.
His emotions were spent. He didn’t know what to do any more. Tony could not be harnessed. If the clerk in Oregon had also died, the man they just left in pools of mud and blood had become the fourth murder victim since they left LA. While he wanted to escape from Tony and take Natalie with him as far away as possible, the uneasiness of knowing the police tightened the net gnawed at him.
Natalie had promised she would put in a good word for him if they got caught, but he could see in her eyes she was beginning to lose faith in him. So, unless he could save her, he was alone. He had watched enough true crime shows to know that if a death occurred during the commission of another felony, everybody in the party would be charged with murder. But if he could find a way to run away before they were caught, maybe he could save them both.
“Maybe we need to go into hiding until it gets dark,” Rudy said.
“Good idea. Find us a place to hole up.”
They pulled up to the stop sign at the intersection of SR 21. Tony looked right, left and then right again.
“Let’s go back the way we came,” Rudy said, and looked up from the map toward the highway. “If I have my bearings, we should come to a country road within a few miles. We can turn off there and maybe find some place to hide.”
Tony made a left turn and after they had driven south for a few miles, Tony yelled, “D’ya see that?”
Rudy focused on where Tony pointed. “No, what is it?”
“There it is again, police lights headin’ toward us. Must be a couple of miles down the road. Damn it, where’s that turn off?”
“I’ve been watching the mile markers and it should be coming up on the right in a mile or so.”
“Shit, that cop’s gonna be on us before then.” He pulled the gun out of his belt with his right hand and hung his arm over the back of the seat. He looked in the mirror towards the bloody face in the backseat. “Stay down or so help me god, if you so much as breathe heavy, I’ll take great pleasure in killing you right here.”
Natalie gazed past the long, silver barrel of Tony’s gun. She could see in his frozen eyes the same soulless stare she had seen in the motel room and thought of the poor man who, just moments ago, happened to be in the wrong place and paid for it with his life. She resigned herself to stay still. Then as Tony swung the gun back toward the front seat, she had one more paralyzing thought—I too am a witness.
“You too, Rudy,” Tony said. He rested his hand in his lap, kept it on the gun with his finger on the trigger.
Tony tried to look casual as Rudy laid his body on the front seat out of view, but as the black SUV drew closer, his heart began to beat in rhythm with the blue and red strobe lights. Even though he knew the cops had no idea what he was driving, he felt exposed.
When the black SUV reached a quarter mile away, he followed the car in front of him as it steered on to the shoulder of the road. He lowered his head to hide his face but kept his eyes on the driver’s side rearview mirror.
_____
©
Jearl Rugh 2012
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