Canis Major
Page 78
Chapter 22
Hector raged.
He tore through Riley’s residential streets at insane, reckless speeds, slowing only to turn corners, and then only barely. He knew exactly where he was going and exactly what he had to do.
I’m gonna kill Mike.
The Jeep screeched to a halt at the intersection of Maple and Main, where a slug of a Ford Taurus idled through the crossing. Hector pounded on the horn. "Hurry the fuck up!"
As soon as the car passed, Hector turned right and sped up the lamplit street. O’Brien’s house sat three blocks over, less than a quarter of a mile away. Where Maple Street ended in a T-intersection, Hector hooked a right and crept the remainder of the distance: Peach Street was less than a hundred yards away now, and he couldn’t afford to miss it.
It wasn’t an easy street to miss (it was the last street before the woods started), but Hector had a tendency to overshoot it at night. The moment he saw the blue metal sign draped in the lazy tentacles of a weeping willow, he veered right again.
Then, faced with what awaited him halfway up the corridor, he stomped down hard on the brakes.
A pair of headlights beamed twin cones of phosphorescence over the empty stretch of macadam, illuminating the red Jeep Wrangler and its occupant in an accusatory glare. I know what you’re doing, those headlights seemed to say. So don’t even try it.
"RUSTY!!!" Hector shouted, shielding his eyes. "You son of a BITCH!!"
Hector shifted to reverse, backed out into the intersection, shifted to drive, and retreated toward Maple Street.
That MOTHERFUCKER!! Who the fuck does he think he is? Don’t he know this is between me and Mike? Oh, Russell the Hero is gonna save the day. Is that it? GOD DAMMIT!!
Hector fled.
And Hector raged.