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The driver leaned out the open window. He had a wide face with a thin line of dark hair along the jaw and chin trimmed into a stylish beard. He was young, my age or somewhere close. He had dark eyes, a short crop of brown hair. I could peer into the window opening. He was a little on the lean side, and from around a Hawaiian shirt and tank underneath that, there was a tattoo peeking out at the chest. It took me a moment to identify it was I Am What I Am in a fancy font. His wide eyes stared at me, blank, most likely stoned. Still, had to respect a man that respected Popeye.
“You pick up?” he asked.
I nodded, and felt like an idiot opening my own door. I had to put the phone in my mouth to do it. Was he new to town? Didn’t he know he had to open doors for girls? But then he was a cab driver and I was a barefoot girl in an abandoned warehouse district out in the middle of nowhere. He probably thought I was high or a hooker. He probably didn’t want an ambush.
Plus, I had bound hands. That probably didn’t do much to impress him.
I fell into the back seat, feeling my bones switch from vibrate to sudden stop since I’d been on edge for so long. I breathed in the musty old car and coughed.
The guy twisted around, looking back at me. He did a visual sweep. “What’s wrong with your wrists?”
“Tied up,” I said. “I was kidnapped. I escaped.”
His eyes widened more. “No shit?” He shook his head. “You okay?”
“Fine. Just don’t want to stick around.”
He checked the outside of the car, leaning over, suddenly alert. “Are they still here? Let’s get going.” He started turning the car around.
He seemed to be handling it pretty well. Most people would have called the cops right off. Good thing about a stoned driver, he didn’t want to call the cops, either. It wouldn’t look good to the taxi company if he got arrested for driving while stoned. “Do you have a knife or something?” I asked.
He stared quietly for a moment, like the question didn’t register with him. Then he leaned forward and presented his bare palm. I was confused, until he flicked his hand and suddenly there was a pocket knife there. “Like this?”
A magic trick. I appreciated the gesture, maybe he meant it as a way to cheer me up. I could appreciate a magician with talented sleight of hand tricks. As a thief, I understood the work and practice it took to achieve the skill. “Open it up for me?” I wasn’t sure I would be able to open it without cutting myself.
He braked and stopped the car in the middle of the street long enough that he could open the knife. There was no one around to block traffic, anyway. He turned and offered it, but then stopped. “Uh, want me to do it?”
I held out my wrists. “Sure. Hurry up. It’s cutting off circulation.”
“Who kidnapped you?” he asked.
“Long story.”
“This one of those trafficking things?” he asked. “That’s fucked up.” He sawed at the bindings. He managed to snap two and that was enough that I could unwind the rest. He pulled back. “Did you need to go somewhere? The hospital? Isn’t that where people go when they’ve been kidnapped?”
I rubbed at my wrists, working out the deep creases in my skin. It felt so good to have the rope off. I hurried and turned off Mack Truck’s cell phone. I didn’t want it tracing me back now that I was on the way to find the guys. “No, actually, can you drive over to the Sergeant Jasper?”
“The apartment building?”
“Is there another one?” I asked.
“There’s another one?” Through the rearview, I caught the slight slope of his mouth as he grinned. He was toying with me. He caught himself. “Sorry. Long night. Uh... sorry.”
“It’s fine,” I said, trying not to be too annoyed at his joke, considering it was a very awkward situation. “We need to hurry, though.”
“Why?”
“I want to catch the guys that did this.”
“Are they at that apartment building? Shouldn’t we make an anonymous call to the police or something?”
I leaned forward, putting a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head but kept his eyes on the road as he drove. “Listen,” I said. “I don’t need the cops on this right now. Don’t say anything.”
“Dude,” he said. “This is big shit.”
“They have a friend of mine,” I said.
“Where?”
“I don’t know. They took him. They’ll kill him if I call the cops, I think. But if I get to my friends, they’ll be able to find him.”
“Him? They’re stealing boys, too, now?”
“Can you just drive, please? You don’t have to get involved.”
“Don’t worry. We’re on the way.” He pointed to street signs. “We’ll be there in a few. We’ll stop these traffickers. I’ve heard of them on the news. Maybe we should be calling the FBI. Isn’t that their job?”
I clamped my mouth shut, trying to bite back the edge in my voice. I shouldn’t snap at him. He was the one helping.
But I considered the FBI option. Wouldn’t the FBI call in the local police and defeat the purpose? If a policeman was involved, would the FBI keep things on the down low? It was a risk. I needed Marc or someone else to help me figure out what to do.
He set out on the road. For a while he was quiet, but he kept looking at me in the back. About the fifth time he diverted his eyes when I caught him staring, I’d finally had enough.
“What?” I snapped. I really wasn’t in the mood.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Mary,” I said, dropping the lie off so quickly, I even surprised myself. Why did he need to know?
“Oh,” he said. “Sorry. You just look like this girl I knew once.”
“Who?”
“Kayli,” he said. “Girl I went to high school with.”
My mouth opened and I found myself staring hard back at him now, checking the outline. I didn’t recognize him at all. “She wasn’t a close friend, was she?” He had to be mistaken. Maybe this was a coincidence.
“I sat behind her in math class two years straight. Never noticed me, though.”
I was barely awake in math class. I hardly remembered anyone from school. I couldn’t even tell you my teachers’ names. “That was a few years ago, wasn’t it?”
He lifted his eyes, checking me out in the rearview mirror. “She was real cute. Had this button nose, like yours.”
Without thought, I moved my hand over my face, covering my nose. It looked like a button?
He squinted at me, and then slightly turned like he wanted to look at me full on instead of through the mirror but didn’t want to take his eyes off the road. “Are you sure you’re...”
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Avery,” he said. He took his right hand off the steering wheel and held it out, offering a sideways handshake.
I took his hand and studied him, but I still didn’t recognize him. It struck me funny that anyone would remember me, and not just as that girl that slept through math class. Avery knew my name, even these few years since I’d been out of school. Guilt weighed on me since I’d lied when he’d been so compliant and nailed who I really was. At first, I wasn’t going to admit to anything, but something changed inside me. Maybe I was tired and weak after the night and needed some stability in a truth rather than lies. “I lied,” I said, squeezing his hand. “I’m Kayli.”
“I thought it was you,” he said, the sloped smile returning to his face. “I was pretty sure. Took me a few minutes, though. It’s been a while.” He released my hand and reclaimed the wheel. “Whatever happened to you, anyway? Didn’t see you around after that.”
“Got my GED and quit.”
“Funny. So you got out at sixteen or so? I was a year and a half behind you there.” He slapped his palm against the wheel. “They always told us to go to college or you’ll end up working hard jobs. No one ever tells you the hard jobs aren’t so bad.”
“You like driving a cab?”
“Are you kid
ding?” he asked. “I know this town better than most people, and work when I want. I could work anywhere, really. I meet interesting people. All I have to do is drive.”
I had to smile at that. It left a little hope for me. Maybe after I got Brandon back, I could drive a cab. It sounded interesting.
I was going to comment, but then I noticed through the windshield when the Sergeant Jasper came into view. I didn’t have time to reminisce any more. “Okay, I need to ask you a real favor, Avery.”
