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His whole body shook. The gun trembled in his hand, and he almost dropped it. “No! No!” He sucked in air and steadied the gun with both hands. Better to put it away. He lifted his body away from the seat and shoved the gun into the waistband of his jeans in the back the way he’d seen Mr. Juice do.
Fumbling, he worked the seatbelt buckle. The pressure of his body pressed against the belt made it hard to get the buckle to release. Panic screamed inside him to hurry. He worked harder at it. He had to get out. The men were coming.
Tears blurred his vision. He swiped at his face. The buckle released. Benny fell to the bottom of the front seat. He landed on his side, face smashed against the frame of the door, his feet sticking out where the windshield had once been.
Pain made it hard to think. He groaned and panted through the pain.Get out. Get out.He pushed through the window and crawled through glass on his hands and knees until he could slide down the front of the car. He landed on his face in the grass, arms outstretched. One hand touched something warm. His fingers tightened around it—an arm. A warm arm.
“Mr. Juice?”
He rolled up on his knees and shook the arm. Mr. Juice didn’t answer. His eyes were open, but they didn’t blink. They didn’t move. They didn’t do anything. He had a lot of blood on his face. It ran from his nose down the side of his face all the way to his ears on both side.
Benny staggered to his feet and looked around, wanting help.Somebody help.Nothing.
He was alone with a bloody, dead man.
Chapter Thirty-one
Headlights blazed in a sudden blinding flood of light. Still crouched next to Mr. Juice’s body, Benny swiveled. A loud engine growled behind the light. The Hummer bore down on the smashed car. Benny flung himself toward the thick trees at the edge of the clearing. He couldn’t let them catch him. He had to get back to Mr. Daniel.
Bushes scratched his face. He stumbled, fell, righted himself, and darted toward a huge pile of rocks. It had been some kind of building or shack that had fallen down. Little sobs escaped from his mouth. He ducked and wormed his way in between two walls that teetered, holding each other up. He collapsed in a pile as far back behind the stones as he could get.Stop breathing. Stop breathing. Stop moving. Disappear. Be invisible.
Benny peeked around the pile of stones. Two men got down from the Hummer and stomped toward the wreck. “It’s Morin. He’s dead.” A tall man dressed in green Army clothes squatted next to Juice’s body. His hands touched the body. He turned his head and spit. “No loss.”
“Yeah, it is,estúpido. If he’s dead, he can’t tell us where the stuff is.” The second guy, shorter, with a backwards cap on his head, disagreed. “Eloy ain’t gonna be happy.”
“Oh. Yeah.” The camouflage man’s voice sounded upset now. “Maybe it’s in the car.”
They jerked on the doors, opened the trunk, and tore things apart. Benny leaned back in his hiding place and tried not to breathe too loudly. His whole body shook. He couldn’t stop it. His chest hurt from the seatbelt, and blood trickled down his forehead into his eye, starting from a spot near his hair that burned.
He pulled the gun from his waistband. It felt heavy and solid in his hands. It felt good. He knew how to use it, but he wasn’t so sure it would be enough. Those guys had big guns that shot a lot of bullets fast. Faster than this dinky, old thing. He was better off hiding from them.
He closed his eyes and tried to think happy thoughts. He tried to remember one good thing. One good thing. Rocky. Ray’s dog. Licking his face while he sprawled on the swing on Mr. Ray’s porch. His tongue was scratchy and wet. Mr. Ray said Rocky was kissing him. That made him giggle. Benny could feel the shaking lessen. He would be okay. He just had to sit tight.
“It ain’t here. He had the kid with him. Maybe the kid took the stuff.” Camouflage man threw trash on the ground from the backseat of Mr. Juice’s car.
“He’s like eight or something. He ain’t big enough to carry it.”
“He couldn’t have gone very far. We need to look for him.”
“N’ombre, it’s gonna rain cats and dogs any minute.”
“We gotta find the kid.”
“Whatever. If it makes you happy.” Baseball cap man started walking away. “You look. I’m waiting in the Hummer.”
“Eloy’s gonna ask if we looked around.”
“So look. Then we’re going to Morin’s ma’s house. I’m thinking he left the stuff there and that old bag Mari’s gonna know where. She’ll crack in two seconds. Offer her a hit, she’ll crack in one.”
Both men laughed, the sound like the wild hyenas Benny had seen on the Discovery Channel.
Camouflage man pulled a huge black gun from the back of his pants. Benny shrank into his hiding place, so afraid his legs and arms went numb. He was glad he had a wall to lean on. Otherwise, he’d fallen over. He hugged the gun to his chest, his finger on the trigger, careful to point it away from his shaking body.Don’t move. Don’t move. Don’t move.
Scuffing sounds came closer, like feet crunching up leaves, then breathing. The man was close, outside the walls. Benny closed his eyes and pictured Rocky, his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth as he lay on the porch, panting. Benny wanted to go home. Home to Mr. Daniel. He wanted to pet Rocky and ride Mr. Ray’s horses Fella and Doc.Please.
The footsteps went away.
The seconds tiptoed by. One second. Two seconds. Benny tried counting them. An engine roared. He kept counting. Tires squealed. He kept counting.
