Target (33 page)

He heard Aurelie's indrawn breath.

“No!” Joan's face had paled again and it shone with a film of sweat.

“Okay. It was just an idea.”

Joan picked pieces of corn out of her bread and chewed them one by one. She cast frequent glances at Nick and at Aurelie. “I know the route he'll take,” she said. From her bag she took a folded piece of computer paper. “He left this on the screen and I printed out a copy. We came that way. It's fast.”

Nick took the paper from her and nodded over it. “I-10. Yeah, that would be the fastest way.”

“Vic needs his sleep,” Joan said. Her hands shook. “He sleeps in a rest stop so he can use the bathroom and wash. He likes to be near a gas station, too.”

“What are you saying?” Nick said. He hoped he knew, but pushing her could make her back off.

“If you went after him, he might try to do something to you,” she said, her despair showing. “No, forget I said anything.”

“You're rethinking my idea to go after him?”

“Forget it.”

“Okay.”
Give her more time.
“How long did you work for this Cooper?”

She averted her face. “Too long. Around fifteen years.”

Aurelie spread a hand on the table. “How did you meet him?” she asked.

“I was a stupid kid who thought she could make it in the movies. I was going to Los Angeles but I met Cooper. He was charming and kind and seemed sophisticated. He knew stuff about movies and he offered to help me get a start.” Joan lolled her head back. “I was so stupid.” She closed her mouth tightly.

“You aren't the only one who ever bought a convincing story,” Aurelie said. “One of these days I'll tell you about my sister and me. We got lucky, but we probably came close to being in a similar situation to the one you're in now.”

Joan looked at her intently. “You did?”

“Yes. A man tried to suck us into really bad stuff. Someone stopped him.”

“If Vic wants to go back to Cooper, good luck to him,” Joan said. “But he didn't have any right to take my truck and my money.”

Nick heard the start of real anger in her voice and his hopes rose again. “He also didn't have a right to hit you,” he said. “No man should take out his anger on a woman.”

“I want my truck and my money,” Joan said.

Nick sat back in his chair and made sure he looked as if he was trying to make a decision.

“What?” Joan asked.

“I'll do it,” Nick said. “I'll go after him. You want him brought back here?”

She shook her head. “No. I don't want to see him ever again. Don't do anything.”

“I insist,” Nick said. “I couldn't live with myself if I didn't help out. I'll leave tonight. Just as soon as we get you situated.” He'd figure out where to stash Joan. Finn could be enlisted again. “Believe I can do this for you. I know where you'll be staying tonight, and who you'll be with.”

He still had the map, which he folded and put into his shirt pocket.

“I don't know,” Joan said.

Aurelie gripped the woman's hand on the table. “You could be in danger just being on your own. I know about these things. What choice do you have but to take help from someone?”

“None.”

“Do you think you can trust us?”

Joan nodded, yes.

“Let's move,” Nick said.

“I
'm not getting out,” Aurelie said. “And the longer you stand there trying to push me around, the farther away that man gets.”

“This isn't a joke, damn it.” Nick moved to haul open the driver's door on the dark blue Honda that Finn Duhon had insisted be used for the trip. Both Finn and Angel said the car handled well and would blend in on the highway. They thought the Hummer Aurelie had offered would have every advantage except for being impossible to miss. And Vic had seen Nick's Audi a number of times.

The car was gassed up and standing in front of Aurelie's apartment. Hoover had run inside as soon as Nick opened the front door. But Aurelie had slipped into the driver's seat while Nick's back was turned. She would stay in the car by whatever means it took “C'mon,” Nick said. “I want you where I know you're okay. I've got to get going. Every minute counts now.”

“Yes, it does. Lock my front door. I'll call Frances at the salon first thing. She'll take care of Hoover. You intend to follow Vic all the way to San Francisco, don't you? You think Cooper is Colin and you want to be the one to get to him first.”

“I never said that.”

Aurelie noted the tone of his voice. She'd told it the way it was. “But that is what you intend. I don't blame you, but I'm not letting you go on your own. Get in.”

He threw up his hands. “First I have to insist Angel and Finn are needed more here than chasing along behind me—never mind how far I may be going. Now there's you holding me up.”

“Let's get on with it. We'll talk about it while we get some miles under the wheels. You need me. Believe it. Who do you think's going to be sharper—even if he does start out with some sleep grabbed at a rest stop or wherever? We are, because we can trade off the driving and one of us can get some extra rest in between. Also, one of us has to be awake all the time if we're going to make sure he doesn't get away from one of his
naps
without being seen.”

“Get out and get in the passenger seat,” Nick said.

Promptly, Aurelie climbed over the console and into the passenger seat. She strapped herself in. “You won't regret your decision,” she said.
Even if he had just tried to get her out of the car so he could drive off without her.
She heard his heavy sigh.

“Aurelie,” he said quietly. “You could slow me down and also, if something goes wrong, you could be in danger. If I have to call the police for any reason, they'll get in the way of me trying to see if this Cooper guy is actually Colin.”

“Now you admit what you're hoping for,” Aurelie said.

Nick said, “Please stay here.”

“No,” she said. “Let's go. Don't you think I want to confront Colin, too?”

He looked at the ground for a moment, then went to lock her front door.

 

Three hours from Pointe Judah, at a big rest stop off I-10 in the vicinity of Houston, Aurelie grabbed Nick's arm.

He managed not to swerve. “What?”

“Over there.” They were cruising through the parking lot with a view of vehicles parked on the other side of restrooms, vending machines and a display of lighted maps. The night was dark but the area well lit. “I think that's Joan's truck, between the Airstream and that white SUV.”

Nick checked behind him and backed up, away from the bright lights. He pulled beneath a tree and took binoculars from the glove compartment. For about ten seconds, he focused on the vehicle Aurelie had pointed out, then he handed the glasses to her. “That's it,” he said. “I didn't expect him to go this far before stopping. I thought we might have passed him already.”

“Me, too,” Aurelie said.

Nick looked hard at the truck. “I don't see him in it.”

“He's probably sleeping in the back.”

He figured the same thing but wanted to be sure. “I don't want to sit here for hours then find out he managed to leave in another vehicle. If he is in there, he's been here for several hours. He could drive off at any moment. We've got to know whether or not he's there.”

“We can't check that out, Nick,” Aurelie said.

He said, “Show a little faith. And do not get out of this car, please.”

“Nick—”

Standing straight and walking normally, Nick left the Honda and strode left, putting the rest-stop buildings between him and Joan's pickup.

He didn't stop moving. A circle around and he strolled behind the Airstream, then the truck. A single turn of the head and Nick made out an occupied sleeping bag in the bed of the truck, protected by the canopy.

 

“He's moving.”

Nick heard Aurelie's voice and smiled. His neck hurt but he didn't care. He liked waking up with her beside him.

“Nick!” The engine turned over. Aurelie had been keeping watch while he snatched some sleep.

He sat up as the Honda started to roll and stared around. Darkness still pressed in around the car. He scrunched up scratchy eyes and focused. Joan's truck was gone from its former spot.

“He's going to get on the freeway,” Aurelie said. “He's headed there now. I looked at the map while you were asleep. The exits are pretty close together, so we could lose him fast. I'm going to give him two minutes, then follow. You think that's okay?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Let me drive.”

“I'm perfectly capable of driving.” She said it sharply and glared at him.

Nick sighed. “I know you are. I thought we agreed we'd take it in turns getting some sleep. It's your turn to sleep. Stay, or switch right now. There isn't time for discussion.”

“Right,” Aurelie said. “Sorry about that. Let's switch.”

San Antonio, Fredericksburg, Fort Stockton, followed by a load of forgettable burgs, then through El Paso. For a third time Vic had pulled off for gas. Nick and Aurelie hung back at the station, then filled up, too, hoping they wouldn't lose him.

The sun had taken a hike and the sky turned an unnatural shade of green. The air was heavy with pollution and Aurelie figured they needed a good rain to wash down the muck.

“That's it,” Nick said, dropping into the passenger seat this time.

Aurelie peeled out of the forecourt and onto the freeway entrance, swept down and started searching for the dirty cream-colored pickup.

“Just concentrate on the road and making ground,” Nick said. “Leave the looking to me.”

She did as she was told, going faster than she ought and checking her mirrors frequently for any sign of cops.

Nick laughed suddenly. “Don't worry too much, everyone on the road is exceeding the limit. Thank God I taught you to drive.”

“Arrogant ass,” she said, not taking her eyes off the task. “I was a natural.”

“I see him,” Nick said. “Fast lane but too blocked in to really move. You're fine the way you are for now.”

Aurelie turned west on I-10 at the junction where I-25 took off to the north.

They were silent for several miles then Aurelie asked, “Do you think Joan will stay put at Finn and Emma's? She was so scared.”

“She's got good reason,” Nick said. “Joan knows she's probably going to be arrested.”

“So why wouldn't she run?”

Nick puffed up his cheeks. “This is just my gut. I think she's whipped—completely. And she knows if she does take off, she'll be tracked down.”

“I like her,” Aurelie said.

“You'd like to fix her…watch it! He's coming over a lane.”

She watched. The pickup was still forced by the vehicles around it to keep a steady pace.

“Do you think he could have seen us by now?” Aurelie asked and her heart gave an involuntary thud.

“No.” Nick shifted in his seat. “Aw, hell, we can't fool ourselves. He might have but I just don't think so. Half the cars around could be interchanged with this one.”

The day swept by; night came fast. Phoenix, Blythe and Palm Springs were just famous places they had no time to think about before making the loop around Los Angeles and eventually getting onto I-5.

On the other side of Los Angeles, Vic pulled into another rest stop. This time he went from the restroom to a coffee stand run by some local club. He took coffee and a heap of cookies back to the truck, by which time Nick and Aurelie were already backed into a slot with plenty of room between the two vehicles, but not so much that they wouldn't see the next time Vic moved.

“He's having a picnic,” Nick said. He frowned at the windshield where raindrops had started splattering. “Run to the bathroom if you have to. Grab coffee and head back. I'll go for the restroom a couple of minutes after you leave.”

She hopped out, walked around the back of the car and moved along behind the entire row before cutting up to the buildings. By the time she came out of the bathroom, a glance at the Honda showed that Nick had followed his plan. She bought coffee and some cereal bars and arrived back at the car a couple of minutes behind Nick.

“Damn, I was hungry,” he said, downing three cereal bars, one after the other, in about two bites apiece. He inhaled the coffee.

Aurelie drank her coffee first. The bars tasted like shredded cardboard held together with dry peanut butter, but she ate one anyway.

“Shoot,” Nick said suddenly. “I thought he'd rest. There he goes.”

Aurelie groaned and strapped in.

The car was already moving.

 

It was dawn. They'd kept moving throughout a second night when Vic finally drove from the road again and into a gas station. Aurelie was driving and she followed. She really needed sleep, or even to close her eyes until they stopped burning.

She knew it would be harder to keep Vic in sight from here on.

Before long they would cut from I-5, making a turn to the west on 580.

The entrances and exits would come even faster and the traffic would soon be congested.

Vic got back into the truck and drove, not back to the freeway but around the corner of the building.

Seconds passed while Aurelie and Nick watched. Then Vic appeared. “He's going inside,” Nick said. “I'll put a few gallons in.”

“Time to switch again,” Aurelie said. “I'll run to the bathroom.” She'd seen another woman take the key from the convenience mart at the station and intercepted her before she could get back to the minimart. The woman gave up the key without any sign of surprise.

Aurelie rushed inside the bathroom. On her way out she caught sight of herself in a cloudy mirror and almost laughed.

She whipped open the door.

Vic grabbed her before she could scream and bundled her into the truck.

 

Watching for Aurelie to return, Nick grew restless and slammed back the gas hose. He looked to the right and his stomach turned. The truck had gone. He turned back to the other side of the building, where Aurelie had gone to use the bathroom—too long ago.

The truck appeared, driving slowly.

Nick took several steps.

Vic put on the breaks and looked quickly around as if checking the area. That's when Nick saw Aurelie sitting beside him.

From his lap, Vic raised his left hand. He shook his head a little, smiled at Nick and let him see the gun in that left hand.