Page 36 of Shadow Man
“And puking them up seems to be a recurring theme for us.”
Just then, a car shoots past, rattling the metal framework and setting her off again. After a while she lifts her head with another groan and I pass her a bottle of water I find stuffed in the side pocket.
“For two women who only met a couple of hours ago, we’re making up for lost time,” she croaks, unscrewing the cap and taking a sip. “I’m good now. The sickness has passed. We need to get going.”
“Not like this, move over,” I say, taking charge, attempting to push her gently out of the car. “There’s no way you’re driving. I think you have a concussion.”
“Do you have a license?” she says, refusing to budge.
“Do you honestly give a shit about that?” I yell. “I just committed a crime that’s way worse!”
“You’re right… Fuck.” She staggers around to the passenger side and opens up the door. “Just keep to the limit now we’re on the main road,parcera. We don't want to attract attention.”
“Fine. Now get in.”
It’s been years since I drove a manual, but the simple action of wrapping my hand around the stick brings it all flooding back. As soon as she’s safe in the seat, I slip the car into first and hit the gas.
“How’s your head?” I ask, chasing the speed up through the gearbox until I’m hitting fifth.
“Pounding,” she whispers. “Stay on the right side, like in America… Did that really just happen? Did we really kill Alberto Fernandez and two of his men?”
It’s the inclusion of herself in my crime that makes me hate her even less. If we go down over this, we’re going down together.
“Yep,” I say grimly, clutching at the steering wheel like it’s the grip of that gun again. I steal another glance at her through the darkness. She’s staring straight ahead, her mouth working hard to hide her emotions. Her forehead is a bloody battlefield of cuts and grazes, but there’s no way we can visit a hospital.
“Do you believe me,parcera?”
“I believe in your guilt,” I tell her. “I know you were trying to make amends by offering yourself in exchange for me.”The same way I know the friendship we struck up in that restroom was the real deal.
“That’s not good enough,” she says. “The only way we’re getting through this is if we start trusting one another again.”
“Fine, I believe you. I don't know why, but I do. Maybe because I don’t have a fucking choice anymore.” My shock is sounding more like belligerence now.
She takes it with a pinch of silence, digesting my words slowly. “Keep heading straight. We need to get to Leticia as quickly as we can. It’s the southernmost city in Colombia, and it’s about a six-hour drive from here. I know a place we can go. No stopping, except for gas.” She pulls out her cell and starts fiddling around with the GPS, and then slots it into the vent mount. “Okay. We’re on the map and we have a route.” There’s a pause. “The deadline to deliver you to Fernandez was tomorrow evening. I was going to drive us down to Leticia first thing. He must have guessed I was planning to renegade on our agreement.”
“Yeah, he seemed a real untrusting asshole like that.”
“What the hell are we going to do, Anna?” She sounds scared suddenly.
“We’ll figure it out, okay?”
Call him.
No.
Call him.
I don’t have his number.
Liar. You have it memorized...
“What’s in Leticia?” I ask her, ignoring my bat-shit crazy inner monologue. It’s driving me close to the edges of a ravine that’s filled with shadow. If I fall in now, I’ll never climb out again.
“It’s where my aunt lives.”
“Can we trust her?”
“With our lives. Her estate is a fortress.”