Gem Stone (23 page)

"We can guess all we want," Mark said. "There's no way to know for sure."

"Maybe. Yeah, I guess." She laid her head back and closed her eyes. "This whole thing is just stupid."

"Maybe it's not about what you saw, or took pictures of. What if we were also exposed to something?" Mark's voice deepened as he thought some more. "Yeah. What if we were exposed to something? And they want to keep an eye on us to see how, or if, we react? With spots or rashes. That kind of thing. Maybe we're contagious."

Gem sat forward. She stared wide-eyed at Mark then down at her hands. She turned them over as if looking for disease.

Mark made a weird sound. She looked at him suspiciously then back at her hands.

He guffawed.

"Oh you and your plots and conspiracy theories." She hit him several times, slapping him across the chest, trying to reach his face.

He laughed and laughed, batting her hands down before they could make contact. Their noise woke up Reid who sat in the front seat.

"
Geeze.
What's with you two? Can't a guy get any sleep around here?"

"Sorry Reid. Mark's being his usual idiotic self."

"Are we almost home?" Reid's voice echoed Gem's wishes and his tiredness.

John's gravelly voice spoke for the first time in ages. "We're over halfway now." He glanced in the rearview mirror at them. "We'll take a break in a few minutes. There's a place up ahead."

Good thing. Gem could use a bathroom too. Multiple cups of java had caught up with her.

John drove the truck into a rest stop and parked beside the brick washrooms. Everyone hopped out and stretched.

Gem headed straight inside. When she came out the guys were holding cold drinks in their hands. Mark held out a bottle of iced tea for her. "Peace offering?"

"Sure. Why not?" She snatched it out of his hands and took a long drink. "That feels good."

"Ready to keep going?" John rubbed his tired face, then ran his hand through his hair. "We've got about another hour."

Gemma watched the sun's rays make the air in front of her shimmer.

"Let's go then."

They clambered back into the truck. Not such an easy thing for Gemma to do as a large black SUV had parked close beside them. The smoked glass windows made her shudder. It was similar to many vehicles on the highway, but just looking at it gave her the creeps. She wondered if there'd come a day when she didn't look sideways at everything and everyone.

Not questioning her instincts, she read off the license plate in her mind, repeating it three times and committing it to memory. Thankfully she could memorize most things almost immediately.

It was probably nothing, but…

"You okay?" whispered Mark once they were on the road again.

"Yeah, just didn't like the look of the SUV back there." She yawned. "I'm going to see if I can go to sleep for a bit." She snuggled up against his shoulder and crashed.

***

"And again, things screwed up. Something so simple. I manage to rein in my two cousins and now my criminal uncle lets the kids get away. Jesus." He stared in shock at his desk. "How the hell did they get out?"

At this point all he wanted to do was get a hell of a long way away from those juvie kids. They were nothing but trouble. He'd said that from the beginning.

This just proved it.

He'd been trying to call his uncle for the last ten minutes too. Only he wasn't answering.

Damn.

And his uncle was a bit of a wild card. Had a temper too. Didn't take orders well. As he'd found out.

At least the last tests had been good.

Only the game had changed again. And those damn kids were free. Free to talk. He knew he should have left well enough alone.

And damn it, why didn't his uncle pick up the phone? He needed his uncle to walk away. To put a stop to any plans he had.

He began to sweat and his right eye twitched nervously.

He couldn't help but think he just might have enough money after all.

That it might be time to run – before it was too late.

***

Mark watched as Gem dropped her head on his shoulder and hit
zzz
-land instantly. How did she do that? He'd love to sleep. Not only did he need to but it would make the trip that much faster. He leaned back and closed his eyes.

The truck swerved suddenly.

Mark lifted his head and looked around. Everything looked normal.

"Stupid idiot," muttered John, slowing the truck down.

"What happened?"

"He cut me off. Damn drivers these days. Probably some young punk driving daddy's SUV, someone who doesn't know how big and powerful it really is. They're almost trucks. Those big ones are even on a truck frame."

Hadn't Gem said something about an SUV back there?
Coincidence?
Had to be? "I didn't see. What did it look like?"

"Solid black with smoked windows. Idiot. Can't see the driver well with them windows either."

"Like a government rig, or with a big corporation look?"

John frowned, looking at him in the rear view mirror.

"Yup, sorta similar. Why?" John's eyes sharpened as Mark met his gaze. Even tired, John commanded a strong presence. He'd never been pushy or aggressive, but he was sure in himself. Sure of right and wrong.

"Just something Gem said before she nodded off. About not liking the look of the SUV that parked close to us back at the rest stop." He exchanged a serious look with John in the rearview mirror.

"I'd like to hope they don't try anything again, but I suppose given the number of times they've tried and failed... John changed lanes and stayed left as the highway split off in two directions. "The SUV is just ahead of us."

Mark leaned forward slightly without disturbing Gem. "Where?"

John pointed forward where the same SUV drove at a steady speed in the slow lane ahead of them.

Mark peered through the windshield. He wished he sat in the front. Reid had crashed again, and with Gem sleeping against his shoulder Mark couldn't move closer for a better look. The traffic streamed along with them at a steady pace but the highway wasn't jammed with vehicles. Rolling hills and bare land dotted the region. Not a town or ranch in sight. He watched John slow slightly and allow a small car to move into the space between the two vehicles. The miles swept past.

"Guess Doris will be glad to see you back again."

"She'll be glad to see all of us back." John rubbed his jaw. "I'll be glad to get back to her. Can't say I liked leaving her alone like I did. Too much funny stuff going on."

Mark hadn't considered whether Doris and John were in danger. So far, all the attacks had been on the four kids. "Any idea how Misty's doing?"

John shook his head. "The doctor's aren't too happy. She's not keeping most liquids down."

"We could stop in on the way into town? See if she's any better." Mark suggested.

John shrugged. "Better we drop you off with Doris first. I'll take a run up afterwards."

"You've got to be tired. I wish I could drive." He'd talked of nothing else while in juvie, but once at the home, the reality of the expenses involved had set Mark's enthusiasm back some.

"Yup. I was driving at your age."

"I've never had a chance." He'd never had a home life that he could remember. Maybe if he'd had a father around he'd have learned to drive by now.

"We'll have to take a look at that later. All of you are old enough." John glanced over at the sleeping Reid.

"Maybe, but we don't have the money for classes." Mark wished he did though.

"Don't need classes. I can do the training. Just need open country and wheels. The rules are online and I think there are practice tests to make sure you know the rules of the road, and the laws are there too."

"Yeah, they are. I've done the tests."

"And. How did you do?"

"Okay. They seemed pretty easy."

"Driving's not hard. It's more about common sense than anything else. It's keeping an eye on everyone else and anticipating what they're going to do that's difficult." He pointed up ahead. "Like that SUV. You gotta wonder. He's slowed down enough that people are passing him."

"Maybe that's what he wants." Mark looked around again and couldn't help adding. "There's not much traffic now as it is." Uneasiness started building in his gut. "Huh, John. Do you think we should do something? Call someone?"

"Not yet. What would we say?" He passed the SUV. "Besides, we'll know more soon enough after this turn off up ahead. Only those heading to our little town would continue on this route. Or those that are a little too interested in us…"

Mark tried to catch a glimpse of the driver, but couldn't identify the driver.

Sure enough, the traffic thinned right down at the turn off.

"I don't know about you, but this looks like a place for an ambush."

"Huh?" John looked at him in the rear view mirror again.

The sharp awareness in his gaze made Mark feel better. John was no one's fool. Mark searched for the SUV. "Then again, looks like he's gone."

"Nope. He's coming up behind us."

Sure enough, the SUV tucked right behind John's truck as the highway narrowed to a single lane.

Now the two of them were the only ones on the road.

"Coming up here would be the place I'd choose for an ambush." John's voice flattened out. His face thinned, sharpened. He reached for something on the dash. Mark watched as he picked up a cell phone and tossed it back to Mark.

"Call the sheriff. Let him know what's going on. I want to keep two hands on the wheel for this."

The battered cell phone was old. Like John. With a raised eyebrow and a bit of doubt that the thing would work, Mark clicked the talk button.
Nothing.

"It's either out of batteries or there's no service." He continued to punch numbers while trying to keep an eye on the SUV. His heart rate picked up. He punched faster. "John, it's time for you to get a new phone. This thing is archaic."

"It takes a few tries before it turns on, but eventually it does. Everyone belted in?"

The road twisted through the hills with miles of lonely road all around them. John slowed down as a passing lane approached, giving the SUV a chance to pass.

"Yes, but…"

The SUV driver waited until the last minute then swerved out and over and then back again. Mark watched with his mouth open to warn John. Suddenly John wrenched the wheel and turned the old truck in to meet the SUV's attack. The front of the SUV crashed against John's old Ford and bounced.

"Holy." Mark watched in astonishment as the bigger, newer vehicle bounced back while the Ford barely shuddered.
"Yes!"
Sure, the old truck took a spine-jarring hit, but nothing like what the SUV had taken.

"Yup. He's an idiot." John snorted with laughter.

"How'd that happen?" Mark twisted around to look at the SUV now pulled off the side of the road. "How come we didn't get shoved off with a crash that size?"

"He just looks big, but the newer vehicles are much lighter than old Bessie here. She's not much to look at, but she was built right." He patted the front dash affectionately. "Besides
that
was only a pretend SUV, some kind of new crossover thing. Looks big and mean but is a wuss under the hood and is built on a girlie frame."

"Wow." Mark twisted around as much as he could. There was no sign of the SUV behind them on the road now.

"Mark?" Gem sat up and rubbed her eyes. "What happened?"

Mark grinned at her. "Black SUV tried to run into us but he got bounced off the road."

"An SUV?" Sleep clouded her voice. Then her eyes widened. "Like the one from the rest stop?"

"Exactly like that one." Mark grinned at her. "John fixed them good."

***

Gem slumped against the corner of the back seat.
When would this day be over?
She, the person who had always loved unique and different, now craved normal. She wanted to jump back into the world of housework, lawn mowing and school work at John and Doris's place. More than that, she wanted to go for walks with her camera around her neck, take pictures of the sunset, the stone wall out back… Especially of Misty. She'd had it with this whole detective, 'girl in trouble' thing. She'd like to change that up to 'successful girl on top of the world looking to choose the next step in her future.'

Whatever the hell that was. She wanted to keep up her photography, but she had to get down to the business of studying something else – like a real career.