Part 36 (1/2)
”Only because I saw him shove a body into the car first and then take your cell phone away. I was too far away to do anything, and then when you guys went flying out of the garage, I kind of freaked.”
”And how does Lexie come into all this?” Haden asks.
”She happened to be down the street at the moment. I didn't have a car, so I kind of commandeered hers.”
”You mean you kidnapped her so you could stop me from kidnapping Daphne?” Haden asks. ”Talk about irony.”
”Hey, I offered to pay for gas,” Tobin says.
”If you thought I'd been kidnapped, why didn't you call the police?”
”Because the call would have been rerouted to Olympus Hills security, . . . and you know how reliable they aren't, and . . .” He shoves his hands in his pockets. ”I thought if I followed him to wherever he was taking you, I might be able to find Abbie.”
”Oh.” Suddenly any humor I'd found in the situation is gone. Tobin was still desperately searching for his sister, who could never be found.
”But you're telling me you aren't kidnapped. You're heading heaven knows where with this guy on purpose?” he asks.
”Vegas,” I say. ”We're headed to Las Vegas.”
Tobin's jaw drops ever so slightly. ”Why?” he asks like he doesn't quite want to know the answer.
I look from Tobin to Haden. Haden shakes his head once. I ignore him. ”We're headed to Las Vegas to find an Oracle,” I say.
It's time to start telling the truth.
”You people are insane!” Lexie says from the backseat of the Tesla. ”Insane! Oracles? Monsters?
Underworld princes or whatever? You've all flown over the cuckoo's nest and you're trying to drag me with you!”
Overall, I'd say they've taken the truth-or partial truth- rather well. Especially Tobin. He sits stoically in the middle row of the Model X, his hands clasped in his lap.
Haden was the one who insisted that both he and Lexie come with us now. Tobin had come willingly, saying that he wasn't going to let me go off to Vegas with Haden alone. Lexie had been another story.
I thought we should let her drive herself back home, but Haden had made the valid point that we couldn't trust her to not tell somebody where we went. Which means between her and Garrick, we have two captives in the car.
”This Oracle,” Tobin asks. ”Do you think she can tell me how to get my sister back?”
”Possibly,” Haden says as he changes lanes. We're about twenty minutes outside of Vegas and the traffic has gotten heavy.
Both he and I have evaded most of Tobin's questions about Abbie. I plan on telling him the whole truth, but not here. Not now. That is a private conversation that doesn't need Lexie shouting about our sanity in the background.
”There's no such thing as Oracles!” she says.
”Can somebody make her shut up?” Garrick responds, holding his head.
Maybe I should have let Haden knock Lexie out in order to get her in the car. Instead, I'd held her Hermes purse hostage until she agreed to get in.
Haden changes lanes again. He glances in the rearview mirror. ”Harpies,” he mumbles.
”What is it?”
”I think we've got another tail. Don't look back. Use your mirror. But I think that motorcycle is following us. He's been in my rearview mirror for the last hour. He changes lanes every time I do.” I pull down the sun visor and angle the vanity mirror until I can see who he's talking about. There's a rider dressed in all black leathers on a black bullet bike behind us. He's wearing a full-screened helmet that makes it impossible to see his face.
”Who do you think it is?”
”I don't know, but I certainly don't think it's another one of your friends. Simon says he'd send someone after me if I ever left town again. He also said it wouldn't be a pleasant experience.” A strange tone comes off his body and he white-knuckle grips the steering wheel. It makes me wonder if he's thinking about what happened to Dax and Abbie when they tried to run away. ”I think I've seen this same guy around Olympus Hills a couple of times. He's probably been following us since we left, but I was too distracted by Tobin to notice.”
”Do you think we can lose him?” Tobin asks.
”Maybe.” Haden glances at me and then points at the touch screen in the center console of the car.
”This thing has a Web browser. Use it to get on to YouTube. I want you to do a search for evasive driving techniques in heavy traffic.”
”Seriously?” Tobin asks.
”I am being completely earnest.”
”Fawesome,” Tobin practically squeals.
”Or maybe 'how to lose a tail in a car chase' or something like that.” I type in a few options until Haden tells me to stop. I click on the video and we watch as we idle in traffic. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that YouTube has an instructional video on evasive driving techniques, but still, I'm not sure how this is going to help. I can barely understand anything the drivers in the video are saying, let alone remember any of it.
”Okay, that's good,” Haden says. ”Everyone buckled in?”
When traffic breaks up a bit, he changes lanes, then changes again until we're speeding down the HOV lane.
”This is so not legal!” Lexie shouts from the backseat.
Haden swerves the car back into the left lane and then the middle lane. I can't handle it. I grip the oh-c.r.a.p bar above my door and close my eyes as hard as I can. I get a little carsick from the jerking motions of the car as Haden weaves through traffic. At one point, we're sailing forward again and at another, we're flying in reverse!
Lexie screams.
Tobin cheers like he's on a roller coaster.
And Garrick groans like he's about to throw up.
I suddenly question whether I ever want to get my license if there are drivers like Haden on the road.
The car stops reversing and whips to the right. I can tell we're getting off the freeway. Three more sharp turns follow, but I don't open my eyes until we come to a stop. We're sitting in an alley somewhere in Las Vegas proper.
”I think we lost him,” Haden says, breathing hard.
Garrick opens the door, stumbles out into the alley, and pukes. I cringe at the sound.