Page 89 of The Paradox Club

“Okay,” said Nemo 7. “First priority, follow Montag 5. Once we find him, we can call Calvin 4 and ask him what to do with Gatsby the Great.”

Valentine 6 whipped the car into a driveway and turned around, heading back the way they had come.

“Did you tell Montag 5 where you were going for food?” asked Valentine 6 as they sped back toward the White Pine Motor Lodge.

“He told me,” said Nemo 7. “He found the McDonald’s on his phone.”

“Then we’re going there,” said Valentine 6.

“But he’s at the White Pine—”

“Do you honestly think it will take Montag 5 more than five minutes to figure out how to steal a car and head after us? We’ve been gone for almost seven minutes, and it will take us four more to get back to Sturgis. He’ll have left the hotel by then, and the first logical place for him to go is McDonald’s. He must know that’s where we met.”

“That’s a big risk,” said Nemo 7. “We could lose him.”

“We’ve already lost him,” said Valentine 6. “If he’s not gone from the White Pine by now, he will be when we get there. Trust me on this. I read a lot of mysteries.”

“Okay,” said Nemo 7, sounding skeptical, but when he cruised past McDonald’s and into the parking lot of the tractor supply store next door, he saw Montag 5 emerging from the black sedan he had been unable to start and getting into a blue Toyota Corolla.

“Just in time,” said Valentine 6.

“Thanks to your quick thinking,” said Nemo 7. “I can see why Calvin 4 chose you.”

“Now’s not the time to talk about how smart I am,” said Valentine 6. Before they reached the end of the block, she added, “But I am pretty damn smart.”

* * * *

Richard answered his phone on the second ring. “You’re on speaker,” he said. “I’ve got Vivian and Tess in the car with me.” He wasn’t sure either Nemo 7 or Valentine 6 knew anything that Tess didn’t, but he wanted them to be careful nonetheless.

“We’re following Montag 5,” said Nemo 7. “It was Valentine 6’s idea.”

“Fantastic,” said Richard. “Where are you?”

“Heading west on I-90, just about ninety miles east of Chicago. We did not stop at the RV Hall of Fame and Museum.”

“Sounds like he’s heading back to Madison,” said Richard. “He wants the radio, and he thinks that’s where we’re going.”

“Which means we can get off these damn two-lane roads and onto the interstate without worrying that he will see us,” said Vivian.

“We’re going to stop for gas and then get on the interstate,” said Richard. “Let us know if he stops or slows down. We should be about twenty-five miles behind you.”

“I also have that package you asked for,” said Valentine 6.

“Damn,” said Richard. “I should have gotten that from you in Sturgis.”

“I’ll take good care of it,” said Valentine 6.

“Keep it well hidden,” said Richard. “And whatever you do, don’t let Montag 5 or Pilgrim 3 get their hands on it.”

Tess emerged from the Quick Stop with an armful of snacks and sodas. Doughnuts, Pringles, Cheetos, and Snickers might not make up the world’s healthiest dinner, but they sounded good to her right now and she thought she had earned the right to indulge.

“I’d love for you to eat healthily,” therapist n had once told her, “but the most important thing is that you eat.” Tess planned to do that.

For the moment, safe with Vivian and her new friend Richard, who already felt like an old friend, Tess felt tranquil. It seemed a decade ago that therapist n + 1 had suggested she seek comfort and stability with Aunt Vivian. Tess doubted this is what n + 1 had in mind, but somehow having come through actual danger had calmed her anxieties. Imagined dangers seemed less threatening, for the moment at least. She wondered why someone hadn’t thought to use kidnapping as therapy in the past.

“Get that radio out of the trunk,” said Richard to Tess as she tossed her bounty into the back seat. “I want Vivian to take a look at it and make sure it’s okay.”

“I thought you said you wanted to burn it,” said Tess.