The Hunted (25 page)

It was a good thing they waited.

A few minutes later, Shy spotted a group of three men dressed in black leaving one of the tents. LasoTech security. He was sure of it. They climbed into one of the helicopters and closed the door behind them. Soon the blades began spinning, blowing dirt everywhere, and the chopper slowly lifted into the air.

Shy and Carmen rolled underneath the tractor and watched the helicopter dip its nose slightly and fly right over their heads, heading west. Maybe the security guards' mission was to find
them.
Shy shifted so he could watch the helicopter grow smaller and smaller in the sky.

“That's three of 'em we no longer have to worry about,” Carmen said. “For real, Shy. I'm not hiding under a stupid tractor all day. Bust out those rifles.”

“What do you wanna do?” Shy said. “Roll in there like damn Zorro?” He glanced at the second bus, the one the blonde had boarded. “We're trying to get to Avondale, Carm, not start a shoot-out.”

“Why?” Carmen fired back. “You heard those old dudes. LasoTech made a vaccine. Who cares if we get to Avondale anymore? All that matters now is getting revenge.”

“We got the letter, though,” Shy argued. “They'll all go to jail. We can make sure that shit happens.” He realized he was trying to convince himself, too.

Carmen pursed her lips and glared at him.

Truth was, Shy wanted to check out the bus, too. There were so many things he needed to ask Addie—if it was really her. And after hearing her on the radio, he was convinced she was looking out for him. She'd warned him that LasoTech was coming after him. And she claimed she had the last page of the comb-over man's letter, which had the missing portion of the vaccine formula. Maybe this no longer mattered to scientists in Avondale, but it mattered to
him.

He turned to Carmen. “The second we spot another security guy, we're out, all right? I'm serious.”

“Fine,” Carmen snapped. “Now gimme one of them damn rifles.”

“Wait till we get there,” Shy said.

They climbed out from under the tractor and hurried over to an RV parked less than twenty feet from the closest bus, both the rifle bag and duffel slung over Shy's right shoulder. He didn't see any more LasoTech security. At least not by the tent closest to the buses. It was just regular people waiting in line to get vaccinated by two Asian women wearing doctor smocks.

While they were standing there, the first bus started up and slowly pulled out onto the freeway. Shy watched it maneuver around a stalled car and move cautiously down the fast lane. The blond girl had boarded the second one, Shy told himself. She was still here. The butterfly feeling grew stronger.

What would he do if it really
was
Addie? He honestly didn't know.

Carmen suddenly bolted from behind the RV. Shy grabbed for her wrist but missed. “Carm,” he called to her in a loud whisper.

He followed her across a short stretch of desert, straight up to the remaining bus and climbed on after her. They pushed their way past a handful of people looking for seats. Shy watched in disbelief as Carmen marched right up to the blonde and shoved her onto the laps of two women already sitting down. “Did you know they were gonna shoot everybody?” Carmen shouted.

Shy watched the blonde scramble to her feet in shock. And when he could finally see her face, his stomach dropped. It really
was
Addie. He was suddenly so dizzy he backed up without looking and dropped right into an empty seat by the door, the gun bag and duffel falling into his lap.

“What?” Addie said. “Who are you?”

Carmen cracked her in the jaw, and Addie went down again. This time a few people got between them as Addie looked up, holding a hand to her mouth. Shy saw a look of recognition wash over her face. Addie remembered Carmen, and her eyes immediately started darting around the bus, looking for
him.

“On the island!” Carmen shouted. “Did you know they were gonna kill everybody?”

Everyone was staring at Carmen. One man tried to calm her down, but that only made Carmen flip out even more. She pushed him down and kicked him in the legs, shouting: “Mind your business, asshole!”

He scrambled away from her in a hurry.

When Addie spotted Shy rising up from his seat, her eyes grew wide and she shouted his name.

He gave a subtle nod but didn't say anything.

“Oh, hell nah,
puta
!” Carmen shouted. “Pretty boy's not here to help
you
! Now answer my damn question. Did you know?”

Addie covered her face with her hands, then dropped them and looked at Shy again. “My dad told me everything,” she said. “They accidentally spread the disease in Mexico. It was the biggest mistake of his life. But instead of getting help, he tried to make it right himself. Which led to all this.”

Accidentally
spread the disease? Shy couldn't believe his ears. Addie was still buying her old man's lies.

“He's promised to turn himself in,” Addie went on. “As soon as all this is over. But first he has to try and save as many people as he can.”

“He's trying to
save
people?” Shy shouted. “Are you shittin' me, Addie?”

“I swear to God,” she said. “He's setting up clinics like this all over the West Coast. He's giving medicine to sick people. And once the vaccine's approved, he'll make sure no one else ever gets the disease. He's paying for everything out of his own pocket.”

“Fuck your dad's clinics!” Carmen shouted. “Where's that asshole now?”

“Not here,” Addie said.

Shy couldn't stand it. Addie was too smart to be brainwashed like this. “Why'd you go on the radio, then?” he shouted. “Why'd you warn me he was coming after us?”

“My dad
told
me to do that!” Addie cried. “He doesn't want anyone else getting hurt. The men coming after you were hired by LasoTech investors. He has nothing to do with them.”

Shy was so frustrated he felt like smashing his fist through the closest window. Addie was blindly following anything her old man told her. But what pissed Shy off even more was the tiny kernel of doubt that had crept into his mind. What if Mr. Miller really
had
told Addie to warn him? What if he really
wasn't
responsible for everyone shooting at them?

The people on the bus were now shouting over one another, sticking up for Addie. “Leave her alone!” they barked. “Get off the bus!”

One woman shouted: “She's here to save our lives!”

“I asked you about the island!” Carmen yelled over all of them.

Addie shook her head, clearly scared. “I have no idea what you're talking about.”

“They were all shot down!” Carmen shouted. “Every single person on the island! And you knew about it! You had to know!”

Addie was crying now. “No! I swear!”

When he saw tears streaming down her face, Shy felt bad for Addie. And he felt bad for feeling bad. “Do you really have the last page of the letter?” he asked, coldly.

“Yes!” Addie cried. “I've been carrying it with me this whole time.”

“Does your dad know about it?” Shy asked.

Addie shook her head and turned to Carmen. “Just let me get it from my tent.”

“We need to follow her,” Shy called out to Carmen. “It's important we have this.”

Carmen glared as Addie moved past her, back through the narrow aisle.

Shy stepped off the bus ahead of Addie, trying to get shit straight in his head. If Addie hadn't showed her dad the last page of the comb-over man's letter, maybe she wasn't following him as blindly as Shy thought. Unless she was leading them into some kind of trap.

Shy pulled the two rifles out of the bag and tossed one to Carmen. He slung the duffel over his shoulder and studied their surroundings as he and Carmen followed Addie into the cluster of tents. There was still a line of people waiting to get shots. But the crowd had thinned now that the first bus was gone. The scattered motor homes to the east seemed farther away now. The dry air was hotter, too, and Shy kept wiping sweat from his forehead.

Addie stopped at one of the smaller tents in back. She unzipped it and ducked inside.

Shy held the flap open, watching Addie dig through a small suitcase. After a few seconds she pulled out a manila envelope and held it out to Shy. “I knew you'd come looking for this. It's important, right?”

Shy had to crouch down to step into the tent, and he stayed hunched as he moved across the tent toward Addie. “It
was.
I don't know who needs the vaccine formula now.” When Shy went to grab the envelope out of Addie's hand, though, she held on tight. There was a desperation in her eyes he'd never seen before, not even when they were stranded.

“You have to leave here right away,” she said in a quiet voice.

“What?” he said, startled. “Why?”

“Just trust me.” She let go of the envelope. “You shouldn't have come here.”

Shy nodded and slipped the envelope into the duffel bag, his heart suddenly pounding. Just as he was spinning around to leave, though, a man's voice came from right outside the tent. “Addie?”

Shy froze, staring at the man he'd been obsessed with since the moment he'd left the torched island on Shoeshine's tattered sailboat.

Addie's dad.

Mr. Miller.

Behind him was a second man, who was holding a gun to Carmen's head.

Cold fear shot through Shy's veins as he watched Carmen slowly drop her rifle and hold up her hands.

“Dad!” Addie shouted. “What are you doing here? Everything's fine.”

Mr. Miller gave Shy a subtle grin as he pulled a handgun from the back of his waistband. “Why don't you drop the rifle, son, and we'll all take a walk outside and have a civilized conversation.”

Shy stared into the barrel of the gun. Who was this guy calling “son”? It made Shy want to throw up. But he couldn't do anything about it with a gun pointed at Carmen's head. He let his rifle fall to the ground and glanced at Addie. She'd lied about her dad not being here. But she'd also warned him to leave.

So which one was it?

Mr. Miller led Shy and Carmen out of the tent and into a small clearing. “This will do just fine.”

“We should go, Dad,” Addie said, tugging on his arm. “There are people waiting for us on the bus.”

“Hang on a minute, honey.” Mr. Miller pulled free of Addie's grip and pointed his gun at the duffel hanging off Shy's shoulder. “What's in the bag?”

Carmen spit in Mr. Miller's direction. “None of your business, asshole!” She fought to get out of the LasoTech guy's grasp, but he had her in a headlock from behind. When she continued struggling, he cracked her in the back of the head with his gun.

“Get off her!” Shy shouted. He then turned to Mr. Miller and told him: “You know exactly what's in here.”

Shy was surprised at how calm he felt in Mr. Miller's presence. He hated that Carmen had a gun to her head, but as long as he focused on Mr. Miller's beady eyes, he was okay. All the death he'd experienced over the past month made the threat of it now seem less intimidating. “Tell your guy to let Carmen go and I'll show you.”

Mr. Miller shook his head. “I'm not sure you're in a position to be making demands.”

“Dad, come on,” Addie pleaded.

“They're gonna fry your ass!” Carmen shouted at Mr. Miller. “And I'm gonna sit right up front watching that shit with fucking popcorn!”

Mr. Miller grinned at her. “I've made some mistakes,” he said. “I'll be the first to admit it. And as soon as this is over, I'm happy to have everything sorted out in the courts. But right now…people need me.” He turned to Shy. “Hand me the bag, son.”

“Better watch it with that ‘son' shit,” Shy said, holding the man's gaze.

“Give him the bag!” the LasoTech guy shouted.

Shy wished he hadn't torn open Shoeshine's extra pocket. Now the syringes were right there for anyone to see. Not that it mattered anymore. LasoTech had its
new
vaccine. The letter was all that he should be worried about. His proof.

“Hurry up!” the LasoTech guy shouted.

Shy pulled the bag off his shoulder and reluctantly handed it over.

“What are you doing?” Addie said to her dad. “You promised to focus on the clinics.”

“That's what I'm doing, sweetheart.” Mr. Miller unzipped the duffel and reached inside. He pulled out two of the four remaining syringes and looked at them. “You know, Shy,” he said. “You and I are actually quite alike. We're both survivors. Just when people think they can count us out, we find a way to reappear.”

“We're not
anything
alike,” Shy fired back. He glanced at Carmen, who was so angry she was shaking.

“Dad!” Addie pleaded again.

Mr. Miller finally turned to look at his daughter and held up one of the syringes. “I need Chris and Gary to reproduce this immediately, Addison. Go find them in the lab, tell them to stop production on the A4 and fly back to Avondale.”

Addie took the duffel bag and stood there for a few seconds, looking back and forth between Shy and her dad. Then she hurried off in the direction they'd come.

Shy watched her go, feeling helpless. He and Carmen had nothing else left. And the odds of these two men letting them go weren't good, either. He tried to imagine what Shoeshine would do. But Shoeshine was gone.

Mr. Miller waited until Addie was out of sight before saying: “It won't be long now, friends. As soon as my second helicopter team is ready, I have a little treat for you. We're going to tie you both up and push you out in the middle of the desert somewhere.”

“Fuck you!” Carmen shouted.

The LasoTech guy cracked the butt of his gun against the side of her head again.

Shy saw a little bit of blood trickling down Carmen's cheek, and he lost it. “Why don't you come over here and try that shit on me!” he shouted at the guy. “Watch what happens!”

“Take it easy,” Mr. Miller told Shy with a sly grin.

Shy opened his mouth to talk more shit when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw Addie running from behind the tent, gripping one of the rifles. She raised it up over her head and slammed it into the LasoTech guy's back while shouting through tears: “They didn't do anything!”

The man dropped to his knees and his gun went flying. He reached for his back.

When Mr. Miller spun around to see what was happening, Shy instinctively kicked the gun out of his hand and shoved him out of the way.

Addie picked up her dad's gun and pointed it at him, then pointed it at Shy. She was so hysterical Shy couldn't make out what she was screaming.

“Addie, honey,” her dad said from the ground, reaching out to her. “Please. You have to trust me.”

She wiped her face with the back of her free hand, whimpering: “They didn't do anything.”

“Of course they didn't,” Mr. Miller said in a calm voice. “But we need to take certain precautions. I'm doing this for you, honey. For
us.
”

Shy saw Carmen furiously tinkering with the rifle, which must have jammed. And he saw the LasoTech guy crawling toward the handgun he'd dropped.

Shy sprinted past Addie and dove on the guy, tackling him onto the hot dirt. The two of them rolled over, throwing wild haymakers. Shy ended up on his back and caught a fist in the mouth, and another in the ear. He summoned all the strength he had left to flip the guy over and pin his arms to the ground. He reared back and landed three consecutive jabs to the left side of the guy's face, until the man appeared dazed.

When Shy looked up again, he saw Carmen stalking toward Mr. Miller, the rifle raised in front of her. “Let's get out of here, Carm!” he shouted. He turned to Addie. “Where's the duffel?”

She was pointing the gun right at him. “Get her to stop!” she screamed.

“Carmen!” Shy was struggling to keep the LasoTech guy pinned down. “Let's go! Now!”

“I'm not going anywhere,” Carmen said with a snarl. She had the rifle aimed at Mr. Miller's face.

Shy pulled in short, quick breaths, taking in the scene. It was all happening so fast. No time to think. Carmen had her rifle pointed at Mr. Miller, and Addie now had her gun pointed at Carmen, and Shy had a man pinned to the dirt.

The other handgun lay just a few feet away.

Shy now spotted the duffel bag, shoved up against the tent behind him.

When the LasoTech guy pushed out from under Shy, he reared back and blasted him in the side of the head. Shy lunged for the gun and scooped it up, while at the same time taking a crushing blow on the back of the head. He spun around, disoriented, and saw the man was about to kick him a second time. Shy rolled away just in time and aimed the gun at him, shouting: “Don't fucking move!”

The man froze, sucking in breaths and glaring.

Shy struggled to his feet and hurried over to retrieve the duffel bag, never taking his gun off the man. He noticed a small crowd of onlookers, half hidden behind another tent.

Carmen cocked her rifle and told Mr. Miller: “You killed my dad.”

Mr. Miller shook his head. “It was all a mistake. I'd give anything to go back and change things. You have to believe me.”

“I don't have to believe
shit,
” Carmen said.

“Tell her to drop the rifle, Shy!” Addie shouted.

“Drop it, Carm!” Shy called out. “I got the duffel! Let's just get outta here!”

Carmen shook her head and took another step toward Mr. Miller. “You killed my dad,” she repeated.

“Get her away from him!” Addie screamed.

The LasoTech guy took a step toward Carmen, but Shy turned his gun on him, shouting: “Don't move!”

“Please, put the gun down,” Mr. Miller told Carmen.

Addie shouted: “Get away from him!”

Shy swung his gun toward Addie, then back to the LasoTech guy, fragments of thoughts flooding his brain. Shoeshine's journal and the bubbling river and his grandma's funeral and the look on Marcus's face before Shoeshine snapped his neck. And then Shy remembered his mom's face the last time he'd seen her. Before he left for the cruise ship. This last image hit him so hard his knees nearly buckled. He'd never see her again.

“That's it,” Mr. Miller was now saying. “Just put the gun down.”

“Shy?” Carmen called out to him. She was still staring at Mr. Miller, but she seemed to be having second thoughts. The anger had mostly vanished from her eyes.

“I got you!” Shy called to her.

“That's it,” Mr. Miller said, holding his hands up. “Two wrongs don't make a right, do they?”

Addie crouched down, looking exhausted, her gun still aimed at Carmen's back.

“It's not in your nature,” Mr. Miller told Carmen, looking relieved. But Shy thought he detected something else on the man's face, too. The beginnings of a sly grin. “You've never killed anyone, sweetheart.”

“But I have,” Shy blurted out, and he swung his gun toward Mr. Miller and fired two shots directly into the man's chest.

The crowd of onlookers gasped.

Addie screamed at the top of her lungs and turned her gun on Shy but didn't shoot.

Mr. Miller's face went ghost white as he reached up toward his blood-splattered, white-collared shirt. He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out.

Shy stood there not even breathing hard. His gun still pointed at the man, watching him die.