Chapter 34
Quill
Avery long silence follows the shot. But its aftermath is still ringing in my ears when Josh finally speaks.
“Quill… I’m pretty sure… I’m pretty sure you just killed your dad.”
I snort. “You think?”
Well, at least I try to snort. But what comes out is a weird strangled noise that sounds a bit too much like a sob.
Before I’ve even realized what he’s doing, Josh scrambles over to me. His arms spring out and the next thing I know, he’s enveloping me in a bear hug.
I tense, trying automatically to inch away. But he doesn’t let up, and a moment later, I’m actually sinking into his arms, the tears I’d been doing my best to contain wetting his shirt.
“It’s okay, man. It’s okay.”
When he lets go, we sit for a while on the muddy grass in silence. Then I whip my gun out and point it at him.
“Uhm, okay,” he coughs uncomfortably, raising his hands in a peaceful gesture.
“If you ever tell anyone… what just happened between us…”
The cough turns into a strangled giggle. He doesn’t look half as scared as I would have expected with a gun pointed at his face.
“Don’t worry, Quill. It’ll be like it never happened. But, you know, it’s not the fucking 90s anymore. You’re allowed to hug another guy.”
I don’t answer, putting the gun in my back pocket then leaning over to pocket the other gun that my dad’s still holding.
I take a moment to stare at the remnants of his face.
Fuck, it feels good. Not a single part of me regrets what happened.
I don’t know what led to the tears. Some sort of nervous reaction to breaking the bonds of childhood.
It’s all I can do not to stomp on the lower half of his face, the still intact part with its ugly smile plastered on for all eternity.
“I’d do a lot worse than killing my dad for Piper,” I mumble.
“I know, man.”
“I’d do a lot worse for you too.”
“Oh.” He sounds surprised. “Uh, well, thank you. And, uhm, right back at you.”
I roll my eyes, repressing a smirk. Then I jump up with a sudden surge of anxious energy.
No matter how good it felt to kill Dad, no matter how inevitable, too, I’m suddenly realizing I may have shot myself in the foot.
Because now, I have no idea where to go.
Well, I know we have to go to Idaho. But that’s a pretty big state, isn’t it?
Actually, I don’t have the first clue about what kind of a state it is.
I don’t think I’ve ever spared it a single thought.
But now, I somehow need to get there and find Piper before Coltello does. It feels impossible.
“Let’s call Logan,” I say, nodding at the cell phone in Josh’s pocket.
“I already did. Well, I texted him. What did you think I was doing while I played dead?”
“Oh.” Josh really has a knack for surprising me. “And?”
“Well, he still hasn’t found Seraphina Connor.”
“I said, and?” I hiss out. I don’t give a damn about Damien Wells’ girl.
“Right, right. He’s just gotten back to Astley, and now he’s heading over here by airplane.”
“We can’t possibly wait that long,” I snap. “It can’t be much more than an hour to get to Idaho by plane.”
“If they’re going by plane. Logan’s not sure. He says that if they’re trying to keep a low profile, they’ll probably go by car.”
“Does he know where they’re going?”
“He’s going to be figuring that out. He set Vincent up to the task. You know, the new Devil guy, Vincent Murilla. Says he’s really good with the surveillance shit. I also sent a message to my brother’s fiancée’s cousin’s… uh… my acquaintance. She’s on it too.”
“You sure spent a lot of time texting back there,” I grumble, turning around and heading back to the car.
“Yeah, well, your dad talks a lot. I mean, uh, talked. Or…” Josh doesn’t finish his sentence, turning red.
But again, I don’t feel any sadness. Just immense relief.
Like the weight crushing my shoulders all my life has finally been lifted.
I should’ve killed him years ago. I should have shot him instead of the wall when I was in my room with Piper under the covers.
It was the closest I’d ever gotten. I guess he did underestimate me.
I may be weak, but I’ll always be strong when it comes to Piper.
I’m going to save her.
I sit down behind the wheel with sudden resolve, turning the key that Dad left in the ignition. “Come on,” I call to him. “Let’s go to fucking Idaho.”
Josh grins then hurries into the passenger seat. “The airport is about thirty minutes away. Hold on, I’ll put in the address.”
I stare at him. “I thought we had to drive.”
“No, no. Logan thinks they’re driving. His theory is that they’re still pretty weak.
They’ve got Devil to deal with and Moretti too.
If anyone picks up their trace now, they don’t stand much of a chance.
So they’re trying to fly under the radar.
Whereas we have the element of surprise on our side.
They’ll probably assume that we’re still with, uhm, your dad, and they won’t even pick up on the fact that we’re flying.
There’s more risk of them finding out that Logan is heading their way, but he says that right now, time is of the essence. They’re in no hurry, but we are.”
I blink at him. “And he texted you all this while you were playing dead?”
“Well, he sent me a few texts.” Josh shrugs. “The rest, I extrapolated. Are we, uhm… leaving your dad on the side of the road? What if someone sees?”
“Fuck it. Let’s get the hell away from here.”
I swerve back onto the road. By now, Josh has put the address into the car’s GPS system, and I start to follow it, driving as fast as I can down the bumpy country road.
Josh has set the GPS to avoid highways, and we’re stuck on uneven roads riddled with potholes.
We go a lot slower than I’d like, but I realize the highway with its cameras could be risky.
If Vincent Murilla and Josh’s acquaintance can hack those systems, who’s to say Coltello’s men can’t too?
“So what would we have done if I hadn’t killed my dad?” I question, as we drive along. “I doubt he was planning to go to the same airport Logan told you to go to.”
“Yeah. Well, I figured something would come up. You killed him right on schedule.” Josh grows red again. “I mean…”
“It’s fine,” I say through gritted teeth. “I don’t give a fuck. You can talk about him being dead. The more I hear it, the happier I’ll be.”
Somehow, Josh doesn’t look convinced. “How about…” He hesitates, clearing his throat. “How about your mom? Is she still, uhm, around? Do you have brothers and sisters?”
“I’m not going to talk about the rest of my family,” I hiss out. “This isn’t that kind of road trip.”
“Oh. Right. Right.”
There’s an uncomfortable silence that I break at last with, “I’m an only child. And Mom abandoned me when I was six. She’d better hope I never see her again, or I’ll kill her, and I’ll hesitate a lot less than I did with Dad. At least he didn’t leave.”
Another silence, this time sad rather than uncomfortable. Then Josh murmurs, “Sorry, man.”
_
I’m getting very antsy by the time we reach the airport. It’s a small, private one, in the middle of nowhere, and I had begun to wonder if Josh had gotten the address wrong before we finally laid eyes on it.
I park the car hurriedly in front and scramble out, followed closely by Josh. A small airplane is waiting for us.
“Devil sure knows how to hook us up,” comments Josh, as we’re immediately taken up the short flight of steps into the private plane.
“Logan,” I correct him. “Logan knows. Damien Wells wants to kill Piper.”
“Right.” He sighs. “Well, Logan feels pretty beat up about Seraphina being gone, but he also said in a way it’s a blessing in disguise.
Damien quit Devil, and even though Logan isn’t sure it’s permanent, at least his friend is so focused on hunting Seraphina that he’s got no clue what’s happening. Damien found out she’s alive, so—”
“Josh,” I interrupt him. “I don’t care.”
“Right,” he says again, before settling himself into one of the cushioned seats.
“So where are we heading?” I ask as the plane takes off. “Idaho’s a big state, isn’t it? So how the hell are we supposed to…”
“Well, Logan says he has a general idea. Vincent has narrowed it down to the eastern part of the state. Near Yellowstone.”
“Yellowstone,” I repeat thoughtfully, wondering how the hell we’re supposed to find Piper in a national park. It feels like searching for a needle in a haystack. “You still texting Logan?”
Josh’s eyes are glued to the screen, and I can’t tell if the frequent buzzes are reassuring me or making me nervous.
“What’s he saying now? I want to talk to him.”
“Let me do it,” says Josh in a placating voice. “No offense, but you might fly off the handle and… Logan’s still a Devil, you know. If you piss him off, he could… well, you know. Those guys are dangerous.”
I sigh, leaning back in my seat. “I just want him to tell us where Piper is,” I say in a broken voice.
“I know, man. Me too. He’s working on it.”
I spend the rest of the flight watching him as he texts. He’s focused and even though I want to ask him to repeat every message he receives, I bite down on the temptation. I shouldn’t distract him. He needs to remain concentrated. He’ll tell me later.
And so, sinking back into my old helpless feeling, I remain on the outskirts as Josh and Logan decide how to save my girl.
The plane is just beginning its descent in what looks like the middle of nowhere, surrounded by dense trees and the distant sound of a waterfall, when Josh looks up.
“Okay, so, Logan has the location.”
My heart skips a beat. “Piper’s here?”
“No.”
I stare at him in shock. “So then… what the fuck?”
“They’re still driving, remember? Logan has positive confirmation they never took a plane.”
“So where is she? Where’s the car right now? What the fuck are we doing in fucking Idaho if Piper isn’t even here? Let’s fucking go, man!”