Shiver on the Sky

by David Haywood Young

Chapter Thirty-Two

  (Thursday, 5:30pm—Owen)

  Owen had no trouble interpreting Martina’s glances from the seat beside him, but he couldn’t bring himself to start the car.

  Aaron had managed to sit in the back seat for over an hour without a word of complaint. Probably the kid figured it was best to avoid giving Martina an excuse to point out the obvious: They weren’t doing anybody any good by sitting here.

  When Owen had announced his intention to return to the city and find a place near the mall to wait, he’d been unsurprised to find he wouldn’t be going alone. They’d taken the Hermit’s speedboat to the Port Aransas Marina and picked up Martina’s car.

  Aaron had voted for hiding in the mall itself, ideally with a view of the food court. Owen had wanted to give it a try, but recognized the urge as essentially foolish. Martina’s view was that they might as well go back to the Nameless. They’d compromised on her half-serious suggestion of waiting in the parking lot.

  With a few hours to kill before the meeting, they’d spent part of the afternoon downtown, wandering around the Texas State Aquarium—Martina had never been there, and she’d acerbically pointed out the FBI would be unlikely to look for them inside. She and Owen had gravitated to the shark tanks. Aaron had been more interested in the exotic jellyfish, phosphorescent in their black-lit illumination. But by 4:00 Owen and Aaron had been unable to even pretend to look at the displays, so Martina had given up and led the way to the car.

  At 5:35 Owen gave in and voiced what they had all been thinking. “Guys? Whatever’s going to happen isn’t really, because it already did.”

  Aaron poked his face forward between the seats. “Want me to go inside and look around? If they’re still there I’ll just walk back. One more teenager in the mall—who’s gonna notice?”

  Martina pointedly looked out the window. Owen figured that meant it was up to him.

  “No way. If Gordon sees you he’ll probably shoot you, just out of irritation.” Aaron grinned. “Seriously,” Owen went on, “we don’t know who Danny might have brought with him, or what they might know. I agree it’s a small risk, but we don’t actually need to go in there to find out what’s happened.”

  “So what’s your plan?” Martina asked.

  He smiled apologetically. “Let’s just go get something to eat. If we haven’t heard anything by the time we’re done, we’ll call Carl and ask what’s happening.”