Shattered Highways

by Tara N Hathcock

  Quincy catapulting suddenly into his chest hadn’t been part of the plan but Logan would take it. She hit him hard enough to force him several feet back down the ramp and he wrapped his arms around her to keep her on her feet. The fist she swung was unexpected and well-placed, knocking his head back, no doubt intended to make him drop his hold but having the exact opposite effect. Logan tightened his grip around her waist.

  “Ow! Quincy.” he whispered. “Quincy! Stop fighting. It’s me. It’s Logan.”

  She bucked in his arms, fighting to get free, but he kept her wrapped tight. “Quincy! Quincy, come on, we don’t have time for this. Look at me.” He doubted his words were making any impact but she must have recognized something in the tone of his voice. The fight started to die out of her and she finally looked at him.

  “Logan?” she asked in disbelief. “What? How? I…”

  He let her slide to the ground and grabbed her hand. “Details later. We need to go. Now.”

  He started to pull her towards the dumpster, back toward the car before Brandon, wherever she’d left him, came looking but she dug her heels in.

  Logan shook his head. “Seriously?” he asked. “Are we really going to do this again?”

  One more alley. One more life-and-death situation. One more tantrum when they didn’t have time for it. At least this time she had the grace to look contrite.

  “Where’s Brandon?” he asked pointedly, looking over her shoulder.

  Quincy finally picked her feet up and started hoofing it towards the car. “On the ground spitting blood and growling in a pitch higher than usual, last I checked.”

  He couldn’t help but grin. The higher the danger, the higher the snark apparently.

  The sirens had quieted down but Logan figured the police were still detaining the driver of the Marquis. He hoped so, at least. He could only assume that any man who would kidnap a girl off the street would hesitate before letting local cops search his trunk. They should be fine from that angle for awhile but what about Brandon? Whatever Quincy had done, she seemed to feel like he was down but certainly not out. She ran around to the passenger side of the car and jerked the handle but nothing happened.

  “You locked it? Seriously?”

  “Sorry, sorry.” Logan dug in his pocket and pulled the keys. “Force of habit.” A seriously stupid habit. He knew better. Locking the door and pocketing the keys when a quick getaway was required was a rookie move. Quincy rolled her eyes and slid into the seat.

  “Get me out of here,” she said and he cranked the engine.

  Logan reversed from behind the dumpster and inched back the way he’d come, pulling through the restaurant parking lot. “This is the tricky part,” he said. “Do you know if they made the car before picking you up?”

  Quincy shook her head. “I don’t know for sure, but it didn’t sound like it. I think he got lucky,” she said sheepishly. “Totally on me, by the way.”

  “Oh, it’s definitely on you. Maybe now’s not the time to say it, but you went running. Alone. At night.”

  Logan didn’t even bother looking at her. He pulled the car forward just enough to see the swarm of police cruisers surrounding the black Marquis and the man standing in the middle, talking calmly with officers. Still no sign of Brandon. They needed to go now, while everyone was still occupied. Quincy sighed.

  “Why would you do that?” he asked. “You knew the danger you were in.” He didn’t understand. He probably wouldn’t even after she explained but he still felt like he deserved the explanation. “You’re not the only one on their radar anymore you know.”

  “You’re right. I’m not and I didn’t even consider I might be putting you in danger too. I’m sorry. I left a note,” she said, almost as an afterthought, without any real hope that would mollify him.

  “Oh yes, that’s right,” he snapped. “My mistake. The note makes it all better.” Logan put on his turn signal and pulled left onto the road, heading away from the gas station and back towards the highway.

  “I think we should keep going east,” Quincy said. “At least for awhile.”

  Logan had already been planning to do just that but was curious, despite himself, why she was thinking the same thing.

  “Because he’ll expect us to go back the direction we were heading, not keep moving towards his goal. Wherever that is,” she said in response to his unasked question.

  Logan quirked an eyebrow. “I didn’t say anything,” he said dryly.

  “Please,” she said. “You were practically shouting.”

  He laughed. “Fine, fine. So, we agree to go east and we agree that you are to blame for this unplanned and wholly unappreciated detour. Let’s find a ball game on the radio and you can tell me about the mystery man and the Energizer Brandon.”

  She looked over at him in question. “You know. Because he keeps coming and coming and coming.” He thought it was funny at least.

  Chapter 52

  The Colonel

  He sat in the car, considering. The police had been a surprise. It took a lot to throw him off his game and the soldier had succeeded. He could only assume it was the soldier. Quincy O’Connell hadn’t had access to a phone or a computer and had had no prior indication they would be pulling off in this specific town. Unless Auberdeen had allowed her to slip away long enough to borrow a phone, which was not altogether unlikely at this point. But still, he doubted she would have had enough time. The police had shown up a scant minute after they went inside. No, somehow the soldier had found them. The Colonel sighed. He had to admit, if only to himself, that he had made a mistake. He should have just eliminated the girl. The company might prefer living specimens, but a body was better than nothing. It would have been simple and posed less risk, certainly. She had no identification on her and he couldn’t be traced to the town. But he had seen an opportunity. And maybe his pride had played a role in the decision to take her as well. She had eluded him twice. No one had ever done that before and the failure stung. She was just a girl, after all, with no special training or skills. Had she been trained, she might have used her condition and the advantages it provided to aid in her escape, yes. But she was still in denial so actively using it would have been a stretch.

  He shook himself and refocused. Steps needed to be taken. Firstly, the girl was now outside of his immediate reach. If the soldier had come for her, and after a quick examination of the store and surrounding area had come up empty, he was sure he had, then they were gone. The simple tracking device he’d planted on the girl would give him the tether he needed to find them again so he had the luxury of giving them a head start. The company need never know about this debacle. But Auberdeen. He would need to be dealt with. He had disappeared as well and the Colonel had no doubt the man knew he was finished. The Colonel didn’t know exactly what had happened inside the store while he convinced the local law enforcement, every single one of them in this god-forsaken town if he were guessing, that the call had been a hoax, but Auberdeen had effectively vanished. Fresh blood on the bathroom floor told him there had been a struggle of some sort but the room looked remarkably untouched otherwise, which meant it had been a short one. Something fast and unexpected. Something that would allow someone untrained to outmaneuver a bigger, more skilled opponent. The girl had used the sirens as a distraction and broken Auberdeen’s nose. She’d most likely escaped out the back, where the soldier was probably waiting. And Auberdeen, knowing the Colonel would brook no further mistakes, had slipped away like the coward he was. Well, there was nothing he could do about Quincy O’Connell at the moment, but he suspected he would pick up their trail, fresh as it was, easy enough. Auberdeen, on the other hand, could not be allowed a head-start. The man wasn’t as smart as he thought he was but it was best to end that particular threat immediately. One didn’t simply walk away from employment like theirs. To ensure the safety of the company, the Colonel would find Auberdeen and make sure he didn’t become an issue. And then he would find the girl. He would not allow her
to disappear again.

  Chapter 53

  Quincy

  The car was quiet as Logan drove, keeping a careful eye on the rear view mirror to make sure a black Mercury Marquis wasn’t on his tail. Not that the guy couldn’t have ditched the car for a new one by now but he felt better staying focused.

  “I’m pretty sure we’re good,” Quincy finally said. “The Colonel didn’t have any idea you were behind us.”

  “And we didn’t have any idea they were behind us either,” Logan clipped back. “I think I’ll stay alert.”

  Quincy sighed. He was mad. Not that she didn’t deserve it, but still. She had escaped a seemingly fatal trip to the bathroom. Why couldn’t they celebrate a little?

  “We will need to switch cars again,” she said instead. “He knew about you and he’d cased the motel. Better to be safe than sorry.”

  “Ironic, coming from you,” he quipped. Then he sighed. “I agree but I don’t think our usual tricks are going to work again”. He nodded to his phone lying on the dashboard. “Can you look and see where the nearest bus station is?”

  “Really?” Quincy grabbed his phone. “Won’t that be a little obvious when he tracks our car to the parking lot?”

  “He won’t,” Logan said. “He’ll track our car to the nearest rental agency. And then he’ll track our new rental. Or he’ll try.”

  Logan finally looked at her and smiled. It wasn’t a patented, thousand-watt Logan Davies smile, but it would do for now. “And then he’ll lose us. Because our new car won’t be on the highway. It’ll be in an alley behind some abandoned building. And it will be missing its GPS. I think that should buy us the time and distance we need. He doesn’t know where we’re heading, does he?” Logan asked as an afterthought.

  “How could he?” she answered. “I don’t even know where we’re heading.”

  “Did you find that bus station?” Logan asked. If he thought he could distract her that easily, he was quite mistaken.

  “Would a train work?” There hadn’t been a bus station for another hundred miles but maybe that wasn’t the only option. “There’s a scenic railway tour that runs northwest out of Idaho city. It’s a two-week tour if you ride the whole thing. It looks like it goes all the way to San Francisco.”

  “Book it,” Logan said. “There’s a card in my wallet under the name Brad Montgomery. Use it and book us two tickets to the end of the line.”

  “Brad Montgomery?” Quincy scoffed. “You just happen to have an alias lying around?”

  “I would think that’s something you’d approve of, Miss O’Connell. Or, I’m sorry, would you prefer Miss Scott or Miss Elliott?”

  “Fair enough,” she conceded. “Okay, two tickets on the train leaving at 4:00 p.m. this afternoon. Once we check in, we’ll be treated to a gourmet dinner and then escorted to our sleeping car. I booked the deluxe luxury compartment, by the way. Brad Montgomery owes $2600 dollars.”

  “For a train ride?” Logan asked in shock. “That’s just plain robbery.”

  “Oh come on,” Quincy said. “For five days and all the meals to go with it?”

  “And don’t forget the fancy bedroom,” Logan reminded her wryly.

  “I’m looking forward to that fancy bedroom. After the rooms we’ve stayed in? Believe me, we’ve earned it.”

  Logan glanced at her, eyebrow raised. “Really?” he asked.

  “Insinuation noted and ignored. If I’m feeling generous, you can share the bed. If not, you can have your pick of the floor or yet another teeny tiny armchair”.

  Logan sighed. “A guy can dream.”

  “Not if he wants to share this bed.”

  Chapter 54

  Logan

  He had noticed the blood on her arm about two hours ago, once everything had settled down. But she hadn’t seemed hurt and it was a pretty minor amount of blood so he’d let it go for the moment. But now that Quincy had nodded off, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Brandon had gone into the store with her but only Quincy had come out. It stood to reason the blood was his. There was a story there and he wanted to know it. Quincy was small by female standards and while Brandon wasn’t as big as Logan himself was, he was still a big guy. He had at least six inches and 100 lbs on her. What kind of skills was she hiding in that messed up head of hers?

  When Jones had been injured, he’d at least known something was wrong. There had been the explosion, the surgery, and then the recovery that was supposed to happen but never actually did. But Quincy seemed to not have any of that. And she also seemed to be in control of her symptoms for the most part. Logan didn’t claim to have figured out exactly what form her reflexiveness had taken but he was pretty sure it had to do with memory. He wasn’t sure it was a normal function of the brain to be fluent in multiple languages after listening to an audio lesson or know how to do trauma surgery on someone bleeding out after reading a book. Jones could process sound far above and below the levels allowed by a regular brain but he never did learn to harness it. Or maybe he just didn’t want to. That was something Logan tried not to think too much about. But Quincy absorbed information and used it, almost unconsciously. He’d been watching when she’d hot wired the car. She had been skeptical at first and then she’d looked confused when she finished, like she didn’t know exactly how it had happened. He wondered if she even remembered what she’d done. The headache had taken him by surprise but it shouldn’t have. Not after everything that had happened with Jones. Quincy had just never shown him that side. It didn’t look like something she would have been able to hide easily. If Logan were guessing, he’d say the headaches, insomnia, and constant noise in her head were all symptoms of the injury. Jones’s brain responded to the increased levels of sound much the same way. But she hadn’t self-destructed the way he had. She was still here. Still alive. Why? Why Quincy and not Jones? The man had been army tough. But he still hadn’t been able to deal with the pain and the confusion that came from not knowing why. He’d allowed it to drive him over the edge and it had ultimately killed him. Just like it had killed several others that Dr. Garrison had identified as possible RNB patients. Logan didn’t know why it hadn’t killed Quincy but he knew he didn’t want it to. He needed to get her safely to Dr. Garrison. Failure wasn’t an option.

  He had driven another thirty miles when Quincy bolted upright in the seat, breathing hard.

  “Easy there, soldier,” he said, making sure not to touch her. “You’re okay. We’re good.” He kept his hands on the wheel, making sure to not make any sudden moves. He’d woken up to flashbacks before. Heart pounding, caught in a memory, it always took a few minutes to process reality. So he kept driving, giving Quincy the time she needed to get her bearings. After a couple of minutes, she relaxed back into her seat.

  “How long have I been out?” she asked.

  “Not long. An hour maybe. We’re about a half hour outside of Idaho City.”

  Quincy nodded. “No sign of a tail?”

  “Nope. I think we’re clear for the moment. If by chance he really did make the car, he’s probably keeping his distance, relying on the GPS to keep us in sight. Once we ditch the car, we should be good.”

  “Great,” she said, looking out the window.

  “Listen,” he started, but she cut him off.

  “Could we table this whole discussion? Just for now? I know you have questions, and I definitely owe you answers. But can it wait? At least until we get settled on the train. I’m still kind of sorting through it myself.”

  Logan glanced over. She was looking ahead, staring out the windshield. She looked tired. She always looked tired, but his was more than that. This was exhaustion - and something else.

  “Sure,” he said, relenting. “Take all the time you need.”

  Chapter 55

  Quincy

  She was exhausted. There was really no other word for it. She never really slept but she hadn’t even shut her eyes in 48 hours. The cat nap in the car with Logan only seemed to make it worse. She knew
he had questions and she knew he deserved answers. And she really wanted to give them to him. She just didn’t have it in her to do it just yet. Where was she supposed to start? With the kidnapping? Or Brandon trying to kill her in the gas station? Or maybe she could tell him the Colonel had shared Dr. Garrison’s theory about her.

  Now that she wasn’t in immediate, life-threatening danger, she couldn’t seem to shake what he’d said. Her having a super brain was ridiculous on so many levels. But why couldn’t she remember anything from her life before Kara Scott? She could explain away the rest of it but that one was tough. She closed her eyes again and tipped her head against the window of the car. She had parents, right? She must. Or must’ve at some point, at least. But there was nothing there. Siblings? Nothing. Just a big, blank space. Suddenly, something hit her. A recent memory. Her and Logan, walking through the park. He’d asked her to tell him something about herself. Parents, hometown, birthday - anything. She had ducked the question, using the stranger danger argument as a deflection, compelled by something deep inside to change the subject and steer Logan away from those little personal details. Maybe she was unconsciously steering herself away from them, too. Shielding herself from the realization that she didn’t actually know any of those things. One thing was perfectly obvious, though. Logan did know. He had been subtly probing and she’d never picked up on it. Which meant that the Colonel wasn’t the only one with ridiculous theories. Somehow, it was harder dismissing Logan’s opinion.

  “Hey.”

  She felt a light touch against her shoulder, shaking her from her thoughts. “Yeah,” she said, bringing herself back to the present. She sat up and stretched, looking around. “Is this it?”

  “It is.” Logan pointed to his right. “We’re going to switch rental cars there and then ditch the new one about a mile from the Grey Hound station. Then it’s a quick four mile walk to where we’re joining up with the railway tour.”