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“No buts, Carly! Do not argue with me unless you want to find out what a bullet in the head feels like!”
“Okay, okay,” Carly said. “Jeesh. I’m getting my purse now. Did your cover get blown or something?”
“It’s Harris.”
“Well… wait, your boss? Your boss, Harris?”
“That’s the one,” Piper said.
“Holy shit, Piper! He was just here, like… he knows where… oh, shit!”
“Now you’re getting it.”
“I have to get the fuck out of… all right, I’m outside and… ahh!”
“What?” Piper said, panicking at Carly’s sudden scream. “What? Carly!”
“Nothing,” Carly said. “Nothing. Sorry. Something just moved and scared me but I think it was just a squirrel. All right. I’m in my car. Where do I go?”
Good question. Piper’s mind was spinning out of control, the last thing she should be doing was trying to formulate a master plan.
“Just start driving,” Piper finally said. “I’ll give you a place in a second. Give me a chance to think. Um…”
“There’s a place outside of town, up north,” Pony said. “A motel. Takes cash, doesn’t ask questions.”
“Carly, head north out of town.”
“Right,” Carly said. “Which way is north, again?”
“Go left out of the driveway and then head toward the highway.”
“Okay. Okay, I’m going now. Are you okay?”
“I’m… I think so,” Piper said, glancing at Pony. She had no honest idea what the truth was on that score. “I’ll see you soon.”
Hanging up the phone, she said, “Thank you, Pony.”
Pony still wasn’t looking at her. Instead, he climbed back on his bike and started up the engine.
“Let’s just get over there,” he said. “Make sure she’s okay. We have a lot to talk about.”
“Yes.Yes, we do.I…”
“Let’s go,” he said.
This time, the ride didn’t feel the same as when they had escaped the hitmen chasing them. She wasn’t able to put aside the present, pretend it was just her and Pony out for a ride, with nothing between them at all.
There was a distance there. Obviously. But he hadn’t let her die, and hadn’t tried to kill her himself. And, he at least seemed interested in hearing her side, and had let her call Carly to warn her. Maybe. Maybe something was salvageable between them.
The motel was a typical run-down out of the way sort, a long line of rooms stacked two stories high. Piper had just paid a bored-looking and disinterested attendant for the room and had collected the key when she spotted her sister pulling into the parking lot.
“That’s her. That’s Carly,” Piper said, waving the familiar gray Volkswagen over to a parking spot in front of their room.
“Piper?” Carly said, once she was parked and out of the car. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.Yeah.”
“Thank God. I was…oh, is this the, uh… the guy?” Carly said, stopping short when she saw Pony. “Oh, okay, then, yeah. I get it.”
