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“No chatter,” Holden nodded. “Got it.”
As for Marcus, he had allies of his own. ‘Friends’ he called them, who were supplying him with intel and what he referred to as ‘more in the way of hardware.’ That part seemed to excite Randall. Then again, Randall was an excitable person. He’d turned it into a useful trait, though. One that also made him lovable and endearing.
A hour later we were still in Athens. Still driving randomly through the city’s streets, which were now starting to finally wake up. We were in a drab green truck, an old one too, picked up in an alley three blocks away from the gym. I wasn’t sure if Marcus owned it or stole it. I didn’t care either way.
“Why are we driving in circles?”
I had to finally ask the question. So far the conversation had been limited to how bad the coffee was, and debating whether the vendor who’d sold it to us had given us last night’s batch.
“See him?” asked Marcus.
He was talking to Randall, who was leaning casually back in the passenger seat. He nodded and sat up.
“Were you followed?”
“To the gym?” replied Markus. “Don’t think so.”
“Well we are now.”
I spun to the look through the truck’s back window. Behind us, following along in the distance, I could make out the front end of a brown SUV.
Marcus turned, then turned again, but our unwanted guest was still there. We went through a roundabout, and used it to reverse direction. Again, the SUV followed.
“Can’t leave the city until we lose this prick,” said Randall.
Marcus’s eyes remained locked on the rear-view mirror. “I’m aware.”
His hand went over his lap, and came back with a heavy pistol. It was probably tremendous, but in his giant fist it looked average-sized. There was an audible ‘click’ as he flipped the safety off.
“Nah man,” said Randall immediately. “Too many people.”
“Have you ever seen me shoot?”
Randall chuckled. “You’re Army. Don’t you guys get like a 2-hour course or something?”
Marcus’s face remained unchanged. His eyes shifted to the side-view mirror now.
“No, hang on,” said Randall, putting his hand gently over the weapon. “See that pile of crap we passed before? Slow down up there as we pass it. Just a little bit.”
Up ahead was a stack of rubble, sand, and building materials. Just one of the many structures in the city always under construction.
Marcus slowed down. Randall pulled on the passenger door handle until it popped.
“Circle the block,” he said, glancing over his shoulder. “Double right back here again…”
Without another word he flung the door open and leapt into the street. I gasped as he tucked into a ball, his body rolling fluidly until he disappeared behind the debris field.
The truck rolled on. I jumped into the passenger seat, just in time to catch the door as it swung shut.
“Oh my God!” I cried, glancing down at the dashboard. “We’re still doing thirty miles-per-hour!”
“That’s actually kilometers per hour,” Marcus corrected. “But yeah. He’s nuts.”
If the brown SUV had noticed anything, it didn’t show. It rumbled past the big piles of stone and mortar without slowing down, then followed us into the next turn.
“Think he’s alright?”
“I’ve seen guys like him before,” Marcus said. “They’re as indestructible as they are lucky.”
