Page 48 of Help Me Remember
“I stole cars?”
“No, I stole cars. Or helped people do it. Wasn’t good at driving, but I was a quick little bastard when it came to popping locks and starting engines. You caught me trying to steal your parents’ car one time when we were thirteen. I tried to play it off, but you thought the whole thing was hilarious.”
“I can’t picture you stealing cars, but I can imagine finding it funny,” I admitted.
“Sometimes people don’t stay the same people they were when they were thirteen, Dylan.”
I didn’t respond as I saw a few figures edge toward the alleyway, including two dark suits and an officer’s uniform. “Hey, uh, Eric?”
“What?” he snarled, still fidgeting in my lap.
“You might wanna hurry up because I have a pretty good idea whose car we’re currently trying to steal.”
“Great. Is that another felony because it’s some mayor’s son or something?”
I watched as all three men turned and looked down the alley, and I saw the moment they realized what they were seeing. “I’m thinking a bullet to the brain.”
“Fuck!”
The two suited men began advancing, but Patterson growled something at them, putting his hand on his gun and walking toward us. “Sir! You need to get out of the car now, with your hands up!”
“What’d he say?” Eric asked.
“He wants us to come quietly.”
“Tell him to go fuck himself.”
“We’re feeling feisty today, I see.”
Eric growled, so I stuck my hand out the window and raised my middle finger. Miraculously, that made the officer stop where he was and stare at me in disbelief.
“Sir!” he barked, his brow furrowed in annoyance, and he closed his fingers around his gun.
“Eric,” I intoned.
“One second,” Eric mumbled, and then I heard the engine fuss, hiss and sputter. Patterson’s eyes widened as the engine roared to life.
“Seat belt!” I barked as Eric slid off my lap and into his own seat. “And get down!”
Eric fumbled with the belt until he saw Patterson raise his gun. With a yelp, he dove to the side, out of view, and I quickly slipped into drive. Without thinking, I shoved my foot on the pedal, hearing the tires squeal as they burned against the pavement.
I winced at the sound of the gun firing but kept my foot down as the car finally found traction and jettisoned us forward. Patterson managed to fire three rounds before throwing himself out of the way, pressing against the wall to avoid getting run down. The other two men were already gone, and as I hit the brake, twisting the wheel to take a sharp turn, I could see them in the rearview mirror.
“Looks like we’re not the only ones with this idea,” I said, wincing as I watched a woman roughly dragged out of her car and thrown onto the street. “Seat belt?”
“You’re worse than my boss!” Eric snarled, sitting up to fasten the seat belt and lurching as I gunned the engine.
Cars swerved out of my way as I flew down the street, trying to get as much distance between the men and us. I also knew it wouldn’t be long until we had officers on our trail. Patterson could easily spin what happened as him firing on someone trying to run him down in a stolen vehicle. I wouldn’t have shed any tears over him earning a tread mark on his face, but he would have obviously left out the important details.
“Where are we going?” Eric asked, leaning back in his seat and gripping the armrest with a white-knuckled grip.
“Well, at this point, I’m just trying to put distance between us,” I said with a grunt, looking in the rearview mirror before taking the next turn sharply. “And since I don’t know this city, at least right now, you need to direct me.”
“Where?”
“The outskirts. Our best bet right now is to get away from all this bullshit, which means getting out of the city if we can.”
Eric squeezed his eyes shut tightly as I swerved sharply around another vehicle to the sound of a horn blaring. “Yeah, well, pretty sure…pretty sure…you’re going the wrong way. I think this…is toward the sea.”