“What about the scientists and crap they wanted us to talk to?” asked Malcolm.
“That’s on pause right now. They said maybe after everything blows over. Right now we just need to get you to your safe place and leave you alone for a while.”
“I guess that’s good,” I said, feeling a little sad that our time with Jasmine and Kootch would be short-lived, but happy that Malcolm and I were going to be left alone. I hoped it would be for a really long time.
“No one will know where you are but us,” said Kootch. “And don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”
Jasmine reached over and patted him on the shoulder. “Agent Double-oh-Ding-Dong on the case, people.”
He pushed her hand away, hanging onto her finger a little longer than necessary. “Hands off the merchandise, Butts. Unless you want a piece of it … then maybe we can negotiate.”
She yanked her hand away and put it back on the wheel. “Ew. Vom-alert.”
She turned the wheel to the right, but even before the turn was halfway done, I could tell something was off. Malcolm took one look out his window and leaned over against me, cringing.
Kootch leaned over far to the left too. “Jesus, Butts! You nearly took the side of the car off! Watch it, would ya?!”
She jerked the wheel to the left, pulling the car away from the vehicles that were parallel-parked on the side of the street. We narrowly missed taking off someone’s door, I think.
“Stop freaking me out! It’s your fault! I was fine!”
Malcolm whispered in my ear. “I feel like we’re being rescued by Lloyd Christmas and his friend Harry.”
I giggled, covering my mouth when Jasmine looked at me in the rearview mirror.
“Anyway, we have intel if you’re interested,” said Jasmine, picking up speed. We were getting to the outskirts of the city, where the roads were wider and less congested. The entrance to the highway hopefully wasn’t too far away. I knew I would feel a lot better about Jasmine’s driving when there were fewer obstacles to get in her way.
“I’m interested,” said Malcolm.
“Me, too,” I added. I hated being in the dark. I felt like I had half the story, which wasn’t enough to put it all together.
“Okay good. Because I’ve been carrying these secrets around in my head all day and it’s about to kill me.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” asked Kootch, clearly offended.
“Because, you didn’t have a need to know.”
“What’s different now?”
“Nothing. But if I tell you to plug your ears, I’m sure you’re going to refuse and tell me no, so I won’t bother.”
“Good. Because I’m telling you no frigging way am I not listening to this.” He folded his arms and leaned into the corner of his seat. “Go ahead, Buttsy. Impress us with your badass intel.”
“So, after you left, we found out that Rae’s dad is part of this group.”
“He’s not my dad.”
“Whatever. Your dad-who-isn’t-a-dad is part of this group. They’re funded by a corporate think tank of some sort. At least that’s what they look like on the outside. It’s some kind of brain trust that analyzes the economy and the stock markets around the world. But what they really do is search for evidence of psychic influence. We think their plan is to use people who can mind-screw to affect the financial world. Maybe even politics.”
“Say what, now?” asked Malcolm, moving so he was closer to the space between the front seats.
“She’s saying if they find out about you, they’ll want to recruit you for their Dr. Evil pit crew,” said Kootch. “Kind of badass when you think about it. Can you imagine? Some dude wants to be president and he shakes Malcolm’s hand at a rally or something and falls into a pile of quivering tears two seconds later. Not very presidential material, you know? They could totally bust up a campaign.” He was snorting at the image he’d created, but I could tell Malcolm didn’t find it any funnier than I did.
“Are you kidding me?” Malcolm asked. He sounded lost and angry at the same time.
“No,” said Jasmine, all business. “As uncool as that little image was - thanks for that, Kootch - we think it’s exactly what they’re trying to do. It’s limitless, really. With Rae they could influence the moods of voters, investors, world leaders … anyone.” She looked at me in her mirror. “The power they’re talking about is scary shit. Super real and super awful, all at the same time.”
I nodded, feeling sick to my stomach.
“We’re not the only ones,” said Malcolm. “There are others kind of like us out there.”
“Yeah. We know,” said Jasmine.
“What? Why didn’t you tell me that, Butts?” Kootch was sitting up straighter, leaning towards her.
“I told you, Double-Oh … need to know. You ain’t got the need, so you ain’t got the know.”
“Man, that’s bullshit.” Kootch slumped back in his seat and looked out his window. “You guys are always shutting me out.”
Jasmine patted him on the leg. “Not anymore. Look at you now … riding in the rescue vehicle … being the muscle of the operation.” She grinned, knowing full well what she was doing. She handed him his cell phone, only letting it go when he yanked on it.
“I am the muscle of this operation,” he mumbled, sitting a little straighter.
“No doubt. Hopefully we won’t need it for anything but lifting luggage, but you never know.”
One second after the last word was out of her mouth, Jasmine bumped into the car in front of us that had slowed down without her noticing.
Chapter Thirty-Six: Malcolm
MY UPPER BODY FLEW TOWARDS the seat in front of me, my seatbelt locking up and keeping me from going too far. My neck was going to be sore later from the whiplash for sure.
I saw Rae’s belt doing the same for her out of the corner of my eye. Her hair flew forward and covered her face. At the same time two big booms rang out in the car, hurting my eardrums.
“Ahhhh! Shit!” yelled Jasmine, batting the fully inflated airbag that was pressing against her face. A poof of smoke or dust rose up around her.
“Goddamn, Butts!” yelled Kootch, doing the same thing, knocking the deflating mess off to the left side to get it off his face. “You totally rear-ended that guy!”
I was completely unprepared when Rae’s door flew open and a man was suddenly there with a big knife in his hand.
She screamed and reached out for me.
My brain had no time to react. I instinctively grabbed for her wrists and pulled, but it did no good. The guy sliced through her seatbelt and forcibly yanked her out of the car, Rae’s fingernails scratching down my arms as she went out. She disappeared from the doorway before I could get loose from the belt holding me captive.
“Rae!” I yelled, panic taking over my movements. My fingers were slipping off the buckle, unable to press the button they were so spastic. “Fuck, fuck, fuck! I can’t get out!”
I watched through the windshield as Rae struggled with her captor. I continued to fumble with my belt, desperation and panic making my heart nearly explode. She was being dragged into the car that we hit. They must have forced the accident just to get her.
“They took Rae!” I yelled, my voice going up several notches. “They took her! We have to get out!” I was going insane with the idea that she’d be gone and I’d never find her again. They’d hurt her. They’d make her do things that would break her. She’d never be the same again, and maybe she’d never forgive me for letting her go.
As soon as I felt the slack in my released belt, I threw the door open and jumped out of the car. “Rae!” I screamed. I tripped on the pavement and half crawled, half stumbled to my feet, trying to get to her before it was too late. The guy who’d taken her was just shutting the back door to his car and opening the front passenger door. Rae wasn’t there. I couldn’t see her. “Rae!”
“Go!” the man growled out, addressing the driver.
Rae’s fa
ce popped up in the back window, her mouth open in a silent scream as she grabbed the door and tried to open it.
“Rae! Rae!” I yelled, running to the car, trying to grab onto the back of it. I was in the process of climbing onto the trunk when it took off, leaving me to fall onto the asphalt on my face.
A car stopped next to me and the driver just stared, his mouth hanging open. I debated running over and carjacking him, but he took off before I could even get up.
I ignored my bleeding knees and skinned chin, running back to the SUV and climbing into the back. “Go, Jasmine, go! They took Rae! Follow them!”
She’d batted the airbag to the side, holding it down with her elbow, and managed to shift the car back into Drive. “I don’t know if the car’s going to go!” She sounded as panicked as I felt.
The engine roared as she pressed on the accelerator and the car leaped forward. She didn’t bother looking out her side window, she just went. Several horns sounded behind us, and something bumped the back panel of the car, but we ignored it. This was no time for blinkers and defensive driving. Rae was disappearing ahead of us on the long road out of town.
I kept my eyes stuck on the green sedan that had my girlfriend’s face plastered in the back window, tears running down her cheeks. I could read her lips. She was screaming my name.
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Rae
I ABANDONED LOOKING OUT THE window and turned around, wild with fear and anger at being taken from my friends and especially Malcolm. We were on a long road that had no other cars on it. No witnesses. No chance of being rescued.
They were going to get me back to their company and probably take part of my brain out or dose me up with drugs so bad I’d never get back to reality. I was losing Malcolm. I could feel him slipping away. Energy surged into my system and a rage took over my emotions, blocking everything out including thoughts of my own safety.
Not stopping to consider the consequences, I bashed the driver in the head and the side of the face as hard as I could with my fists. I caught part of his ear with my nails too, raking it as hard as I could, almost wishing I could rip it off, I was so desperate to get him to stop. If I could have reached his eyes, I probably would have scratched them out, too. I was fighting for my freedom and my life, I knew I was.
The driver wasn’t expecting the sudden onslaught of violence from the backseat. The car swerved sharply to the left, going directly into the oncoming lane. There was no traffic there, otherwise I probably would have been launched through the windshield.
“Owww, fuck! Get off me!” The driver swung out at me, but missed, hitting his friend instead. It was a good thing he did too, because that guy had been in the process of coming after me in retaliation for the attack on his partner, and he had a knife.
“Sit down!” he yelled, shoving at me awkwardly over the seat backs.
Instead of following his orders, I leaped towards the front seat again and started punching like a maniac, giving him and the driver everything I had. I was a tasmanian devil, a berserker, a wild thing without fear. I didn’t care if I hurt myself or made them wreck the car. Malcolm was getting farther and farther behind. I couldn’t lose him. I couldn’t live without him. Malcolm and I were meant to be together, and no way were these jerks going to change that. I’d waited too long with too little hope to let that happen.
The driver ducked, using his forearm to guard himself against the majority of my blows. I got one in on his bleeding ear before I was stunned by a fist to my face, delivered by his partner.
Falling back into the seat, partially on the floor, I stared up at my attacker. His face was flaming red and his expression furious.
“Stay down, or I’m going to fucking cut you, you bitch.” His knife was out now, hanging menacingly over the seat and pointed at my face.
“You’re not going to cut her, but feel free to knock her out,” said the other guy. He looked over his shoulder at me briefly, wiping blood from his nose as he spoke. “Just sit back there and don’t do anything else stupid.”
I was just about to reply when the car was smashed from behind, throwing me the rest of the way onto the floor. The vehicle fishtailed around before getting straightened out again. Both guys were freaking out, yelling. My head had hit something behind the seat when I got thrown forward, and my neck was bent at an uncomfortable angle. I had to struggle to get into a position where I could breathe again.
“What the hell!” shouted the one in the passenger seat, looking around behind us.
“They fucking rammed our car!” The driver was incredulous.
“Lose ‘em, man! Get outta here!” The kidnapper banged the back of his friend’s seat, urging him on. “Come on, come on, come on!”
“I’m trying, but … goddamn it … they did something to the tirewell. You smell that?”
Just after he said it, the odor of something awful rushed into my nose, like burned rubber maybe. A thrill ran through my bones. They can’t escape with a burned-out tire!
“Pull over before we have a blow out.” The passenger held his knife over the seat at me again. “Stay put or get stuck. That’s all I’m gonna say.”
I frowned at him but didn’t move from the floor. As soon as he was out of the car, though, I climbed up on the seat, scrambling around until I could see out the back window. The driver was too busy freaking out about his car to worry about what I was doing.
The hulking form of the SUV with my friends in it sat against the back of the car I was in, and its doors were opening. My heart leaped into my throat as I realized my friends were coming to my rescue and were probably going to get hurt or killed because of it.
“Don’t even think about it. You’re not going anywhere,” said the driver, reaching over the seat and grabbing the back of my shirt.
I spun around and punched him right in his already bloody and bent nose. “Get off me, asshole!”
He screamed and grabbed his face, letting go of my shirt, a big spurt of blood coming out of his nose and pouring over the seat and his chin. I took advantage of the distraction to jump out of the backseat. The door flew open with my unexpected strength, and I tripped and fell onto the ground on my knees. I looked up and saw the passenger guy with the knife advancing on Kootch, holding the weapon out like he was going to stab him as soon as my friend got close enough.
I didn’t think, I just reacted. Jumping up, I ran at full speed, leaping onto the kidnapper’s back and grabbing his head at the front, both hands on his forehead. I yanked his head back and poked my fingers into his eyes as hard as I could, trying not to think about how they were sinking into his skull.
“Aahhhhh!” He screamed, reaching up with the knife.
I saw it coming and leaned as far to the left as I could to get away from it, but I didn’t let go of his head though, and that was my mistake. The blade caught me in the upper arm, stinging as it easily penetrated my flimsy t-shirt and slid across my skin. Warm blood poured out and ran down to my elbow.
A roar came from somewhere, I couldn’t tell where exactly, and then something hit us. After the impact, I was flying like a bird, airborne. Half a second later, two hundred or so pounds of man and muscle landed on top of me, pushing out all my air and stunning me so badly I no longer knew where I was or what was happening.
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Malcolm
KOOTCH GOT OUT OF THE car first and did a flying tackle on the guy who’d taken Rae. She was hanging onto his back like a spider monkey, pushing his eyeballs into his brain when it happened. I cringed as I watched all three of them go down in a big pile, knowing Rae was going to be on the bottom and was definitely going to get hurt.
“Rae!” I yelled, running over to pull her out of the tangle of arms and legs. Kootch was busy punching her attacker over and over in the face, never giving the guy a chance to do anything but suffer the pain. The knife the man had been holding clattered to the ground and I kicked it away as soon as I was close enough. It slid under the car, out of everyone’s reach.
&
nbsp; I grabbed Rae under her armpits and pulled as hard as I could straight back, praying over and over that she’d be okay.
“Rae! Are you alright? Rae!” Her eyes were closed and she was limp. “Goddamn it, Rae, are you okay?!” I put her down on the ground several feet away from the fighting duo and leaned over her, tapping her lightly on the face. “Come on, babe, wake up. Please wake up.” On my knees, I leaned down and kissed her, feeling stupid for doing it. I’m not a prince who can wake up a princess in a sleeping curse, but I couldn’t think of anything else to do. Tears pricked my eyes and my throat hurt, making my voice rough. “Come on, Rae, please be okay. I don’t want to do this shit without you. We need to stick together, right? Stick with me, Rae.” I leaned down and put my cheek near her mouth. She was still breathing; I could feel the feathery lightness of her breath of my skin.
She’d been stuck by the kidnapper and his nasty-looking blade. I glanced at her arm; there was a lot of blood there and a gaping wound in the skin. It wasn’t enough to kill her, I knew that, but it was going to need some serious stitches. I pulled my shirt off and ripped part of it off the bottom, using it to wrap around the cut. I tied it off right where the cut was, trying not to hurt her but doing my best to stop the bleeding.
Jasmine showed up, dropping down next to us, breathing heavily. “Is she okay? What’s going on?”
“She’s knocked out or something. She’s breathing at least.”
Jasmine checked her neck. “Yeah, her pulse is good. I think. Shit, I have no idea if it’s good, but it’s there.” When she slapped Rae on the face, it took everything I had not to punch her for it.
“Stop! Shit, don’t hit her, Jasmine.”
“We have to get her up.” She leaned down in Rae’s face. “Rae! Get up, bitch! Stop napping while the rest of us are kicking ass out here on the side of the road!”