People, real, actual people, would drive these cars.
It was truly hard to believe that they existed, that this factory existed, that people would own these cars and drive them.
More than ever, I knew that my mission was to head for that city, no matter what.
61
BACK UPSTAIRS AT KELLY’S GARAGE I found Nate sitting up, showered, and cleaning his handgun. But his face was flushed and damp with sweat, and his expression was the kind of resigned misery I’d seen on animals that had to be put down.
I sat down next to him as he wiped lubricant off the barrel, then pushed a clean cloth patch through the barrel itself.
“How you doin’?” I asked, though it was obvious.
“Fine,” he said tightly, then met my eyes. “We should move out today, as soon as it’s dark.”
Yep, I thought. And I will have to leave your ass here. I rubbed my forehead, then realized how much it hurt my shoulder to move it. Sighing, I pictured Cassie’s face when I told her about what had happened to Nate. She’d be heartbroken and furious. I was glad Cassie wasn’t a yeller, or at least, she didn’t used to be. Then I pictured Cassie’s face full of disappointment. That would be awful, and unfortunately I knew that face all too well.
I sighed again and gave him a very brief rundown of the factory, omitting all of the most fabulous, outrageous details. He asked enough questions that I could tell his brain had some battery power.
Still, he wouldn’t be able to hold his own on the trek east. The big city had been what, fifteen miles away? One by one, I took the others aside and let them know that we’d be moving out tonight, and that he would be staying here. They were all upset, but no one protested. They’d been trained too well.
Right now my plan was vague, involving zip ties and duct tape. I’d work out the details later, but we’d be on the road by midnight.
At dinner that night, Kelly sat with us while we once again ate like starved, socially challenged bears. Nate asked her some questions, nothing too specific. What was he getting at?
If he noticed our squad casually packing their gear, he didn’t mention it. But when I was rolling up my clothes in the bunkroom, I looked up and saw him standing there, watching me.
“What’s up?” I asked casually, and he came to sit across from me on a bunk.
“I know you’re going to leave tonight,” he said, “without me.”
62
I STOPPED ROLLING SOCKS FOR a second but didn’t look up.
“I can’t blame you,” Nate said. “I’d probably do the same thing. However.”
Then I did look up, and for a second hardly recognized him. Yeah, the whole wolf attack had left him looking like shit on a stick. But part of me still expected to see Nathaniel Allen, Provost’s son. The last year had changed him, marked him permanently. He was no longer groomed and smoothly good-looking. He looked older than his age, rougher, his face more angular and his muscles more sinewy.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said. “Did you hear Kelly at dinner tonight? Those fancy cars get shipped out every three days, on big tractor-trailers.”
“Yeah,” I said. “They have to be going to the city we saw through the scope.”
“I wouldn’t know,” he said with exaggerated politeness. “I myself didn’t see it.”
I put on a face of mock sympathy. “I’m sorry I kept you from bleeding to death, or from fainting halfway up a tree and falling twenty feet down. It was selfish of me.”
“Yeah, and yo
u’ll pay later,” he said. “But the next shipment is tomorrow night.”
It took .08 seconds for me to see where he was going.
“We could… hitch a ride on those trailers,” I said, and he nodded.
“Better yet,” he said, “we could maybe help ourselves to one of the cars.”
It would mean waiting an extra day, but if I was honest with myself, which I hate, I could use a day of rest. We all could. Plus, it would give me time to get information out of Ansel and formulate a real plan to get into the city. Maybe even contact Strepp if I could borrow a mobile phone. My brain flew through the ramifications, pros and cons, and I looked up again.