Chase

Thirty

When Jeff had left the train station to drop off the garbage at the dump and had got to where the driveway met the main road, he’d made a point of closing the metal and wire gate behind him.

But this time, in the stolen black SUV, he didn’t feel he had the time to get out, swing back the gate, drive in, get out again and close the gate behind himself. He had to get off the main road as quickly as possible before Daggert and his pals found a way to come after him. They wouldn’t be able to use his aunt’s truck, but they struck Jeff as a resourceful bunch who wouldn’t be delayed long.

So when he swung the big, lumbering SUV off the road, he drove his foot to the floor and smashed his way through the gate. It made such a huge crashing noise he worried they’d hear it back at the camp. The gate crumpled as it was torn off its hinges, slid across the hood and bounced off the windshield. The glass suffered some cracks, but did not shatter.

Jeff wondered if the glass might be bulletproof.

He barreled down the narrow, bumpy lane and hit the brakes when the trees opened and the old train station came into view. He turned off the engine, snatched the key, jumped out of the SUV and ran for the building, shouting, “They’ve found us! We have to get out of here!” as he raced up the stairs.

Chipper whipped his head around and Emily was wide-eyed as Jeff’s head appeared behind the banister.

“What’s happened?” Emily asked.

“They got Aunt Flo!” he shouted. “They... they shot her or zapped her or something! I hid in the house! I snuck out the window!”

Chipper got off the beanbag chair and went to him — not so far as to disconnect his collar from Emily’s laptop — and nuzzled the side of his leg with his snout in a bid to offer comfort. But Jeff was too panicked to notice.

“Who are you talking about?” Emily asked, now nearly as frightened as Jeff.

“Them!” he said, and pointed to Chipper. “Whoever’s after him!”

Emily’s jaw dropped.

“We’re not safe here!” Jeff said. “We have to go!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Emily said. “What do you mean they shot Flo? Are you kidding me?”

Jeff saw words coming up on the laptop screen, and on the phone in Emily’s hand. “He’s saying something,” Jeff said.

Emily looked at her phone and Jeff took a step closer to read the laptop.

“Sorry?” Emily said.

There was a brief pause, and then:

Emily’s eyes met Jeff’s. He hadn’t known her very long, but he sure had never seen her look that scared.

“Run where?” Emily asked.

“Yeah, well, you better think fast,” she said.

Jeff was feeling so frantic he thought he’d burst out of his skin. They had to do something right now, but he wasn’t sure what. At least he had the bad guys’ car. He and Emily and Chipper could get in it and take off.

But then what?

Where would they go? What would they do when the car ran out of gas? He didn’t know about Emily, but he sure didn’t have any money or credit cards. How long would they last?

Not long.

The thing was, they’d last even less time if they stayed here.

Jeff said, “Emily, they don’t know anything about you.”

“What?” she said distractedly. She had gone back to fiddling with her phone and the laptop. She disconnected the cables, including the one that went to Chipper’s collar. “We’re wireless,” she said triumphantly. “What did you say?”

“They know about me, they’ve figured out somehow I know about Chipper, but they don’t know about you. You’re safe. Take the dog’s advice. Run.”

“I can’t just— I mean, I’m not going to leave you here and—”

“Go,” he said.

She was struggling with a decision, even though she knew it made a lot of sense.

“Give me your phone,” she said suddenly.

“What?”

“Give it to me!”

Jeff handed it over. She connected it to her laptop and began frantically clicking and tapping away.

“I’m setting you up,” she said. “So you and Chipper can talk. If I leave you with the laptop, they’ll be able to trace it to me, and it’s too much to carry if you’re on the move.”

“Okay,” Jeff said, glancing every few seconds down the stairs.

Tap tap, tap tap tap, tap, click click, tap.

Chipper made an anxious whining noise and was shifting his weight from one side of his body to the other. When The Institute programmed him, they were supposed to make him less susceptible to fear and anxiety.

They didn’t do such a good job where he was concerned.

“Okay,” Emily said, disconnecting Jeff’s phone from her computer and handing it back to him. “Now you two can chat.”

Jeff looked at his phone’s screen.

“Yeah, you and me both,” he said, looking from the phone’s screen to the dog.

Emily was stuffing her laptop into its case. “I don’t care what anyone says, I’m telling my dad. He has to know what’s going on. He might be able to help. He’s not going to rat anybody out.” Something occurred to her, and she asked for the phone back.

“What?”

“I want to set it up so you guys can talk, but your phone can’t be traced. The connection between you two is on, but your phone — as an actual phone — is dead. That should make it harder to find you.”

Jeff wanted Emily to get out of there, but he was going to miss her technical expertise. She handed the phone back to him, slung the computer case over her shoulder, and took a step towards him.

“Be careful,” Emily said. “When you can, let me know you’re okay.”

Jeff nodded. She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

It was the first time a girl had ever kissed him.

Emily said, “There’s something he wants to tell you.”

Jeff blinked. “What?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “But it sounds serious. Jeff, he was looking for you. From the moment he escaped.”

“That makes no sense.” He looked at Chipper. “Why is she saying that?” He studied Chipper’s face, then looked at his phone.

“You better do what he says,” Jeff told her.

Emily scooted down the stairs. Jeff watched from the top as she peered outside first to make sure no one was there, then slipped out the door and was gone.

Jeff looked at Chipper and said, “I hope you have a plan.”

“Seriously?”

Chipper nodded.

“Well, out with it then.”