The Milestone Protocol Ernest Dempsey (best short novels of all time .txt) 📖

“No,” Tara laughed. “And we’re almost there.”

She flicked the blinker and merged onto the exit ramp.

“Do you think we could get something to eat?” Desmond asked sheepishly. “We missed dinner because of the goons at my house.”

Tara giggled and looked back at him in the mirror. “Goons? Where did you pick up that term?”

His shoulders lifted and dropped. “I don’t know. Picked it up, I guess.”

Alex faced her. “Joe and Helen should have some food at their place.”

“Yeah, but we’re still twenty minutes away,” Tara countered. “Besides, it doesn’t look like anyone is following us. Wouldn’t kill us to stop and grab them some burgers or something.”

“Considering the circumstances, I don’t know if I care for your choice of words,” he half-joked. “Okay,” he relented. “We’ll hit a drive-thru.”

Tara steered the car into the first burger joint on the right-hand side of the road. Fortunately, there were no other cars in line and they were able to get their food within minutes. She passed the bags to the back, warning the kids that if they dropped so much as a fragment of a French fry in the floor or on the seat, they would be in big trouble.

In truth, she had no intention of punishing them, but she also didn’t want to ruin what was a nearly mint-condition Camaro.

As Tara pulled back onto the road, she checked both ways, giving an extra look to the left and to the rear to make sure they weren’t being followed.

That’s when she noticed the problem.

In the sepia glow of the metal halide parking lot lights, a nondescript black Chevy Malibu pulled around the back of the drive-thru. It abruptly cut the wheels to the right and turned into an empty parking spot. Tara waited as traffic passed from the left, heading down the road in the direction they were going. She kept an eye on the mirror, watching the sedan. No one got out. And the car didn’t move. It just sat there with the lights on and engine running.

A chill snaked through her.

The last of the line of traffic passed, but she still kept her foot on the brake. Alex frowned at her. “You gonna go, or you waiting for an invitation?”

She swallowed and flashed a look back, an order for him to do the same. He caught the unspoken communication and did as instructed. When he saw the sedan, his spine stiffened, and he nodded.

“That was a good dad joke,” Diego chimed from the back.

“What?” Alex asked nervously.

Corin took a sip of apple juice from the box and giggled. “The joke about waiting for an invitation. That’s such a dad joke.”

“Oh, right,” Alex said.

Tara stepped on the gas and accelerated through the two lanes and back to the other side of the road, stopping at the white line.

“Um, where are we going?” Alex wondered.

“To Joe and Helen’s place,” Tara responded with wide eyes that told him to shut up.

“Oh, okay. I guess I forgot which direction we had to take to get to their house.” To his credit, Alex did a good enough job to cover his tracks. That, or the kids in the back were too busy scarfing down their meals.

The second Tara stepped on the brakes, she noticed the black sedan start to slowly back out of its parking spot.

She was about to step on the gas when the black Malibu accelerated out of the parking lot and turned right before rolling away down the road.

Tara puzzled at the occurrence while she turned left and crossed the bridge over the interstate. She did a U-turn at the next light and continued back in the correct direction toward Joe and Helen’s cabin.

Alex looked back in the mirror and noted the absence of the Malibu.

“I guess you lost them,” he encouraged.

“No,” Tara said. “It wasn’t anything after all. They pulled out and went right before I turned left.”

“Who?” Diego asked as he shoved a fistful of French fries into his mouth.

“No one,” the two in the front answered; suspiciously at the same time.

Diego assessed them both with skepticism and then went back to munching on his fries.

The twenty minutes it took to get from the exit to Joe and Helen’s cabin in the woods, felt like the longest minutes in history. Tara and Alex were both on edge for every second, constantly watching behind them in case they’d picked up a new tail.

As they continued on, the road narrowed to one lane on each side. The traffic thinned to only a scant few cars passing in the other direction and the occasional vehicle behind. Most of the latter ended up turning off the road when they reached their destinations. When the Camaro finally arrived at the gravel turnoff leading to the McElroy cabin, the nearest vehicle behind them was what she figured, based on the headlights, to be a pickup truck at least a thousand feet back.

Once Tara turned off the road and the car was concealed by the dense forest, she felt a little more at ease, and could tell Alex did as well. They visibly relaxed while Tara guided the Camaro down the long, winding driveway.

“What is this place?” Corin asked.

“You said you were taking us somewhere safe,” Desmond added. “You’re not taking us out to the middle of nowhere to leave us for dead, are you?”

Alex huffed a laugh. “No, but great movie reference. Classic.”

Desmond beamed proudly.

“Our friends Joe and Helen have a cabin here. We should be safe. It’s a good spot to lie low until we can figure out how to get you back to your parents.”

Diego stared out at the darkening woods. The thick canopy overhead blotted out the stars in the clear night sky. “You think they’re worried about us?” he asked.

“Probably,” Desmond confirmed.

He sounded matter-of-fact, almost unconcerned, but Diego knew better. None of them wanted their parents to worry about their well-being. He had a sixth sense for that kind of thing. He’d heard of people who could feel the pain of others.