alternated like opposing sentinels before the rooms at ground level and behind the wrought iron railing of a second-story balcony.
Julia and Stephen clambered out as Allen paid double the fare. He climbed out on the driver's side and watched Julia over the roof as she pulled a newspaper from a machine, folded it, and slipped it into an open side pocket of the gym bag.
'Take care, buddy,' the driver said, and Allen believed he meant it. Their melancholy silence had conveyed the true depth of their plight more than he'd realized.
'Just remember our deal.'
'Oak Ridge.'
Allen slapped the roof in acknowledgment, and the taxi pulled away.
forty-six
In the shade of the balcony, Stephen stood solid as
a totem pole, stone-faced and still a bit dazed by his injuries, which had to be cleaned and dressed.
Allen wanted a few hours of shut-eye for himself. He reached for the office door, but Julia stopped him.
'Not here,' she said. Through the glass door, they could see that the office was unoccupied. Behind the brochure-crowded counter, a shadow moved on the open door to a back room. Julia hitched her head to the side, urging the men to follow her. They moved quickly into a breezeway at the elbow of the building where an ice machine and a soda dispenser hummed quietly.
'We're not going to take any more chances,' she said. 'The people after us are too determined and too resourceful. There's another motel about a mile back the way we came.'
'Think the cabbie will rat us out?' Allen asked.
She smiled.
Allen nodded. 'Yeah, it's a small town about the same distance from Knoxville as Maryville, but in the opposite direction. I figured the cabbie's odometer would support the story.'
'Let's not count on it working. Sooner or later, our enemies will figure they've been duped. You figure that killer could pressure the truth out of the cabbie?'
'Without breaking a sweat,' Stephen said. If the strong resonance of his words was any indication, he was feeling better.
'How are you doing?' Julia asked.
'Flesh wound.'
'So what was that kung fu stuff back there?' Allen asked.
'Tang soo do, actually,' Stephen said. 'Like tae kwon do, but its emphasis is on respecting the humanity of your opponent. The object is to use only the moves and the force necessary to stop an attack, escalating the severity of your blows only as the threat becomes greater.'
'How much greater could that warrior's threat have been?'
'Shoulda brought a rocket launcher.'
'You should have brought some brains,' Julia snapped. 'That was a stupid move, taking him on.'
Stephen looked hurt. Allen realized that Julia's bold actions had impressed his brother as well.
Stephen said, 'I knew if we just ran, he'd overtake us, shoot us or something. I thought the only chance we had was for me to confront him. Turned out that was like a gazelle picking a fight with a tiger.'
'I thought you did well,' said Allen. 'And you're right, we'd probably all be dead if you hadn't fought him.'
'And that's how we'll all end up if we don't get moving.' Julia shifted the gym bag to her right shoulder. 'Let's take a back street to the motel.'
The thought of a cool, dark motel room made Allen drowsy. He'd risen early yesterday after a restless night, only to put in a typically hectic day, followed by a decidedly untypical night of escaping from gun-toting killers. Three hours of fitful sleep in the cramped front seat of Stephen's Vega just didn't cut it. He heard himself say, 'Four hours of undisturbed slumber sounds like nirvana to me.'
'No sleep, Allen. We don't have time. I have some calls to make, and you have some errands to run.'
Her words knocked him back a step. Who was she to determine their agenda? Returning her direct gaze, he sensed that the way he responded would shape an important dynamic to their relationship. He'd always been a leader himself, yielding authority to no one, especially a woman. She might have more experience in covert matters, but did her knowledge of the criminal mind and her prowess with weapons give her a right to assume control of their destinies? As he opened his mouth to protest, the ice machine loudly dumped a tray of ice into its holding bin.
Allen jumped and snapped his head toward the machine, feeling Stephen tense up beside him. Julia didn't flinch, merely continued to watch him. It seemed that surviving in the shadowy underworld of dark villains had made her unflappable. He had to admit, regardless of her gender and age, she was the most qualified to see them through this insane battle.
'What?' she asked.
'I think I feel a second wind coming on.'
She spun and strode out the far end of the breezeway, heading for the street that ran parallel to Broadway Avenue.
He was glad she hadn't smiled. Stephen stepped past him, briefly patting him on the back with a mitt-sized hand.
'I will not give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids,' he said and walked on.
'Come again?' Allen moved to catch up with him.
'Psalm 132. David was determined to build God's temple. Julia is determined to triumph over these people after us.' Stephen was walking in great strides now, either feeling no pain or simply ignoring it. The right side of his shirt clung to his skin. The blood on it had spread like a perspiration stain under his arm, spanning down to his hip.
'We have been moved already beyond endurance and need rest,' Allen recited. At Stephen's inquisitive look, he said, 'John Maynard Keynes, first Baron of Tilton.'
''Be strong, show yourself a man.' First Kings.'
Allen laughed. ''A dying man needs to die, as a sleepy man needs to sleep, and there comes a time when it is wrong, as well as useless, to resist.' Steward Alsop.'
'Oh-ho!' Stephen roared, ready to counter.
They walked on like that, lobbing the wisdom of others at each other. Julia marched silently ten feet ahead, leading them toward the motel. While the bright sun warmed their skin, a gentle breeze sweeping off the mountains kept them from perspiring. Traversing this quiet back street so soon after arriving eased their sense of being pursued. This place, where an occasional dog barked from its backyard home and children drew hopscotch grids with colored chalk in driveways, was galaxies away from the pit that spawned germ-creating madmen and their bloody minions. Tension evaporated in the heat like morning dew. For a few minutes, they even felt safe.
The slowing movements of Julia's head revealed that her darting scrutiny of their surroundings had turned to careful observance. They deviated from their course once to patronize a drugstore she spotted across Broadway. Stephen purchased medical supplies and an XXL T-shirt emblazoned with the message HUGGABLE, which he probably should have slipped into at the store, but he decided to wait until they were ensconced in the motel. All three picked up toiletries.
Ten minutes later, Julia brought the group to a halt.
'Okay, there's the motel.' A portion of its sign was visible over the roof of a house. 'Allen, we'll say we're married. Stephen, hang out here for about fifteen minutes, then come. Our room will be the one with the washcloth sticking over the top of the door. We'll try to get one around back.'
In the glow of the first brotherly camaraderie he had experienced in years, Allen had almost forgotten their fugitive status. 'Why should he wait here?' he asked.
'Two shall live where three would die.' She grinned and walked away.
'Shakespeare?'
