The Chase (33 page)

Earl slammed the door and nodded. “Yeah, it’s a problem. So we’ll use your car for the accident and the Toyota for the getaway car.” He turned to Zach. “Zach, go put a new set of plates on the Toyota.”

“Why’s it have to be
my
car in the accident?” Zelda demanded.

“You won’t need that old rust bucket after this,” Earl said. “You’ll have enough money to buy yourself any damn car you want to.”

Zelda’s frown slid into a grin. “Yeah, I will, won’t I? I think I’ll buy me a red Corvette.”

“Sounds good, babe.” Earl jerked his head towards Albert. “Lock the old man up with the kids, so Zach and me can hit the road.”

Zelda waved her gun at Albert. “Get going, old man.”

Albert scowled at her but moved towards the storage room door.

Earl grabbed Kendall by the arm. “Come on. We’re going for a ride.”

Kendall strained to turn towards the storage room. “What about the kids? They don’t know Albert. You’re going to scare them to death if you put a stranger in there.”

Zelda glanced over her shoulder. “Honey, we don’t really give a shit.”

Earl laughed and shoved Kendall towards the cars. “Hey, Zach, find something to tie her hands with.”

Zach retrieved a loop of rope from the trunk of the blue car and tossed it to Earl, who caught it with his free hand.

“Put your hands behind your back,” Earl ordered.

Kendall shook her head but did as he said. “You don’t have to tie me up. I’m not going to do anything.”

Earl pulled the rope tight and spun her around, his face only inches from hers. “That’s right, Kendall, you’re not going to do anything stupid, because if you do, the kids are going to pay the price. You know that, don’t you?”

Kendall swallowed hard and nodded.

Earl twisted her hair in his hand and yanked her head back. “I didn’t hear you.”

His grip pulled at Kendall’s scalp and tears started to fill her eyes, but she managed to keep her voice steady. “Yes, I know that.”

Zelda appeared at Earl’s side. “The old guy’s locked up.”

Earl gave Kendall a hard look and let go of her hair. “Tell Kendall what you’re going to do to the kids if she tries any funny business.”

Zelda held up her gun. “You stop cooperating, I’ll use this.”

Kendall stared her in the eye. “Could you really shoot an innocent child?”

Zelda gave her a twisted smile. “Trust me; you don’t want to test me.”

Earl opened the driver’s door. “Put her in the trunk.”

K
endall concentrated on memorizing the turns Earl made after leaving High Meadow, and when the car pulled off the gravel road onto asphalt, she was pretty certain they were headed north towards Leesburg on James Monroe Highway. They traveled straight for a while, but then Earl took a series of sharp right and left turns on paved roads, which left her totally disoriented.

She could tell from the traffic noise and the stopping and starting that they must be on a heavily traveled road, but she had no idea where they were. And no clue as to where they might be headed.

After a few minutes, the road became bumpy, and it sounded as if they were on gravel again. The roughness of the road increased, but Earl didn’t slow down, and Kendall was thrown repeatedly against the trunk lid as the wheels dipped into holes and ruts. The rugged road continued for several minutes, and then the ride became smooth, and it felt as if they were back on asphalt. Kendall tried to think of a road that changed from asphalt to gravel and back again, but she couldn’t come up with one.

The car jerked to a stop and Kendall heard a car door slam, and then the sound of another, more distant, car door slamming. She heard footsteps approaching; then the lid of the trunk popped open and bright sunlight streamed in.

Earl reached in and grabbed her roughly by her arm, pulling her to a sitting position. “Get out.”

Kendall’s muscles were cramped from being confined in the small space, and she looked around as she stretched her legs slowly, trying to get her circulation going. She heard the distant noise of speeding traffic and then realized they were on Sycolin Road, just beyond the overpass to the Toll Road.
Where in the world were they taking her?

“Come on, we don’t have all day,” Earl said, yanking her to her feet.

Her legs were asleep and she stumbled and would have fallen to the ground if Zach hadn’t reached out and steadied her.

Earl slammed the trunk lid down. “Get her in the backseat before someone sees her.”

Kendall heard an approaching car, and Zach must have heard it, too, because he dragged her to the rear door and yanked it open. “Hurry up and get inside,” he said, pushing her onto the backseat. “And stay down.”

Zach slammed the door closed, and before Kendall lay flat on the seat she saw a car round the bend in the road and come towards them. Zach leaned against the car so his body blocked the view into the rear window. Kendall could see Earl standing a few feet from him.

The other vehicle stopped next to them, and Kendall heard a man’s voice say, “You guys all right? You got car problems or something?”

“No, we’re just chatting. Thanks for stopping, though. That’s very kind of you,” Earl said in his smooth Stephen Lloyd voice.

“All right. Take care,” the man said, and Kendall heard the sound of the car accelerating.

Once the sound had faded, Earl said, “Let’s get moving before another car comes by.”

The back door opened and Earl pushed Kendall’s legs to the floor and slid onto the seat. “Sit up.”

Kendall struggled to a sitting position in time to see Earl pull a knife out of his back pocket and flip it open. He held the blade in front of her face.

“You see this? If I have to use it on you, it won’t be pretty.” He pressed the blade against her cheek, just hard enough for her to feel its sharpness. “You understand?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Now turn around.”

He withdrew the blade from her face and pushed her upper body away from him. “Hold out your hands.”

Kendall’s hand were tied so tightly behind her that she could barely move them, but she did her best to inch them in Earl’s direction. She felt him slide the knife blade between her wrists, and a moment later her hands were free.

Earl gripped her by the chin and brought her face close to his. “Now you listen to me and you listen good, Kendall. What’s about to happen, we’ve planned a long time, and it’s all going to work just fine unless you decide to do something dumb and try to screw things up.”

“I won’t.”

Earl nodded. “That’s right, you won’t. You know why? Because if you do, Zelda is going to kill those kids, one by one, while the others watch. And the old man, too. Understand?”

Kendall closed her eyes.

“Look at me!”

She opened her eyes, and tears slid down her cheeks.

“Don’t go crying, Kendall. I don’t got time for that,” Earl said, jerking her chin.

“I just don’t want anything to happen to the girls.” Her voice was a whisper.

“It won’t if you go along with the plan.” Earl let go of her face. “Here’s the way it’s going to play out. There’s going to be a car accident, and there will be lots of rescue workers and cops around. But you’re not going to try to talk to one of them, are you?”

Kendall shook her head and Earl smirked. “That’s right. You’re going to follow my lead and act however I tell you to, okay?”

She nodded.

“All right. You’re going to keep your eyes on me, and when I signal you to move, that’s what you’re going to do, right?”

“Right.”

“And if you don’t do what I say, what’s going to happen?”

She took a deep breath. “You’re going to call Zelda.”

“That’s right,” he said. “And what’s Zelda going to do?”

Kendall stared at him and shook her head.

Earl raised the knife blade and ran it along her neck. “Come on, Kendall, I want to hear you say it.”

She clenched her teeth. “She’s going to shoot the kids.”

“That’s right, Kendall. Zelda’s going to shoot the kids, and she’s going to kill them.
One by one
. I want you to remember that.”

K
endall watched from the backseat as Earl turned on his emergency flashers and followed Zach’s car off the highway. Zach got out of the Toyota, raised the hood, and tied a white rag to the radio antenna, then walked back to the blue car and opened the front passenger door.

“Where are the keys?” Earl asked him.

“Right here.” Zach dangled the key chain from his finger as he dropped into the passenger seat.

Earl nodded towards the Toyota. “Put them under the floor mat on the driver’s side.”

“Why?”

“In case we don’t all make it out, I want the keys in the car.”

Zach stared at him. “You mean in case I don’t make it out, don’t you?”

Earl gave him a steely-eyed gaze. “Put the keys under the mat, Zach. And leave your wallet there, too.”

“Son of a bitch,” Zach muttered, jumping out of the car.

He stormed up to the Toyota and tossed the keys under the mat, then returned to the car, slamming the door after he got in.

“Thanks,” Earl said with a sarcastic smile. He handed a navy windbreaker to Zach. “Here, put this on.”

Zach scowled. “Are you nuts? It’s like ninety degrees out there.”

Earl picked up another windbreaker from the front seat and shrugged into it. “It ain’t for warmth; it’s so no one will see your gun.”

Zach didn’t respond, but he slid the jacket on.

Earl eased the car into the lane of traffic headed westbound on Route 7 and maneuvered the car into the far left lane of three lanes of traffic. He put his left-turn signal on as they neared the intersection with Belmont Ridge Road, then pulled to a stop at the red light.

“Figures Zelda would have a car with a clock that don’t work,” Earl said, pounding the dashboard with his fist. “What time is it?”

Zach lifted the sleeve of the windbreaker and looked at his watch. “We’re okay. It’s eleven-forty-five.”

Earl nodded as he got a green arrow and began the turn. “Right on schedule.”

He made a U-turn, heading east on Route 7. Traffic was light for the normally busy highway, and Earl stayed in the left lane, keeping his speed steady at fifty miles per hour.

They had traveled about a hundred yards when Zach jerked around in his seat and peered out the back window. “Do you hear that?”

Earl frowned. “What?”

“A siren. Is that him already?” Zach’s blue eyes darted wildly between Earl and the view through the back window.

“Gwen hasn’t called yet. It can’t be him.” Earl slowed the car and looked in the rearview mirror. “Besides, there’s a hospital up ahead. It’s probably another ambulance.”

“What if it isn’t?” Zach asked, breathing heavily.

“Then I’ll pull in front of it.”

Zach waved his arm frantically towards where they had left the Toyota. “But we’re too far from the car.”

“Calm down and shut the fuck up, Zach,” Earl yelled, keeping his eyes focused on the rearview mirror.

The sound of the siren grew louder and Earl pulled halfway onto the center median of grass but kept driving. “It’s not him.”

“How do you know?” Zach asked, still peering out the back window.

“There’s no cop car behind it.”

There was a loud whoop of the siren as the ambulance passed them, and Earl pulled back onto the highway.

Zach faced forward and settled down in his seat. “That freaked me out.”

“Yeah, I noticed.” Earl flipped on his left-turn signal and moved into the turning lane at the intersection with Lansdowne Boulevard.

Earl turned left and drove past the hospital. As he made a U-turn at a four-way stop sign, his cell phone rang. He pressed the call button and held it to his ear. “Hello?”

He grunted in satisfaction as he listened, then ended the call and looked at Zach. “That was Gwen. The ambulance is on its way.”

Zach let out a whoop and made a fist in the air.

“What’s going to happen?” Kendall asked.

“Fireworks,” Earl replied, pulling to a stop at the light.

“Want me to pop the hood?” Zach asked.

“Wait until the cars in front of us go, so I’m first in line.”