Chapter Nineteen
There were mere minutes left before Burkhart had to be hidden away in a huge refrigerator, and Meino had to be the third person in a big truck. He’d had his normal warm meal after weeks on protein bars, makeshift sandwiches, and junk food, and he felt full and satiated. He was just tired because he’d tried to stay awake with Burkhart, watching all sorts of weird programs on TV, after the doctor had looked him over. In the end, Meino hadn’t seen much, since the swelling around his eyes had made it too daunting to focus, and Meino had snoozed, leaned against Burkhart. It had been fun, though—especially some of the questions Burkhart had about some of the items sold on a home shopping network. David and Ms. Stephanie had thought so, too, because they’d laughed loudly along with Meino.
It had dawned on Meino how big a difference there was between the real world and the one depicted on TV. Burkhart had watched the world and watched people for centuries, yet a lot of what happened in the movies or series completely escaped him. What most people took for granted would be oversimplified or exaggerated to fit the broader audience, yet the simplicity only served to baffle or stump Burkhart.
Growing up and thinking of all the places he wanted to drive to, Meino had often thought about the different cultures he’d meet. It occurred to him that the world in movies and TV was more like a culture on its own that everybody knew but which had no real roots in reality. At least he’d been told never to expect a country to be what he’d seen on TV. It was only snippets, or a single angular focus pointed at something so much bigger.
It made sense that a story couldn’t depict the whole of something, and his theory that TV and movies were an angle of common western culture and humor made sense, too. Of course, a lot slipped too because of local ideas or national ideas that just didn’t work like that in other countries. Maybe America only had such great influence because they were the ones making most of the big movies?
Burkhart put a hand on Meino’s shoulder and stared at him inquisitively.
Meino smiled at having been caught musing. “Sorry, got lost in thought.”
“You look tired. Does your face still hurt? Maybe you should have slept before we went.”
“No. David said the truck has bunk beds, so I’ll sleep on the road. I don’t like it that you’re gonna sit in a box for God knows how long.”
“Well, patience is one of my virtues.”
“Yes, but you’re usually not completely cut off. I don’t know how this magic thing works, but I have a feeling it’s kind of like... I don’t know, a radio signal. You can stop it from going out, but you’d stop anything from going in, too. You might be blind to the surrounding world. Have you ever been?”
Burkhart looked down. “No, and I admit that I don’t look forward to being blinded.”
Meino felt like it was all his fault because he didn’t like to fly. “What if we fly? If I let you fly me?”
“We have to hide all trails. Me disappearing for a while is how we do that.”
Meino drew a sigh. “Okay.”
Burkhart put a hand on Meino’s shoulder and smiled. “If you would do something for me—”
“Yes?” God, he sounded eager.
“You won’t be able to open the door very often, but if you would knock on the door every eight hours or so. Just so I know you’re okay, and so that I have a sense of time.”
“I promise.”
David came into the living room. “It’s time.”
Meino and Burkhart followed him out back, where a huge truck stood parked. A man looking to be David’s age walked around it and checked the truck. He stopped short when he saw them, his eyes lingering on Burkhart. Meino had understood that even to the Order members, an animated Gargoyle was not something they saw often. He felt proud of being with Burkhart.
The man finally smiled and saluted them before he hopped into the back. Burkhart took the initiative to move things forward and followed the man who had opened one of the big boxes.
“Wait.” Meino stepped close to Burkhart and hugged him.
The Gargoyle hummed appreciatively before climbing into the box and lowering himself to the crouching position, Meino had first found him in. Meino handed him the backpack with the books just to make sure they were protected, too.
“Let’s see if you’re blinded in there.” David closed the door. They waited five seconds and opened it again. “Could you see out?”
“No. I am completely shut off from the world and should then be completely hidden.”
“I promised to knock on the door every eight hours or so,” Meino said.
The men nodded. David smiled at Burkhart, as he closed the door.
Meino felt an increasing nervousness as the door closed. “See you later, Burk.”
“That we will, litt—”
“Little one,” Meino mumbled to finish Burkhart’s sentence.
David put a hand on Meino’s shoulder and gave it a gentle shake. “Ready to roll?”
“Yeah.” Because the sooner they got going, the sooner Burkhart would be free again. Meino and the other guy climbed into the front of the truck, and Meino found his way to the back. He heard David and Ms. Stephanie mumble and smooch before David, too, climbed into the truck.
“You two are disgustingly newlywed,” the other man said from the driver seat.
“Yup, and still going,” David said, grinning at his friend.
“How do you do it? I’ve had three failed marriages in those twelve years alone,” the driver said as he took the truck out from the backyard of the safe house.
“We keep it new and interesting. Which actually isn’t that difficult when one of us is on the road all the time. We never stay at home together long enough to end up in some humdrum marriage.”
“No plans for kids?”
“We got a kid. But seriously, Stephanie isn’t the nurturing kind.”
“Yeah, I remember the kill first ask later that had you going when you guys met.”
David snorted loudly.
Meino felt a bit left out from his seat on a bunk. “How long have you two known each other? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“Me and Steph or me and Kevin?”
“You and Kevin.” So Meino had a name on the guy driving the truck.
“Most our lives. We grew up on the same street.”
“Yeah, we weren’t friends for the first many years, though,” Kevin said, grinning conspiratorially at David.
“Definitely not. But we finally became friends, and once we got our driver’s licenses, we opened a moving company together.”
“So how did you end up with the Order?”
“During a move,” Kevin said. “Oh, come on, move that piece of shit from the street!”
Meino smiled, but his smile fell the second he noticed David’s hand on a concealed weapon under his seat.
“No movement my side,” David announced.
“Nothing out back, either,” Kevin chimed in.
The eighties pop song playing over the radio got interrupted, and Stephanie’s voice cut through. “Not a threat. No eyes on you.”
Meino stretched to look out front. Someone was trying to back a car into a parking spot, yet the driver had no idea where the corners of the car were compared to the surrounding cars.
“I feel inclined to go help the fool out,” David groused.
“Good idea, but you stay put, Daddy.”
Daddy? The endearment made Meino smile, and he watched as Ms. Stephanie, the tall and beautiful woman in classy clothes and high heels, stalked across the street, ripped open the driver side door, and ushered the man behind the wheel out. He looked to be complaining, but a stare from Ms. Stephanie made him shut up and step back, while she got in, drove forward to line the car up, and eased it expertly into the spot.
“Oh, I love it when she emasculates howler monkeys like that.” David slapped his hands together, put them to his chin, and blinked his ey
es rapidly at Kevin. He then waved out the window, as they drove on.
Meino felt irritated that he couldn’t see out. But he was impressed by the woman whose story apparently held some interesting details. So he had to ask. “David, how did you and Stephanie meet?”
David turned his seat—freaking awesome seat—so he could somewhat face Meino. “Well, it’s the same story as how we came to be in the Order, actually.”
“It was actually something like back there,” Kevin said. “David was driving, and someone had parked a car across the street, hazard warning and everything.”
“Except the car hadn’t broken down,” David continued. “It was just to stop us so the bad guys could get to our cargo. It was our first gig at emptying an estate.”
“Full of magic as it turned out.”
“From the Order?” Meino asked.
“No, from some ignorant old man with a lot of money and a fascination for the occult. The Order wasn’t the only group looking for what that guy had, and the Order had planned on sending in operatives, but... we got there first. The bad guys got there second, catching us, which is why I have a gun under my seat. We move internationally, also between auction houses, so when moving stuff worth millions of Euros, it’s needed even on an everyday basis.”
“Hang on, so the company you’re employed by is your own?”
“Yes,” Kevin said. “We’d had the company for about eight months when we got that gig.”
“Then what happened?”
David grinned as he remembered. “This badass woman came out of nowhere and kicked ass. Instant love. Well, on my side.”
“Yeah, she didn’t look twice at David.”
“But that came later. They commandeered our truck and followed in a car. They actually pulled one of us from the truck to sit in the car and made us drive to Düsseldorf. Our destination was this side of Berlin. Steph rode with me, and we got to talking. Four months later we got engaged.”
Meino smiled at the story, wondering if he’d ever find love like that. If he’d had trouble dating before, explaining a constantly present Gargoyle to a potential boyfriend was probably not going to smooth the dating scene. Also, a Gargoyle watching while fooling around would be a buzz killer. It had been so far. How did the people in the Order go about having a sex life, knowing their Gargoyles were watching them?
That question would have to go unanswered for a while still, because even though he thought David was a nice guy, he was not going to ask about his and Ms. Stephanie’s sex life.
A yawn broke his train of thought. “I’m gonna... turn in.”
“You do that.” David pulled awkwardly at the drapes separating the cabin from the bunks. “We’ll make sure to have a break around the eight-hour mark so you can go knock on the box.”
“Thanks.” Meino finished David’s efforts with the drapes and tucked himself in. He tried to imagine finding someone the way David and Ms. Stephanie had found each other. Well, it still moved back to become a slightly altered rerun of the Buick Guy, but the only face he saw was Burkhart’s.
He opened his eyes to clear his brain of the sight. Was he falling for a stone? Was that even normal?
Animated stones who tell bad jokes aren’t normal, either, Meino reminded himself. But it still felt like it, and he hated himself for thinking it, but it felt like falling in love with an object. He’d seen people fall in love with trees and walls and bikes and a specific support pillar of a bridge. What had they called it? Objectophilia? But Burkhart had a soul, so he wasn’t a dead thing.
It was still strange, and Meino’s tired brain saved him from more thoughts on the subject as it shut down and let him sleep long and heavily.
Meino jumped awake to the blaring of a rock song and the scent of greasy food. He looked around for a clock and found a digital one taped to the underside of the top bunk, but he had to lie back down to see it. Counting on his fingers, he’d slept for about ten hours.
Burkhart. He had to knock on the fridge to let Burkhart know everything was good.
Meino jumped from the bunk and grazed his head against the top bunk. Oh, that could have gone all kinds of wrong. It wasn’t like his face didn’t look like he’d gone a round with an MMA fighter already. He forced himself to slow down and parted the curtains. David was driving, and Kevin sat halfway wedged against the door, a cap pulled down low, snoring with an open mouth.
“Hey. Good sleep?” David asked and lowered the volume a bit.
“I have to knock on the box,” Meino said.
“I took the liberty of doing that when I was getting us food. Figured after the run you’d described, you deserved a good sleep-in.”
“Oh, thanks.”
“Kevin!” David slapped Kevin’s leg, getting a grunt and nothing else. “I swear, he’s about as immovable as a Gargoyle at daytime once he falls asleep.”
Meino chuckled at the reference, since he also knew Burkhart was one of a kind in the Order. But how could someone sleep through music as loud as it had been when Meino woke up?
“Watch this.” David grinned like a schoolboy up to no good as he pulled a french fry from a bag. He then leaned over and poked it into Kevin’s mouth. No reaction. Three more fed one by one, and Meino found himself snickering as if he, himself, was only halfway through his teen years. “I swear, I managed a bratwurst once, and he suckled that thing. I laughed so hard we almost crashed, which of course woke him up.”
Meino laughed hard at the mental images the story produced.
On cue, Kevin jumped in his seat and swatted at his mouth, spitting out the french fries. “What are you, five?” he groused and found napkins to wipe his mouth and shirt. “You better not have told him about the bratwurst.”
“A what?” Meino asked, still grinning.
“Good!” Kevin pointed accusingly at David, who drove through peals of laughter. “Let’s trade. See if you can manage the next six hours with him.” Kevin got up and moved to the back, making room for Meino to take the passenger seat. Once Kevin had closed the drapes, David held up his hand for a high five, still laughing.
“Nice save there, buddy,” he whispered loudly.
Meino got comfortable in the seat and groaned. “Oh shit, this seat is like a slice of heaven.” Meino slid into what felt like an armchair with hydraulics.
“We drive all over Europe, sometimes all the way to Russia, so we need a bit of comfort. Got one just like her in the States, too.” David patted the dash.
“You got a coffeemaker in here, too?”
David pointed to a cabinet placed a bit askew under the dash. “Of course, we do.”
Opening it, Meino found the coffeemaker, ground coffee, three boxes of ammunition, and a handgun. Just like that, Meino’s brain was back on track regarding how dangerous his adventures could become.
“Never been around weapons?” David asked, his eyes on the road and his voice formal.
“No. I’ve led a pretty... simple life.” He was about to say boring, but that wasn’t true.
“Simple? Well, my life’s pretty simple, too. I haul stuff, drive stuff, sleep in the back of this thing, and once in a while I go home and spoil my wife.” David glanced his way wagging his eyebrows.
“You have two weapons in the cabin of your truck, and you think your life qualifies as simple?” Meino asked.
“You’re all wrong about it,” David said. “We’ve got sixteen weapons in this cabin, and we’ve used two of them on three occasions, one of which was to fend off some pimp going haywire because he thought we’d kidnapped one of his girls in Poland or something. In twelve years.
“Just because we could be overrun by bandits who know about magic doesn’t mean we will be all the time, Meino. But when things happen, it becomes even more dangerous. Look at the life of real-life spies. Do you think they live the fast life every damn day? I don’t. I even think James Bond is full of crap in their timelines. But, spy movies do come with some interesting ide
as sometimes.”
Meino nodded, thinking he understood what David was trying to say. “So, you don’t expect to run into any trouble at all?”
“No. Because my wife will intercept anything even looking at us wrong before we notice them.”
“Wow. She’s kinda scary.”
David grinned, glancing at him. “She’s kinda lovely.” He sounded proud, and Meino’s stress about how dangerous the adventure could be melted away from the words of the romantic guy in the driver’s seat.
As promised, the trip was actually quite boring. Well, not boring—the two friends saw to that—but uneventful in the department of danger and magic. David and Kevin horsed around, and it was evident that those guys had known each other most of their lives. Theirs was the kind of friendship Meino had never believed could exist outside of stories. It certainly didn’t fit his angle of reality, since he’d never had a friend like that, but he’d also just learned that stone could come alive and fly, magic existed, and there were people out there using it on a daily basis.
Meino didn’t get to knock on the box more than once, because the drive wasn’t as long as Meino had feared. One thousand seven hundred kilometers still took about thirty hours in a truck, with one detour because of a bridge collapsing. The laws that regulated scheduled rests for drivers slowed them down even further.
Their last scheduled stop was around noon, where new cool features of their truck blew Meino’s mind. It had a small BBQ in an outside compartment on the passenger side, along with a small worktable on hinges.
To get to knock on the fridge containing Burkhart, Meino volunteered to collect steaks, premade potato salad, and bread rolls from another fridge in the back of the truck. But he hurried out again to not linger and feel bad that Burkhart was cut off from all conversation. And because Meino actually missed him terribly.
It was heaven to sit at the truck stop, even though it was winter. It was a clear day, no wind, and no clouds, allowing the sun to bring them some direct warmth. Since they were in England and driving on the other side of the road, they’d found a truck stop where the truck wasn’t directly up to the road, as the grill would have been on the side where traffic still rushed by.
Gargoyle Rising Page 16
