فصل 4

Chapter 4: Bugatti Veyron

The room Ostin and I were sharing was at least twice the size of my room at home. There was Western art on the walls, mostly paintings of coyotes and buffalo, and a framed woven Native American blanket.

Ostin had already claimed one of the beds and was lying on his back eating something, evidenced by an empty cellophane candy wrapper on the bed next to him. “Look, man. Licorice.” He threw me a package of red licorice, which landed on the floor about ten feet from me.

I picked it up. “Thanks.”

“There’s a bunch of snacks in that cupboard.” I was amazed at how quickly he’d rooted it out, like a pig hunting for truffles. I took off my shoes, then sat down on the bed. “So what do you think of these guys?” He stopped chewing. “Why? Don’t you trust them?” “I didn’t say that. Do you trust them?” “I think we need to be careful.”

After what we’d been through in the last month, the word sounded ridiculous. “Careful,” I said. “You mean like wearing a helmet at chess tournaments or knee pads to clogging practice?” “Shut up,” he said.

Within five minutes Ostin was snoring. I couldn’t sleep, in part because of the noise, but also because I was afraid to. Almost every time I closed my eyes the nightmares returned. After enduring a half hour of Ostin’s snoring, I put my shoes back on and left the room.

I was a little curious to see what the other rooms in the place looked like, so I opened the first door past Ian’s. A tall, redheaded boy lying on his side looked up from a book. “Didn’t anyone teach you to knock?” he said.

“Apparently not,” I replied.

He grinned. “Hi, Mike.”

“Hey, Tanner.”

“You made it back in one piece.”

“Barely.”

“I heard you blew up the Ampere.”

“Yeah.”

I thought that maybe he saw the flash of pain in my eyes, because he looked at me for a moment as if he wanted to say something more about it. Or maybe I just hoped he would. If anyone would understand how I felt it would be Tanner. From what I’d heard, he also had nightmares about the planes he’d brought down. Instead he just said, “Too bad Hatch wasn’t on it.” “He was. He just got off.” I looked around his room. It looked more lived-in than ours. It was customized. There were stacks of books, framed photographs of Tanner’s family, and posters on the walls, mostly of cars. Cool cars. Lamborghinis, Ferraris, and one I’d never seen before. I walked over to it.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a Bugatti Veyron,” he said. “Vey, like your name. If your name was Ron, that would be my nickname for you.” “Is it fast?”

He laughed. “Are you electric? It can go two hundred and fifty-four miles per hour. At top speed it burns out its tires in fifteen minutes. And it only costs one point four million dollars.” I turned back. “Are you kidding?”

“Nope.”

“I couldn’t afford the tires,” I said.

“I’m sure Hatch would buy you one . . .” I looked at him, surprised that he would say something like that. “. . . in exchange for your soul.” “There’s a trade,” I said. “Cool room.” “It’s good here. The people are good. Intense, but good.” “What are you reading?” I asked.

He held up his book. “Lord of the Flies.” The book had been required reading in my last English class. “That’s pretty dark,” I said.

“The world’s dark. Or didn’t you notice?” “Yeah,” I said. “I noticed.” I took a step back toward him. “You look different.” “You mean since you last saw me and I was strapped down, psychotic, and drugged?” I cocked my head. “Yeah.”

“The medication helps.” He gestured to a row of plastic pill bottles on his dresser. “So does the V.” “What’s the V?”

“That’s what they call themselves around here. Sometimes they call themselves ‘the resistance,’ but usually just the V. Like victory. Or Vey.” He sat up a little. “By the way, your mom rocks. She got me through the jungle. I owe her.” “I owe you,” I said. “Thanks for dropping those flamethrower helicopters. I thought I was toast.” “Burnt toast,” he said. “I already owed you for breaking me out of that place. Hatch was ready to feed me to his rats.” “We’ll call it even,” I said.

“You guys going back out?” Tanner asked.

“We’re planning on it. The Elgen kidnapped some little Chinese girl.” “That’s what I heard. So you’re off to China or Taiwan—someplace with chopsticks.” “Taiwan. Are you coming with us?”

“No. I’m still in recovery mode.”

“We’ll miss you.” I turned back toward the door. “I’ll let you get back to your book. See you around.” “I’ll see you at the reception tonight,” he said.

As I grabbed the doorknob he said, “Mike.” “Yeah?”

“It’s good to see you again.”

“You too,” I said.

I walked back out into the hall, shutting the door behind me. Tanner looked completely different from the last time I’d seen him, but, like he’d said, considering the circumstances, I shouldn’t have been surprised.

I walked down the hall to Taylor’s room and knocked. She opened the door. Tessa was standing behind her looking over some clothes laid out on her bed.

“They brought your clothes?” I asked.

“Just a few minutes ago.”

“How are they?”

“Pretty cute, actually.”

“Do you still want to go for a walk?” “Yes,” she said, stepping out into the hallway.

We walked back to the Ranch House’s main room, then out the same set of doors where we’d entered. Except for the chickens, the front yard was deserted. We walked west, which I only knew because the sun had started its late-afternoon decline.

“How’s your room?” I asked.

“It’s nice.”

“Anything’s nice compared to a Peruvian jail,” I said.

“I was comparing it to my room at home.” Her eyes immediately darkened. Her homesickness was taking a deeper and deeper toll. I reached out and took her hand.

“Where do you think we are?” she asked.

I looked around. “I don’t know. It looks like Texas.” “Have you ever been to Texas?”

“No.”

“Me neither,” she said. “But I was thinking Texas too. Or Arizona.” We walked to the end of the Ranch House, then followed it around back. About fifty yards behind the building was a stable.

“Horses,” Taylor said. As we walked toward them she said, “It’s good to see your mother again.” “I wish your parents were here,” I said. “I’m sure you’ll see them soon.” Taylor didn’t speak for a moment; then she said softly, “I don’t think so. We’re headed to Asia. Who knows if we’ll ever come back?” “I wouldn’t go if I didn’t think we’d come back.” She shook her head. “You’d still go. You’re a hero that way.” She looked back at me. “Do you think Taiwan will be as bad as Peru?” “What do you mean by ‘bad’?”

“Dangerous.”

“I don’t know,” I said, then added, “But at least the food’s got to be better.” She grinned. “I like Chinese food.”

When we got to the stable, Taylor walked up to an Appaloosa colt standing next to a railing. “Hey, baby,” she said. She rubbed the horse’s nose and he nuzzled against her. “I love horses. When I was little I tried to talk my parents into getting me one, but it was too expensive.” “How much does a horse cost?”

“It depends on what kind. But it’s not just the cost of buying one, it’s also the upkeep—like feeding it and the stable rental. On my father’s police salary, that wasn’t going to happen.” She sighed. “In my dream world I’d live on a ranch like this with a hundred acres of horse property, and every day I would go riding.” She turned back and looked at me. “You love me.” “You read my mind,” I said.

“I don’t have to. You show me.” In spite of what she’d just said, she looked sad. “I think it’s strange that I don’t have to guess anyone’s feelings and everyone else in the world has to.” “You’re lucky.”

“Not always.” She looked into my eyes. “Sometimes I wish you could read my mind. Sometimes it’s hard explaining how I feel.” The way she said that made my heart ache. “How do you feel?” She looked down for a moment, then back into my eyes. “When I was kidnapped, I kept telling myself that it was just a matter of time before I’d be rescued and things would go back to the way they were—cheerleading, after-game parties, hanging out with my friends at the Bagelmeister. . . .” Her eyes filled with tears. “I’ve finally realized that there is no going back.” “We’ll go back someday,” I said.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Even if the Elgen and Hatch and all the bad guys in the world just disappeared, we still couldn’t go back. We can go back to our homes and families, but it won’t be the same. It never will be. The world didn’t change, we did. We’ve seen too much evil. We grew up too fast.” She covered her eyes with her hand and began to cry. I put my arms around her and pulled her into me. She laid her head on my shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

Without looking up she said, “I never even went to a prom.” I held her until the sun began to dip below the western mountain range. We didn’t talk, though a few times I purposely thought things knowing that she would hear them. Finally I said, “We’d better go back. We have that reception.” Taylor wiped her eyes. “All right.”

We walked back to the Ranch House in silence. We stopped outside her bedroom door and I looked into her beautiful face. “Are you okay?” She shook her head. “I probably look like I’ve been bawling.” “You’re entitled,” I said. I took her hand. “I’ll talk to these guys about your parents. Maybe they can do something. They owe us, right?” “Thank you.” She leaned forward and kissed me. “I’ll see you in an hour.” As I turned to go she said, “I love you too, Michael.” I turned back. “I know. I still don’t believe it, but I know.”