Pestilence

33

Howie stopped about a dozen feet from the entrance to the cage. He swallowed hard, not so much from nervousness but because of an itch he’d been having in his throat. He was still sweating although he didn’t feel like he should be, and a general malaise was coming over him. He ignored it, attributing it to fatigue, and went forward.

The guard at the entrance looked up. Howie didn’t recognize him.

“Hey, how are ya?” Howie said.

“Good.”

“Here for two people. They’re being transferred up to the Hills.”

The man pulled out his iPad and opened a document. “What two people?”

“Jessica Burke and Harold Burke.”

He flipped through the document for a moment. “Okay, where they going again?”

“Facility up in the Hills. I don’t know why. Lieutenant just said to come get ’em and take ’em up.”

“Lieutenant Edmonds?”

“Yeah.”

The man thought for a moment. “I’m gonna call and verify really quick.”

Howie swallowed and felt the sweat slowly trickle off his head and down his neck. “Listen, I was supposed to take these two up there at the beginning of the night and screwed up. You call the lieutenant, and he’s gonna chew my ass, brother.”

The man thought for a few seconds and said, “Fine. Just get ’em outta here quick.”

The guard let Howie into the cage. He walked toward the back. On a cot with her legs crossed, her head tilted to the side, was Jessica, fast asleep. In the cot next to hers was Mike. His cot was pulled closer and to the front of Jessica’s. Howie knelt beside her and glanced at the guard at the entrance. He wasn’t paying attention.

“Jessica,” he whispered.

Her eyes opened, and he put a finger to his lips, indicating for her to be quiet. She sat up and put her arms around his neck. He didn’t know how to respond at first, and then he hugged her back-something he hadn’t done since she was a child.

He said, “Let’s go.”

Mike had woken. “How’d you get back here?”

“I’ll tell you later. Come on, I got you outta here, too.”

“How?”

“Don’t worry about how. If anyone asks, your name is Harold Burke. Let’s go before they change their mind.”

They walked in front as Howie stayed behind them. He nodded to the guard at the entrance, who was eyeing him. The guard watched them a good five or six seconds before returning to what he was doing.

As soon as they got around the corner and out of sight of the guard, Howie said, “Run, now.”

The metal of the jeep groaned as all three jumped in. Howie turned the ignition and spun a U-turn, then headed down the block before turning onto Belvedere, toward the city.