Founder by Judy K. Walker

Author:Judy K. Walker [Walker, Judy K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781946720030
Publisher: Judy K. Walker

With Harlan driving, Adam was stuck in the middle of the two older men, his feet riding up on the drive train hump and knees in the air. If it’d been warmer, he would’ve climbed in the back. He was afraid Harlan would slam the gearshift into his thigh, or worse.

For the first twenty minutes, the truck was mostly free of conversation, as Teddy directed them step by step to another interstate. From there, the route was a straight shot for a couple of hours, so Teddy elaborated on his plan.

“Having a decent location will give us a boost,” Teddy said.

“We hope,” Harlan replied. The closer they got to Watkins County, the less sanguine he was about their prospects. “I gotta be stopping somewhere soon to get gas.”

“We don’t know that Danny has much, if anything, in the way of a gift—”

“We don’t know it’s Danny,” Adam reminded them.

“Fine, whoever it is, there’s no reason to believe he’ll be particularly receptive. But if it is Danny, he had a relationship with you, and he still has a relationship with Virgil.”

It had begun to rain, and Harlan fumbled around the steering column until Adam pointed out the windshield wipers. That in hand, Harlan turned briefly toward Teddy. “I don’t like where you’re going with this. We just got Adam free, and I don’t know if any of us have the strength to go through that again.”

Adam bowed his head, and couldn’t help but think he’d never be free. “You think we can use my connection to Virgil to get to Danny.”

He didn’t argue about whether it was Danny, because Teddy was right. It would work better—they had a better chance of finding Aaron—if it was Danny. And deep down, he knew that alive or not, the Danny he’d grown up with was gone.

“It won’t be easy,” Teddy admitted. “We have to keep your connection with Virgil active enough for him to help link us to Danny, but tamped down enough that things don’t get crazy again.”

“You mean we have to keep him from killing Adam. For fuck’s sake, Teddy, just come out and say it. I’m sorry, but I’m not crazy about throwing the kid under the bus.”

“That’s where our magic elixirs come in,” Teddy said, gesturing over his shoulder.

Harlan shook his head and abused the gearshift—and Adam’s knee—as he downshifted for an exit with a gas station. “Yeah, that and a handful of magic goddamn beans will get you a bed in Weston.”

Weston was the home of an infamous state mental hospital, invoked regularly on the schoolyard when Adam was a child. He’d imagined it as something out of The Shining, all malevolence and shifting, twisted angles.

“They don’t send people there anymore,” Teddy said.

Harlan ignored him and whipped the truck into the gas station so fast Adam was afraid he’d hit a pump. Harlan rolled in next to one, cut the engine and slammed the driver’s door after himself.

“You getting out?” Adam asked.

Teddy shook his head, staring out the window.

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