The Secret of Rover (24 page)

“Salad!” said Mike. “Didn't even know they sold those here. Well, suit yourself.” And he placed their orders from the driver's window.

Money changed hands and a heavenly aroma was borne in through the window in crisp, white bags. Mike idled the car briefly while he distributed the paper-wrapped packets and foam containers, and everyone inserted their drinks, hissing fizzily, into the cab's various cup holders. Then the car again sped forward, this time in silence as everyone happily chewed.

David's taquitos were divine. He popped the last crisp bite into his mouth and, sighing, brushed the crumbs from his chest with greasy fingers. They had eaten well at their uncle Alex's, but after their days of hunger he still relished a square meal.

“Want one, Uncle Alex?” asked Katie. “Did you ever have them before? They're really good.” And she offered him one of the four fried, rolled tacos that rested on the wax
paper spread across her lap. Her face was so beseeching—and then, too, the aroma was so compelling—that with a sad smile her uncle accepted one.

“Poor Uncle Alex,” said David happily. “First we drag you onto a highway for the first time in fifteen years. Then we make you eat taquitos.”

“Fifteen years—that how long you been up there? Man,” said Mike between sips of his soda. “Didn't know it'd been that long. How'd you make out in that big snow we had, 'bout eleven years back?”

“Do you have any more of those?” said Alex, swallowing his last bite of taquito.

Everyone shouted with laughter. “It's fantastic,” Alex said sheepishly. “I've never tasted anything so good.”

And their wheels ate yet more miles as Alex ate another taquito from Katie's stash.

The bathroom, of course, followed the lunch stop as night follows day.

“May as well gas up, too,” said Mike, pulling into a filling station. “But let's make it a quick one. Don't want to be finding a bed in Washington too late at night.”

David and Katie went first to the restrooms while Mike filled up the cab and Alex studied their map. But their uncle was waiting for them when they emerged, and he had good news.

“We've come farther than I thought,” he said. “I was
afraid this was taking longer than it should, but we're right on schedule. Go ahead and stretch your legs and I'll see you back at the car in a moment.”

Though they were safe now, Katie still felt a tug of fear as they wandered into the glass-fronted shop where the station attendant sat in his booth. She'd had too many bad experiences in these places lately. “I wonder if I'll ever feel the same way about gas stations again,” she said to David. “I mean, after all the scary things that have happened to us.”

“I wonder if Uncle Alex would let us have some of these,” said David by way of reply. His eye was roving over a case of candy bars.

“David, you know he hates unhealthy food. I don't think we should ask him. Don't even look,” said Katie, turning her eyes steadfastly out the window.

“He probably wouldn't—”

“David—look!”

“I thought you just said
don't
loo—”

“No—outside! Look—isn't that the same car we saw in Vermont?” Just on the other side of the glass, filling up at the nearest pump, was a black SUV with a crooked fender. “We saw that car back in Melville. Don't you remember?”

“There are a lot of those cars, Katie.”

“No. I remember the fender. It was beside us when we left the bank.”

David studied the front of the car. “That's amazing,”
he said. “It's a pretty incredible coincidence. How many miles do you figure it's been?”

But Katie's face was ashen. “It's not a coincidence, David! That car is following us!”

“Oh . . .” Now David went pale. “Do you think—” He craned his neck, but whoever was filling up the car was hidden behind the vehicle's bulky body and could not be seen.

“We can't let Mike know,” continued Katie, her mind working fast. “We have to tell Uncle Alex before he gets back to where Mike is. No—don't go past that guy!” She snatched the back of David's T-shirt as he moved toward the exit. “What if he pulls you into his car?”

“But there goes Uncle Alex,” said David, pointing as their uncle walked from the restroom to the taxi, where Mike was just screwing in the gas cap.

“Wait here. Maybe he'll come get us.”

But it was Mike who came to get them.

“Time's up, kids,” he called, half opening the door of the shop and calling in.

“Wait!” cried Katie as he turned to leave ahead of them. She did not want to walk past the SUV by herself.

“'Tsa matter?” asked Mike in a puzzled but not unkind voice. “I'm not gonna leave here without you.”

They ducked through the door under Mike's big arm and scurried back to the cab. Katie couldn't look, but David stole a glance around the SUV as they passed it. Too late.
Whoever had been pumping had gotten back in the car and was bent over behind the wheel as if rummaging in the glove compartment. Shadowy bodies lurked in the backseat but every face was completely invisible.

“Ready?” called Alex as David and Katie returned to the taxi. His warm smile shone on them. Mike was right there, and they could say nothing. They would have to find a way to speak without words. As she bent to climb into the car Katie turned her back to the driver's seat, tugged quickly at her uncle's arm, and flashed him a face of pure alarm.

His smile froze. With the slightest possible flick of her head and eyes Katie gestured to the black car, then slid across to her seat.

Casually, as if he were merely stretching, Alex craned his head to the left and stole a quick glance at the SUV before sliding in after her. The black car had pulled away from the pump and was loitering at the side of the station, motor running. The driver's face was concealed behind an enormous map, and the back windows were obscured by a thick, dark glass. The crooked fender hung sloping down the front. The SUV appeared to be waiting for them.

“Everybody ready?” Mike sang out. “
Heeeere
we go!” He pulled toward the exit, merged into the oncoming traffic, and headed for the on-ramp.

The black SUV was right behind them.

The hardest part was not the relentless presence of the SUV. In a way, that part was actually easy. It simply did not leave them. It hugged their every movement like a shadow. They wondered, in fact, how they had missed it before. They wondered how Mike could miss it now.

Nor was it particularly hard not to be able to talk about what they were all thinking. None of them knew, after all, what they would have said.

The hardest part, rather, was concealing the change in their mood from Mike. For a while they tried to maintain the cheerful banter that had caused the first part of their journey to pass so speedily. But the cold fear in each of their hearts made this impossible.

“I'm kind of tired,” said Katie apologetically after about fifteen minutes of futile effort. “I might just try to rest.”

“That's a good idea,” urged her uncle, getting it. “You should probably do the same, David.” And after that they rode in silence.

The hours passed. New York seemed ages behind them and the green highway signs overhead began to count down the miles to Baltimore. Then right around dinnertime Baltimore too flashed past and the sky began to dim as they flew south toward Washington DC. Katie's stomach tightened. They were approaching home and were now driving through territory that was somewhat familiar to her and David. How strange it was to be here under these conditions.

“Where to in Washington, Passenger?” Mike's gruff and kindly voice broke the long silence. Katie felt another pang of remorse that they had all gone so unaccountably quiet on him. She hoped his feelings weren't hurt.

Alex flipped open the map and searched through a panel with a detailed picture of the Washington DC streets. Katie's heart sank when she saw it. She no longer wanted to reach their destination. With that car slithering along beside them she was terrified to emerge from the warm safety of their taxi.

“C Street,” said Alex finally.

Katie looked at David and knew he was wondering the
same thing. There were government offices on C Street. Which one were they going to?

“You'll want to go north around the Beltway,” Alex continued. “I'll tell you the way from there. I doubt we'll hit traffic this late,” he added, muttering worriedly to himself. “Rush hour's probably over by now.”

Wasn't it good to miss rush hour? Katie wondered why her uncle sounded concerned.

Closer and closer they flew, and the road that had been somewhat familiar became very familiar. First the Beltway was approaching; then they were on the well-known parkway that encircled the city of Washington. With a pang of regret, Katie and David watched as they sped past the exit that led to their own lost home. Their uncle had certainly been right; there was no traffic.

The sky, which had been gradually fading, was now a clear but deep blue and a very few stars had pricked through the darkness. Then Alex was guiding Mike to an exit and they were soaring around the curve of it and gliding in toward the city. Their ugly black shadow followed them as if it were attached by a string.

The streetlamps were on in the city, and lights gleamed everywhere. Alex seized David's wrist and looked anxiously at his watch.

Suddenly Katie understood. They were heading downtown. They were on their way to a government
office. If they got there too late, whoever it was that they were trying to find would have gone home. With a spasm of fear she imagined what would happen to them if they were met with a locked door, with that black car hot on their heels.

Now Alex was hitched forward in his seat and directing Mike through the city streets in a low, steady voice. It was well after eight o'clock. Pedestrians hurried along the emptying sidewalks in the fading light, and through the glass windows of the restaurants, faces clustered over candles that glimmered on tabletops.

They were surely too late.

Their taxi rolled smoothly down the nearly vacant avenues, and the black SUV rolled behind them. And then they hit traffic.

It happened on a side street. Alex had pointed Mike toward a right turn, and as soon as the cab rounded the corner it stopped short. The block ahead was wall-to-wall cars.

Everyone gasped.

“Sum'pm's wrong here,” said Mike, concentrating.

“It's too late in the day for this,” said Alex. “There must be an accident or something.” For a moment or two the cab sat motionless, with a pickup truck three feet ahead of it and the black SUV three feet behind. Mike turned his eyes to his rearview mirror and stared right at the big, dark car.

If he could look, then they could too. The children
craned their necks around. As they did so the windows of the SUV began gliding ominously downward. Despite herself Katie caught her breath.

“OK,” said Mike, “that's about enough of that. Everybody, hold on.” Gripping the gearshift he shoved the lever into reverse. Then with another quick glance in his rearview mirror he hit the gas and slammed the taxi backward, ramming the crooked fender behind him and knocking it to the pavement with a clatter.