Down in the Zero

'Hold up a few minutes,' I said. 'See if there's a guard on the circuit.'

Nobody spoke for a while.

We gave it fifteen minutes or so.

Nothing.

'You ready, Clarence?'

'You're covered, mahn,' he said, pulling a long black tube from under the seat, holding it pointing down.

'Randy,' I said quietly, leaning forward. 'We're gonna commit a crime here. All of us. Prof and I are going in, Clarence's gonna hold our place, understand? Your job, you start the engine, leave it running. The back doors stay open. Don't worry, no light will show. If we come back walking, you move off slow, okay? But if we come back smoking, you have to go, understand?'

'Yes.'

'You up for it?'

'Yes.'

'Randy, you don't have to do this, okay? We can drop you off somewhere, pick you up when it's done. Reason we need you, it's for the driving.'

'Count me in,' he said, voice steady, looking me in the face.

The Prof and I walked off, Clarence right behind us. 'No shooting,' I told the young man. 'No matter what.'

Clarence ignored me, his handsome West Indian face totally trained on the Prof. The little man nodded. 'Your play, your way,' is all he said. Clarence walked back toward the car. The Prof and I strolled toward the wall, stepping carefully, eyes on full sweep.

'You strapped down, schoolboy?'

'I'm empty.'

'So what's the game, son? This ain't no B&E we doing, is it?'

'No. What we're gonna do, we're gonna go over the wall, look around a little bit. Worst that happens, we get busted, it's a trespass, that's all.'

'Say why, Sly.'

'We wait a bit, okay? Then we come busting out, tell the kid to fly. I gotta see what he's made of…give him a chance to stand up without us taking a risk on a fall.'

'He's a little tight, but he'll be all right.'

The wall was not quite chest–high, but wide across the top. I couldn't see any sensors. Would they have cameras this far out?

I went over first. Waited on the ground, listening. The quiet was thick, like it had been around a long while, settling in.

The Prof came next. With our backs against the wall, it was more than a football field's run to the nearest building.

'Too easy,' the Prof whispered.

He was right. I could feel the buildings standing across the broad expanse of neatly trimmed lawn, bristling with…what?

'This is enough,' I whispered back. 'Give it another five minutes and we're off.'

We settled back against the wall, watching, nerve endings throbbing, fully extended.

It was quiet as a congressman's conscience.

I threw a hand signal at the Prof. We climbed over the wall, him first. When we got to the other side, we took off running.

The Plymouth was standing, ready to roll, the back doors open, Clarence down on one knee by the front wheel.

'Go!' I barked at Randy as the Prof and I piled into the back seat with Clarence a step ahead of us in front.

The kid came out of the chute like a rocket sled, straight and true, making the adjustment from grass to pavement perfectly. The Plymouth's monster motor was wound tight in seconds, holding in low gear with a baritone scream. Randy felt his way into the J–curve, running without lights, working the big car into a controlled skid, goosing it through with the throttle.

'They're coming,' I said into his ear, leaning over the back seat. 'Let it out.'

The Plymouth gobbled the straightaway in humongous gulps, the engine singing a different harmonic as Randy upshifted. We came to a switchback— the kid braked and downshifted in one motion, staying on the gas with his other foot, keeping the spring coiled. He was a skater on black ice, leaning into the curves with the Plymouth, being the car. We hit another straight stretch and I looked over his shoulder— the tach was at five grand and climbing, way over a hundred miles an hour.

'You bought us some time, kid,' I told him. 'Quick— find a place to pull over.'

He hit the brakes, snapped the Plymouth into a turnoff as neatly as a tongue–in–groove carpenter, stayed alert at the wheel as we all jumped out. The Prof and I each pulled one of the Day–Glo circles off the black doors, Clarence stripped the tape from the bumper. The license plates took only another minute…and we were legit.