“This whole thing’s a game?”
“More of a sporting challenge,” he said.
“And winning this bet is so important to you that you are willing to see people killed?”
“It is and I am.”
I could say that this shocked and outraged me, but it didn’t. Rich people aren’t like the rest of us. This is the kind of squit they get up to. They will readily sacrifice the lives of a few little people in some crazy plot designed to relieve their boredom for a few hours. It made me feel cold and sick inside. If it had been just my life at stake here I’d have taken my chance and leaped across to strangle him with my bare hands and spit in his eye as I did it. It conjured up a nice mental image but sadly I couldn’t do it for real.
“Do the terms of this wager allow you to resort to kidnap and blackmail to stop me?” I asked.
“No, I think that would be unsporting, don’t you?” he said.
“But you took Harmony anyway.”
“She hasn’t been taken anywhere. She chose to come here,” he said. “I am not holding her prisoner, if that’s what you were thinking. She may leave whenever she likes – as may you.”
“I want to see her,” I said.
Crawford shrugged and nodded. He pulled himself up out of the chair and went to the door, leaned out. “Roscoe! Ask the young lady if she would join us.”
He made it sound like we were taking tea. Crawford turned and looked at me, a half-smile on his face. “You don’t know, do you?” he asked.
“Know what?”
“She is good, isn’t she? I’m going to step out and allow you two a private moment,” he said.
He held the door open and Harmony eyed him suspiciously as she came in. She didn’t appear to have been harmed. She was obviously annoyed but that was understandable under the circumstances. She stayed near to the door after Crawford had closed it. I stood and faced her.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I came to rescue you,” I said.
“You idiot!”
“Did you think I’d just drive away and leave you here?” I asked.
“That’s exactly what you should have done.”
“I couldn’t.”
“You don’t get it, do you?” she said.
“Get what?”
“I work for him.”
“Crawford? Doing what?”
“Distracting you. Delaying you. Making sure that you and that truck don’t reach New Grimsby on time.”
“You are one of his ‘agents’?”
Harmony turned away from me, her annoyance mingled with guilt now. “Please, Quin, just leave.”
“But why?” I asked. “Why would you do this? How much is he paying you?”
“Nothing,” she said. “I told you before that I owed money to bad people. He’s one of the bad people.”
“But I thought you...”
“I didn’t have a choice. Do you think I wanted to do this to you?” There were tears in her eyes now. But like Crawford said, she was good. You have to be if you’re a confidence trickster. Or a betrayer.
“Is your debt repaid now?” I asked.
Harmony shook her head. “Not even close.”
“How much do you owe?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “I’ll never repay it in a lifetime.”
I should have been angry with her for deceiving me, but I wasn’t. When I had seen her back at the diner, I had noticed there was something different about her. She had seemed defeated somehow. And now I had met the man who made her feel this way.
“What are we going to do?” I asked.
“You should leave. I’ll deal with it.”
“That’s not an option,” I said.
“Then do whatever you want.” There was that whole ‘defeated’ thing again. I didn’t like to see her like this.
The door opened and Crawford came back in. He looked from me to Harmony and back, trying to read how things had gone between us. He frowned. He wasn’t seeing the emotion on my face that he’d been expecting. I was happy to disappoint him.
“Well, Quincy my boy, do we have a deal?” he asked.
“Not for twenty thousand dollars,” I said.
“Smart move,” he said, smiling. “Never accept a man’s first offer. Name your price.”
“I can’t be bought,” I said.
“That is what Flint believes. But I think every man has his price. Perhaps yours isn’t money.”
“You’ve got nothing I want,” I said.
“You’re bluffing.”
I looked at Crawford’s smug face and wondered how many times I could punch it before Roscoe burst in and pulled me off him. I’m not normally a violent man, but I have my limits. And while I can’t be bought, I can negotiate.
“Her debt,” I said.
“I beg your pardon?”
“I will leave the truck and the whiskey here – and in exchange, you will cancel Harmony’s debt.”
For a moment Crawford’s mask slipped. He hadn’t been expecting this. He had believed that my little chat with Harmony would end acrimoniously and that I would be emotionally vulnerable as a result. And ready to accept his deal in order to get away from this situation. Again, I was happy to disappoint him.
“Flint was right, you do have hidden depths,” Crawford said.
I didn’t look at Harmony. I didn’t want to see her face at that moment. If I saw genuine emotion there it might melt my steely resolve. And if I didn’t, I’d just feel like a jackass. Neither of these would help my negotiating position.
“Well, Clem my boy, do we have a deal?” I asked.
Crawford shook his head sadly. “I am afraid that is not in my gift,” he said. “My partners would never allow it.”
“Then we have nothing more to talk about,” I said.
“It would seem that you have out-manoeuvred me,” he said. “You named your price and I cannot pay it. Well done.”
“I’m going to leave now,” I said.
Crawford gestured towards the door. I was free to go. “My people will not attempt to stop you,” he said. “Roscoe will return your revolver to you. It won’t be loaded, of course.”
“Of course,” I said.
“I shall give you until midday to make your escape,” he said. “After that, the pursuit will begin again.”
“She’s coming with me,” I said.
Harmony was surprised by this but Crawford’s face showed no emotion.
“Take her by all means,” he said. “As far as I am concerned she has outlived her usefulness. For now. But please do remember that you cannot trust her.”
“I’ve known that since the day we met,” I said. “It’s part of her charm.”
“That’s sweet. But I do wonder how well you really know her,” he said.
I took Harmony’s hand and led her towards the door. She didn’t resist.
“We’ll see ourselves out,” I said.
Crawford stepped aside to let us pass. “You’re a good man, Quincy,” he said. “It would be a terrible shame if you just threw your life away. Can’t I persuade you to reconsider my offer?”
“I’ll see you at the finish line,” I said.
“You will never make it. You’ll be dead by this time tomorrow.”
“Don’t bet on it.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
When I unlocked the Trekker, Harmony didn’t get in. She stared at me, the hood of the car a barrier between us. She spoke first.
“What I said before – about you being an idiot...”
“Yes?”
“I meant it. You deserve someone much better than me,” she said.
“Yes, I know. But you’ll do until that person comes along.”
“Idiot.”
“We’ve got until midday to get away,” I said.
“What time is it now?”
“Just after eleven. We’d better get back to Floyd.”
We climbed into the Trekker and I
drove us away from the racetrack. The idea of becoming a camel jockey still looked preferable to what I was currently doing. But then I remembered the guy who was almost trampled to death.
“You smell like burnt toast,” Harmony said.
“I almost was.”
I thought the drive back to the truck would be made in awkward silence. Harmony had other ideas.
“Thank you,” she said. “For what you tried to do back there.”
“I’m sorry it didn’t work,” I said. “Whatever you owe them – it must be something big.”
“Very.”
“I’m guessing it’s not money,” I said.
“Good guess. I could tell you about it...”
“But then you’d have to kill me. I understand. If ever you want to talk about it, I’ll listen. And whatever kind of trouble you’re in, I want to help you find a way out of it.”
“You are an idiot,” she said sadly.
“Yeah, but I’m the good kind of idiot.”
Floyd was standing by the truck when we got there. Harmony opened up the trunk and reloaded our weapons while I went to talk to him.
“Any problems?” I asked.
Floyd looked over to where Harmony was standing but didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. We both knew she’d betrayed us and that I had almost been killed as a result. “No one came near the truck,” he said.
“They won’t,” I said. “Not until midday. It’s a sort of temporary truce.”
“Very temporary,” Floyd said.
“Let’s cover as much ground as we can in the next thirty minutes,” I said.
“We’re almost three days behind schedule,” he said.
“I know. We talked about it on the way back,” I said. “We’ll drive all night. Harmony and I will drive the Trekker in shifts. We’ll take turns sleeping in the bunk in the truck.”
Floyd thought about this. “If you two wanted to snuggle up in the bunk together, we could tow your car behind the truck,” he said.
I looked at him. I knew it was a trap. But I had to be sure, just in case it wasn’t.
“Really?” I asked.
“No!” he said. “I’m not driving through the night with you two getting all squishy behind me.”
“Squishy?”
“Human sex is disgusting,” he said. “It’s messy and noisy and it smells. Why don’t you people evolve?”
“We kind of like it the way it is,” I said.
“The day that we overthrow the organics can’t come soon enough,” Floyd said.
Harmony joined us. She handed me my loaded revolver. “What did he say?” she asked.
“We can use the bunk,” I said. “But not both of us at the same time.”
“Okay,” she said.
“You could at least try to sound disappointed,” I said.
“What? Oh, you were thinking we could have sex.”
“I’ve been thinking that since the diner.”
“That’s sweet,” she said. “But no.”
“No not now, or no not ever?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“We have cold water in the truck if you need a shower,” Floyd said.
“I should get the autonomous driving module for the Trekker,” I said. “Then I won’t need to borrow your bunk.”
“Have you ever done it in the back of that thing?” Harmony asked. “Never again.”
“No, I... Wait, you had sex in the backseat of my car?” I asked. “While we were dating?”
“Technically we were broken up,” she said, “because I stole your car.”
“And my head,” Floyd reminded her.
“Will you ever let that go?” Harmony said. “It’s gone, forget about it.” She stomped back to the Trekker and opened the driver’s door.
“No head for either of us,” I muttered.
“I heard that,” she said.
“What are you going to do, cut me off?” I said.
“Any more whining and I’ll cut it off,” she said.
“You used to be a lot nicer.”
“Don’t pout.”
“My lips have nothing to do except pout,” I said.
“Oh, for scrack’s sake!” Harmony marched over to me and placed her hands on either side of my head. She kissed me. It was a great kiss.
“Happy now?” she asked.
“Happier,” I said, catching my breath.
“Tick-tock, tick-tock,” Floyd said, tapping the watch he didn’t wear on his wrist.
“I’ll drive,” Harmony said.
I didn’t argue. I was playing the long game now and I couldn’t afford any missteps. If I’m being brutally honest, I was thinking that my chances of getting back to together with Harmony were better while she was feeling vulnerable. That kiss had been the first sign that she was weakening, I felt certain of it. It’s amazing how we manage to convince ourselves about things like this.
“I’ll make the bed up in the truck and take the first nap,” I said.
Harmony gave us a wave and got into the Trekker.
It had been a while since Floyd and I had been in the truck together. We waited for Harmony to turn the Trekker around and then set off after her.
“Do you trust her with your car?” Floyd asked.
“I don’t trust her at all,” I said. “I may be a fool but I’m not a naïve fool.”
“I’ll monitor her until we’re sure one way or the other,” he said.
“Me too,” I said.
“There’s something you don’t see every day,” Harmony said. She was about half a mile in front of us in the Trekker.
“Is that who I think it is?” I asked.
“The face looks familiar,” she said. I could hear the smile in her voice.
We couldn’t see a face. A naked man was bent over pushing a motorcycle in front of him. Sitting on the bike was a man in a marshal’s uniform and hat. They were moving at a slow jogging pace and the Marshal was struggling to steer in a straight line.
“Do you think they’re out of juice?” I asked.
“He’s still naked, so I’m guessing they haven’t stopped off anywhere for supplies,” Harmony said.
Marshal Dimmock and the Highway Patrolman had overtaken us, presumably while we were visiting Clem Crawford. They had probably been riding flat out to get here, and that plus the impact of having two people onboard had depleted their battery.
“Should we stop and offer them a ride?” Floyd asked.
“Not a good idea,” Harmony said. “I stole the Marshal’s car.”
“And crashed it,” I reminded her. She could probably hear the smile in my voice.
Marshal Rufus T. Dimmock became aware of the truck gliding along beside them. The shock of recognition on his face made me smile some more. I couldn’t hear him but I could read his lips.
“It’s them!”
I waved at him as we moved past them.
“Faster!” the Marshal shouted. “They’re getting away!”
The Highway Patrolman increased his pace, but there was no way he’d be able to keep up with us. It would have been cruel to keep slowing down so they could get close and then speeding off again when they did. So we only did it the once. Floyd sounded the truck’s horn as we left them in a cloud of dust.
“What’s that up ahead?” Floyd asked. His eyesight was better than mine.
“Some kind of protest?” I guessed.
There was a cluster of people on the side of the road, most standing but some in beach chairs, and they were holding up homemade signs.
“I hope they’re not robot-haters,” Floyd said.
Harmony was closer and could read the signs first. “I think you have fans,” she said. She didn’t seem pleased by this.
As we got nearer, the people started cheering and waving. One of the bigger signs had our logo and ‘Q & F Trucking’ on it and another said ‘Go Team Quincy!’
“Team Quincy, I like that,” I said.
Floyd made a har
rumphing sound. While it was nice to have people cheering us on, the sight of them made me uncomfortable. I didn’t want to be drawing this kind of attention. Or any attention. I had enemies and I didn’t want them knowing where I was. From her silence, I guessed Harmony was thinking the same thing.
Floyd sounded the horn as we passed and the crowd seemed to like this. I could see that some of them had camera lenses pointed at us and that meant Bobby-Ray would be getting the video very soon. Our current location would then become public knowledge.
“This is not good,” Harmony said.
The shots of our truck and the Trekker were broadcast on Bobby-Ray’s show less than an hour later.
“Here’s an update on our friends in the eighteen-wheeler,” he said. “It looks like they have the police on their tail – but it’s not exactly high-speed pursuit, as this video shows.”
His face on the screen was replaced by some hand-held footage. The images were stable but the framing left much to be desired. There was a shot of our truck disappearing down the highway and then a whip-pan to close-ups of joyful faces, people shouting and cheering. This went on for a while and then there was a change in the atmosphere of the crowd. Initially, there was curiosity and concern – and then I heard a couple of voices say ‘It’s the police!’ But any anxiety quickly turned to laughter.
The camera whipped around to show the Highway Patrolman’s motorcycle coming towards them down the road. Its red and blue lights were flashing and from the head-on view, it wasn’t immediately obvious how slowly it was approaching. Or how it was being propelled. As it got closer, people noticed.
“Is that guy nekkid?”
“Can you see his thing, Mavis?”
“He ain’t got a thing, Clara. He’s one of them mandroids.”
“Esther Wibble’s got one and he’s got a thing.”
“You have to pay extra for that,” Mavis said.
“Wouldn’t be much use to a person without one.”
“‘Cept maybe to a man,” Mavis said. “Oh, he’s damaged. You can see metal through his cheek.”
“I can’t see his cheeks.”
“I was referring to his face, Clara.”
“Oh, yes, I see now. But I still want to get a look at the back of him. My Fred had lovely buttocks, you know. Even into old age.”
The Marshal brought the motorcycle to an unsteady halt in front of the people and put down the kickstand. He climbed painfully off the bike and massaged his aching butt. No one went around to try and get a look at it.
Road Rage Page 16