Covering Lizzie’s eyes, I looked away from the gruesome scene as well. Kosic was moving the corpse in broad daylight, but the big rig must have blocked what he was doing from the highway because not one vehicle driving by seemed to notice us along the bend of the road. After a few more grunts and a heavy thud noise, he loaded the body into the back. Finally shoving the side door closed, he locked it. Kosic hiked his shirt up over his head while walking back to the passenger side again. He quickly wiped down any remaining blood from the front seat.
“Lizzie.” He motioned for her to come to him.
“No way am I sitting there,” Lizzie murmured while recoiling even more into me.
“Okay, maybe the seriousness of the situation isn’t enough incentive,” Kosic growled. “Then how about this, they rigged the stage to collapse on the band.”
“What?” I asked in horror.
“Yeah, they’ve been planning it for weeks.” He put his hands on his hips. “So either you get up in the seat or Hawkins and Warren go bye, bye.” He motioned for Lizzie again who had a death grip on me, but I broke away while taking her hand in mine. Walking past him, I jumped up into the cab. Lizzie looked up at the bloodstained window and whimpered before he helped her up inside and slammed the door shut behind her.
Lizzie and I crawled in the back where there was more seating and frankly, less blood. Lizzie molded into my side again while trembling even harder. Kosic opened the driver’s side door and jumped up behind the wheel before shutting it behind him. He turned the ignition and I felt the diesel engine roar to life as the seat hummed underneath me.
I looked outside the window one last time at the van. “Goodbye, dad,” I whispered. “I will miss you.”
Kosic shifted the gears of the truck and accelerated down the side of the road before he pulled over onto the highway. The scenery picked up around us and the van quickly went out of view. I tightened my grip around Lizzie who was still crying and rested my head on hers while tears streamed down my face.
“You okay?” Kosic looked over his shoulder at me.
Wiping away a few tears, I nodded. “I will be,”
“We need to make a quick stop,” I added. “Riley kind of got left behind.”
“Good,” Kosic exhaled, obviously relieved. “He’s a good kid. For a moment I thought maybe…” he drifted off. “But I’m glad he’s alive so where to?”
“At a McDonald’s a couple miles away,” I explained.
Pulling out my phone, I realized Riley had texted a dozen or so messages while it was on silent. “Cyrus abducted me and the van. Everything is fine now. We’re on our way back to pick you up,” I texted before snapping my phone shut.
“I’m so sorry, Joie,” Lizzie murmured while breaking away from my shoulder. Her blonde hair was matted against her wet cheeks. “Hawkins,” she gasped in between tears. “Hawkins isn’t my type. You were right. You’ve always been right.” Her wide, blue eyes looked up at me filled with tears.
“I’m so sorry I called your mom. It was low,” she continued. “I have felt so alone these last couple weeks,” she confessed. “I can’t believe that this might have been my last day alive and I never got to tell Ryan how much I still love him.”
“I know you do.” I brushed back the hair from her face.
“But he isn’t going anywhere,” she squealed.
“Lizzie, where are any of us going, really? Huh? At least with Ryan you won’t have to go through it alone.”
“You’re a good friend.” She started to cry again. “And I’ve been horrible,” she gasped. “It was how I knew that you would pick Hawkins over me.” She fiddled nervously with a hangnail.
Instantly, I felt ashamed by the memory. “Cyrus was going to kill me,” I tried to explain.
“It’s okay, I would have picked Ryan, too.” She rested her head on my shoulder again.
Wrapping my arm around her, I said, “You know I love you like family, right?”
“Like family?” She sniffed.
“Just like it.” I rested my head on hers again.
Looking at the back of Kosic, I knew that I wouldn’t be alive right now if it hadn’t been for him. Sensing that I was watching him, he smiled at me through the rearview mirror. Though he was smiling, it was obvious the stress had taken a toll on him, too. He looked like he hadn’t slept for days. Just then my cell phone went off and I snapped it open.
“What happened? Are you okay? I came outside, but the van was gone. I didn’t know what to think at first. So he was waiting for you?” Riley texted, clearly worried for me.
“Yes, but Lizzie and I are safe now.” I tried to ease his fears. “We’re almost at your exit. I’ll see you in a few.”
Looking at my phone, I went to scroll down to Hawkins number. “Someone has got to warn Hawkins.”
“NO! Joie, stop!” Kosic shouted frantically. “Hawkins doesn’t have his phone, Wayne or Harrison—whatever you like to call him—took all the phones. He warned the band that the stalker might try to reach any one of them to negotiate a deal, so he took the phones claiming that he would handle any incoming calls.”
“How are we going to stop Hawkins then?!” I shrieked.
“I’m working on a plan.”
Feeling helpless, I suddenly felt like crying again, but someone had to be strong for Lizzie. I really needed my best friend so I was oddly relieved to see the McDonald’s parking lot again. Riley was sitting on the edge of the sidewalk when we pulled up beside him. He continued to scan the road behind us, probably still looking for the van.
Kosic rolled down his window, and asked, “Are you lost, son?”
Lizzie and I were already up on our feet, popping our heads out around him.
Riley beamed up at us and stood up. “Yeah, I kind of got left behind. You wouldn’t happen to be heading to West Palm Beach, Florida, would you?”
“I think we can arrange that.” Kosic grinned down at Riley as he came around the front of the truck. He opened the passenger side door and hopped in. The smile disappeared from his face when he looked over at the bloodstained window.
“You might want to roll that down for me,” Kosic advised with a grim expression.
Riley sat down and did what he was told to do. He turned to look back at us with a fearful expression. “What the hell happened? And where’s the van?”
As we raced down the highway, I filled him in on everything he had missed.
“So that sick bastard is finally dead,” Riley said triumphantly. “How did Hawkins react when you told him about the stage?”
“We didn’t,” I murmured sullenly. “He’s in on it and has Hawkins’ phone.”
“Who does?” Riley asked.
“Harrison,” I muttered.
“Hawkins’ bodyguard?!”
“Yeah,” I groaned, “My sentiments exactly.”
“We can do this,” Kosic assured me. “If we separate, I’m sure one of us can reach the band or the people who can. I’ll head in first, so that Harrison thinks everything went according to plan. It should make it easier for the rest of you guys to get in.”
“Who else can we trust who works for the band?” I asked.
“I think that we can trust Harlow,” Riley spoke up.
“Okay, you try to find Harlow,” Kosic continued. “It’s his stage in a way. If the lights don’t go up then the band can’t play. Maybe he could even find whatever triggers the stage to collapse and stop it.”
“How are we going to convince him?” I asked.
“We have the video Cyrus was planning to air on the internet later tonight,” Kosic informed us. “You can give him that, it should be enough.”
“If we get close enough, I can try to get a message to Warren through the venue crew in front of the stage,” Lizzie offered. “Since Hawkins is unreachable.”
“But to do that I’m going to need a distraction so I can approach the stage.” She nervously bit her lip. “I don’t know how much time I’ll have without one.”
“I’m a pretty big target. I’m sure to stand out.” I spoke up. “I’ll make sure they see me when the time is right.”
“Besides, Hawkins won’t play if he sees Joie flagging him down,” Kosic reasoned.
“Warren either,” Lizzie added.
“Okay, so the girls are going to stay together.” Kosic nodded. “You’re going to need to make some friends beforehand or you’ll both stick out.”
“That shouldn’t be too hard to do.” Lizzie smirked. “I’m sure the right group of guys would love to pick up a couple of girls whose car just happens to be broken down a few miles back.”
“Really hook them because you’ll need your new ‘friends’ to help get you past security at the gates,” Kosic cautioned. “He’ll still have the staff on the lookout for you guys, just in case.”
“Are they all in on it?” I asked in astonishment.
“No, but they think you guys were behind the bombing of the tour bus and then fled before you could be questioned,” Kosic explained. “They think that because he lied.”
“Hawkins would never believe that we did that,” I interrupted.
“Harrison is an ex-FBI agent. He’s no amateur, so don’t put anything past him,” Kosic continued. “Do whatever you need to do to give me time to head in first, tailgate, whatever.”
“Don’t worry about us,” Lizzie assured him.
It terrified me how unprotected Hawkins was and he didn’t even know it. We continued to plot for the next hour, until we started to see signs for the amphitheater as the sun edged closer to the horizon with every minute. Knowing it would come down to the wire, we had to execute our plans perfectly to stop the band from crossing the deadly stage. Kosic pulled the semi down a dirt road away from concert traffic. I was just glad to be finally doing something when Riley helped me down from the truck.
He pulled me into a hug. “I love you,” he murmured into my hair. “Try not to get yourself killed, okay?” He smiled down at me.
“Love you too.” I smiled up at him. “Tell Harlow that I said hello.”
Riley rolled his eyes and smiled before he walked over to kiss Lizzie’s forehead. He wiped away the remaining mascara from her face with the end of his t-shirt.
“Let’s do this,” Kosic urged.
“We’ll head off first.” I led the way down the dirt path with Lizzie as planned. We headed towards the concert traffic and I looked back at Riley one more time. He stood with his hands on his hips. The concern and fear he felt for us was evident in his expression. God, please don’t let anything happen to him. Lizzie grabbed my hand and squeezed it, bringing my attention back to our part of the plan.
We walked out beside the line of cars that were stuck in the usual drag of concert traffic. Lizzie started thumbing to hitch a ride. It didn’t take long before we were snuggled in the back of a green Jeep Wrangler. Lizzie did all the flirting with the two guys that had picked us up. Thank god, I didn’t have to do anything but keep my head down. I did catch their names, however, and smiled up at them occasionally throughout the conversation. Trevor and Casey were brothers, well, I guess half-brothers, I wasn’t really keeping up. Trevor was the all American looking guy: tall, built and way too handsome for his own good. Casey was shorter with dark hair, but just as cute.
Trevor pulled into a space and cut off the engine. Staring dejectedly out at the packed parking lot of fans, it was weird to see the normal, happy chaos of the crowd. No one knew what Cyrus had in mind for them if we didn’t succeed at stopping it. Nudging my side, Lizzie brought me out of my thoughts so that I would get out behind her. She took a beer and handed it to me while we hung out at the back of the jeep. It was killing me that we had to sit there and try to blend in so we could get close enough to warn Hawkins. Casey had a ball cap on and Lizzie snatched it so she could put it on her head. It was way too big for her, but she looked cute as usual.
“Here, Joie.” She put the ball cap on my head. “You’re the Cowboys fan.” For a fleeting second Lizzie couldn’t help but laugh. If wearing this wasn’t love, I didn’t know what was. It did hide part of my face, making me just a little less recognizable so it was a good idea. She convinced them to head up earlier than usual when the first set of fans started their ascent up the hill to the pavilion. They both had taken an instant liking to Lizzie, but Casey got stuck with me. Lizzie looped her arm through Trevor’s and looked up at him while they chatted. I didn’t have the frame of mind to flirt as we approached the security gates, but Lizzie turned around to include Casey in their conversation from time to time which kept him happy. As Lizzie flirted, I scanned the place looking for security. After searching for a minute, I saw Miller and Hampton looking at the crowd on either side of the lanes leading to the gates. Lizzie must have seen them too because she leaned into Trevor in the way a romantic couple would have done, but he didn’t seem to mind. Tugging the ball cap down around my eyes, I looked over at Casey.
“So.” The panic rose in my chest while I tried to have a normal conversation. “How long have you been following the band?”
Casey’s face twitched with surprise that I had finally started talking. “A couple years,” he estimated. “And you?”
“Only this summer,” I confessed as we inched closer down the line.
“So you’re not like a fan, fan,” he said in a slight disapproving tone.
“No, I’m a fan,
fan
,” I corrected him.
“Right,” he said unconvincingly while drifting further from my side.
Leaning into him, I whispered, “I mean, I
know
the band.”
“Sure,” he taunted.
“Actually, I know Hawkins,” I said determinedly.
“Yeah, okay, so do I,” he snickered.
Oh my gosh, where was Hawkins when I needed him? Already knowing that I sounded like a lunatic to this little rock star wannabe, with his dark “Hawkins’” hair and thin leather necklaces dangling around his neck.
“Hawkins and I,” I whispered, deciding to confess it all. “We’re like a thing.”
“And it just gets better.” He laughed.
Lizzie’s face faltered when she glanced back at us. If Trevor and she were a happy romantic couple then we were the opposite. Lizzie just lifted her eyebrows and turned back around like it worked either way. We were so preoccupied with the little snit we were having that we made it through security without a hitch.