Divided States by Rick Treon

Author:Rick Treon [Treon, Rick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Published: 2021-06-09T22:00:00+00:00

* * *

Snapping fingers send Lori into a panic. That wasn’t just thinking over the noise. She’d gotten lost in thought. That’s never happened, not even when she’s loaded. If she ever sleeps again, it’ll require noise-cancelling headphones.

“Tunnel vision’s another side effect,” Boudreaux says. “But it helps me find clarity sometimes.”

She tries slowing her heart but can’t. “How long were you out there?”

Boudreaux narrows his eyes. “Less than a minute. Why?”

Lori hits rewind. The muted slam of a car door. Then nothing. Forty-six seconds of silence until Boudreaux snaps in her face.

“What did you say?” she asks.

“I said it helps me find—”

“No, before that. Before I came out of it.”

Boudreaux’s eyes widen. “I told you constant pit stops are one of the modafinil’s side effects.”

What in the actual fuck? No drug’s ever pressed her mute button, prescription or otherwise. But if modafinil can do this every time, if she has a way to shut out the noise, maybe Lori can escape this miserable existence.

“Has this ever happened before?” he asks.

Lori shakes her head.

“Okay, here’s what we do. There are a few tanks half a klick east. I’ll drive down and park behind one, then hoof it.” He reaches into the console and pulls out the satphone. “I’ll call when the threat is neutralized. What’s the number?”

A solid plan—if Lori were helpless. But she’s not. In fact, though she’ll process the implications later, she’s never felt more in control. “No. I’m good.”

He leans over, grips her shoulder in that caring way Jeremiah did after her confession. “Your mind’s literally not in this. And there’s nothing wrong with that.”

If he believes Lori about her jacked-up brain, maybe Boudreaux can also believe her now. “I know it sounds that way, but that’s not what’s happened.”

Boudreaux studies her face like the answer is tattooed on her forehead. “Tell me what did.”

“I found clarity.”

A slow nod. “Copy that.”

Lori spends the short drive silently recalling tactical procedure until she sees a human-shaped mound through the slush and windshield wipers. Boudreaux parks and they exit in synchrony.

It takes her two steps to realize there’s only one body and no silver sedan.

Fowler’s gone.

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