The Fall of Crazy House by James Patterson

Author:James Patterson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Published: 2019-04-07T16:00:00+00:00

65

AS SOON AS WE WERE out of sight of the cell, I climbed out of my hiding place and made my way to the first car, the one closest to the road. Or was it the last car? Anyway, I was thrilled to see its key fob in the cup holder, and I climbed in and pushed the Start button.

Mills had climbed up next to me and pointed to what I had already seen: the battery showed almost no charge. I got out and the six of us had an almost soundless meeting, using a lot of hand gestures.

We could just jump off and walk the rest of the way to the city.

We could push that first/last car off the trailer and use the next one in line.

Jolie shook her head and pointed upward, and for a second I thought she was saying that God didn’t want us to do that.

She wasn’t. She was saying, “Use the first car on the upper level.”

Huh. I climbed up and checked it out. Its battery was full, its key fob in the glove compartment. I’d never pushed a car off a twelve-foot height and didn’t know if it would just fall apart or its engine drop out or what.

I’d driven Pa’s truck, of course, but had never driven a car, much less a fancy car. Nate at least had driven a Movolo. We climbed to the top level and sat in the last car. Nate examined the control panel.

“Can you do this?” I asked him. He definitely looked as if he’d pulled one foot out of the grave, but the walk and the wait and the climb had taken their toll. He was pale and pasty beneath his tan.

“Of course,” he said smoothly, but his hand trembled as he adjusted the mirrors. I pressed my lips together tensely. His future was in no way certain. Which meant mine wasn’t, either. No one’s was—not even Ansel’s. If rabies didn’t get him, something else probably would.

I took a deep breath, then got out of the car and looked at the team.

“Okay, here’s the plan,” I said over the road noise.

“There’s a plan?” Mills asked, and I made a “screw you” face at him.

“Jolie, Ansel, and Mills will get in the backseat,” I said. “Bunny will get in the passenger seat. Nate will drive.”

W-H-A-T-A-B-O-U-T-U-? Jolie spelled into my hand.

“Someone has to sever the straps, pretty much at the last second,” I explained. I’d thought about this while we’d waited back at the factory, and that sentence didn’t begin to cover all the certain- or near-death possibilities facing us, and especially me. “So everyone get in now, and for God’s sake, fasten as many seat belts as you can find.”

“But where will you be?” Bunny asked.

“In the trunk,” I said briefly. “Everyone ready? Nate?”

“Wait,” Ansel said, taking a deep breath. “You guys rescued me—the United guys killed the rest of my squad and definitely would have killed me. But you don’t need to keep saving me. I can head off on my own.

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