The End of Me

by Tara Brown

Page 25

 

  "Your dad trusted him that much?" Jack looked back at me, giving me a sneer. It was weird on him. His face was usually pleasant, patronizing, but pleasant.

  I shrugged, "It's a long story. I'll let Fitz tell it. "

  Coop shook his head, "Uh, no. We are not walking into a trap. "

  I laughed, "You aren’t, trust me. He's not something I can explain. You just have to see it, to understand. "

  Coop scowled at me in the rearview. I rolled my eyes and watched out the window.

  Coop's stare never left the rearview for longer than a few seconds. He was obsessed with whatever was behind us. He swerved off the highway onto an off ramp. I caught a blur of the word Lovelock. He drove like a savage, skidding around corners and through a neighborhood.

  He pulled into the driveway of a random house and parked the car. We jumped out—well, they jumped out and I hobbled after them. We crept along to the house next door and then through the backyard of that house. We ran through the backs of four houses.

  Coop moved quickly. My heart was in my throat. Had he seen something? They moved like they had been born working together. I felt like the only non-agent, limping along behind them. They ran to a huge fence, each did a pull up and hopped over. I stood there looking at the six-foot fence. There was no way I was going up and over. I grabbed the rough wood and instantly pulled my finger back. The sound of footsteps coming distracted me from the splinter, I was about to pick out. I ran to the back corner of the yard and dropped to my knees.

  I grabbed handfuls of the weeds and dragged them out fast. My fingers cut and bled, but I ripped with savagery. I mussed my hair with my dirt-covered hands and then rubbed them across my face and clothes.

  "What are you doing?" Coop hissed through the fence.

  I threw dirt at the fence and hisses like a cat, "Psssst! Get outta here, pesky cat. " I wiped my hair back from my face and smeared more dirt and blood across my face, "Darla, keep that cat in your own yard. " I added a little Wisconsin flare to Darla, cat, and yard.

  I turned and screamed when I saw the seven men in black clothes. I held my head at a funny angle and made a face, "You get outta my yard. We don’t have any gang activity around here. I'm gonna call 9-1-1 if you don’t go. I'm tired of you hooligans, thinking you can run this neighborhood. " I stared at them with my mouth agape and the dirt covering my hands and face. I stuck my belly out as far as it would go and slouched.

  One of the young men gave me a horrified look and put his hands in the air, "Sorry ma'am. You didn’t happen to see some people run through here?"

  I scrunched my face up and used my grandma’s word for what, "Wha? Wha? No. " My Wisconsin flare was getting stronger, "You get outta my yard. "

  He looked around and turned away, following the others around the house. My heart was pounding, but I turned back and started picking weeds again with shaking hands.

  After a few minutes, I got up and walked around the side of the house to the garage. I opened the unlocked door and walked in closing it slowly and locking it. I leaned against the back of it and took in gulps of air.

  They were military. The military was after us, we went off the reservation and they were looking for us. I didn’t know what to think. What had I done? Why hadn’t I just stayed with Servario, like they had wanted? I had risked my kids and mother.

  "Are you insane?"

  I jumped and looked up to see Coop in the far corner. I frowned, "How did you…?" I looked around the garage.

  He looked angry, "That was stupid. Why didn’t you jump?"

  I huffed as I spoke, "Because my old, fat, lazy ass can't do a pull up, dick. My ankle is still sore and I don’t jump fences. I have twenty-two percent body fat and almost no upper body strength. "

  He grimaced.

  I pointed, "That is a respectable number for a woman my age. "

  He nodded, "Keep telling yourself that. The car is around the block. Meet us there in five. " He walked across the garage towards me. I stepped out of the way for him to leave through the door.

  I looked around the empty garage, "How the bloody hell, am I supposed to do that?" I muttered.

  The old Honda Civic in the garage gave me an idea. I climbed in the driver’s seat and pulled the wire box. I hot-wired the car and opened the garage door. I flipped the visor and looked at the dirt stains on my face.

  I backed out and closed the garage again. I pointed at the men in black in the driveway next door and shouted, "Stay outta my yard!"

  I drove away, grinning.

  I didn’t want the cocky feeling I was filled with to get me bad juju. Bad-agent juju always ended up with the cocky person getting caught. In my case, that would get me shipped back to Servario. The dirty part of my brain didn’t entirely object to going back. Servario had ways of convincing you that you wanted to stay. I had a horrid inkling that I’d only run out of fear of my feelings for him.

  I rounded the corner and stopped the car behind the minivan they had stolen. I could see Jack's dark head in the tinted window.

  I jumped out and hopped into the back of the van.

  Luce was laughing, "That was amazeballs, dude. Put it there. " She held her knuckles out. Apparently amazeballs was a positive thing. Even Jack was snickering. I patted the top of her knuckles with my hand, earning me a crazy look.

  I glared at them, "I hate you all. "

  Coop growled and drove the van like he was late for his kids’ hockey practice. I mocked him behind his back with sneers. Luce smiled and nodded in his direction, "I thought he was going to have a stroke. "

  I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, well I woulda had a stroke, if I tried to jump that fence. My ankle is still sore and I'm out of shape. "

  Jack nudged me, "You look great to me. My mom is really out of shape. "

  My mouth dropped open, "I'm not old enough to be your mom, you little shit. "

  He blushed, contrasting his cheeks against his dark hair, "Sorry. You know what I mean. "

  I glared at him, "How old is your mother?"

  He swallowed and looked at Luce for help, "Uhm… she's forty-three. She was twenty-one when she had me. "

  I pressed my lips together. My best mom friend was forty-five.

  I snarled, "Whatever. "

  Luce looked back, "My mom's fifty if that makes you feel better. "

  I shook my head, “Screw you all. ”

  She shrugged, "Did you hot-wire that car?"

  I grinned at that, "I did. "

  Coop looked at me in the rearview, "Lucky it was an older model. They're easier. "

  I narrowed my gaze, "You're dead. " He smiled his cocky, asshole grin, the one that made my blood boil.

  I looked out the window as he drove, and Luce played a game on her iPhone.

  "Can't they trace that one?" I asked.

  She shook her head, "I buy my personal shit from a guy who makes sure it falls off a truck and lands in a tech guy’s hands, and then gets sold under a table somewhere. "

  I snorted, "Nice and legal you mean?"

  She looked up and winked, "It's the only way. "

  "Why are they coming after us for going off the reservation?" I asked.

  Jack looked back, "We had no idea what we were getting into, with you and your husband. We honestly thought this was a weapon to destroy the world, as it always is, and someone betrayed the government like they always do. "

  My eyes narrowed, "Don’t lump me with my husband. He isn’t my husband. He's in on this on his own. "

  Jack's eyes glinted when he grinned back at me, "Regardless, we don’t think that’s the case anymore. We think your dad was in on some crazy shit and somehow you are being used to find whatever he hid, a long time ago. "

  I sighed, "What I want to know is why are they turning on us?"

  He shook his head and turned back around, "No clue. "

  I bit my lips and prayed Uncle Fitz would know
what was happening.

  We arrived in Salt Lake six hours later. I was passed out when I felt the car stop.

  I looked up as Coop parked and instantly felt my neck go out. I winced, rubbing the spot.

  Luce too woke up and stretched. She yawned and smirked at me, "Crick in the neck?"

  I nodded, "I am too old for this shit. "

  I sighed and got out of the car. I tried to stretch, but the pain in my neck was shooting down my spine. Coop walked over with his iPhone and held it out, "This is the map of the city. Where am I going?"

  Jack got out and walked into the corner store we were parked at, with Luce following him.

  "Grab me some chocolate and flavored water please!" I shouted at her.

  She gave me a thumbs up and walked inside.

  I looked down at the map, still rubbing my neck. Coop grabbed my arm and spun me around. He handed me the phone and started massaging.

  "Let me. You look at the map," he mumbled.

  I closed my eyes and let the warmth and strength of his fingers relax me. I moaned, “That feels amazing. "

  "Map. "

  "Shhhhhhhh. Just rub. "

  He chuckled, "Oh the things I could add to that comment. "

  I smiled, but kept my eyes closed.

  "Your dad was a good man, right? The reports are true, right?" he asked after a couple minutes.

  I nodded, "He was the best. He sacrificed everything for this country. "

  His breath tickled the back of my neck, when he let out a long sigh.

  I opened my eyes and dragged the map so it zoomed in on a spot, "Corner of Edison and ninth, next to Randy's Record Shop. "

  He increased the pressure, digging into my neck. I closed my eyes again.

  "You're so tense. "

  I scoffed, "Uh… yeah. Of course I am. "

  He laughed, "You gotta learn to roll with the punches a little better. "

  I pulled away and gave him a horrified look, "Excuse me? You bury your husband and the next day get molested on a plane by an arms dealer, and kill a fat guy who wants you to spank him and jerk him off, then tell me how YOU feel. " I shook my head and climbed back into the van.