They waited, two minutes, three minutes, and here came the cruiser again, angling back down the ramp, moving at the same slow pace. ‘Coming back,’ Parker said. ‘Just looking it over.’
‘Good,’ Williams said.
The cruiser left Parker’s angle of vision. He waited, then turned around to look down the ramp. ‘It’s gone,’ he said.
Everyone climbed back into the seats. ‘Been a while since I breathed,’ Mackey said. ‘I’m gonna open this window again.’
‘All I want,’ Williams said, ‘is to be in a place I’m not trying to get out of.’
8
After a while they heard the tow truck arrive, a deeper sound with more snarl in it. A while later, it went away again. Now there was nothing to do but wait for the world to wake up and start moving around.
They all napped from time to time, not getting much out of it, but they were all awake when they heard the first car engine start, probably two levels below them. Mackey looked at his watch: ‘Ten to six.’
‘We’ll wait awhile,’ Parker said.
‘Oh, yeah.’
By 6:15, they’d heard half a dozen cars start up and drive away, none of them from this far up the ramp. Then Mackey said, ‘I think we could try it now.’
‘Fine,’ Parker said, and got out of the Honda, pausing with the door open to say, ‘Leave me in the trunk until we get there.’
Climbing out of the passenger seat in front, Williams said, ‘And I’ll stay on the floor.’
‘Close me in,’ Parker said to him. Going to the back of the Honda, he drew the Terrier from its holster, to have ready in his hand in case anything went wrong, and opened the trunk.
As Parker climbed over the rear bumper, Williams grinned at him and said, ‘I know why you want you in there and me on the floor in back.’
Parker looked at him. ‘You’re darker.’
‘Right. You set?’
Parker lay curled on his side. The trunk was a little messy, but mostly empty, and not too uncomfortable. He had to keep his knees bent. With his head cushioned on his folded left arm, right arm resting across his waist, weight of the Terrier on the floor, he was in a position he could maintain for a while. ‘Set,’ he said.
‘See you there,’ Williams said, and shut the trunk.
Now he had only his ears to tell him what was happening. In the blackness, he felt the car dip when Williams got aboard, then heard the engine fire up, then felt a jolt as Mackey backed out of the slot.
The experience was different, done this way. Braking and accelerating seemed more exaggerated, turns more abrupt. Parker was more aware of the Honda going down a fairly steep slope than he would have been if seated in the normal way in the car. He felt the change when they leveled out at the bottom, and gripped the Terrier tighter, waiting for something to go wrong.
If Mackey was challenged, they’d quickly find Williams in back. They’d know they were looking for three men, so would they open the trunk right away? If they did, he’d do what he could. If they impounded the car before searching it, took it away to their pound, he’d try to find the best moment to get out of here.
The car stopped. Was Mackey paying the cashier now, or answering questions? The car started again. It jounced heavily down to street level, turned hard, drove straight, jolted to a stop. Red light. They were out of there.
It was a twenty-minute drive, with red lights and turnings. At the end, the Honda stopped, the door slammed, there was a pause, the door slammed, the Honda jerked forward again, and again it stopped. The door slammed, and then a second door slammed, and the trunk lid lifted. Parker saw Williams raising the lid, Mackey behind him closing the overhead door. They were back at the beer distributor’s.
Parker got out, stiff in a lot of his body, and put the Terrier away, as Mackey came back from the closed door, looking at his watch. ‘Still too early to call Brenda,’ he said, ‘with that block on her calls, so we can’t get out of here yet.’
‘We need sleep,’ Parker said. ‘We’ll stay here now, leave this afternoon.’
Mackey nodded. ‘That’s probably a good idea.’
Williams said, ‘I’m taking off. I’m too itchy, man, I wanna get out of here.’
Mackey said, ‘You got a place to go?’
‘Out of this state,’ Williams told him, ‘then south, then I don’t know.’
Parker said, ‘You don’t have the money you thought you’d have.’
‘I’ll promote some.’
Mackey said, ‘You want to take the Honda?’
Williams raised an eyebrow at him. ‘Yeah?’
‘If it belonged to anybody,’ Mackey said, ‘it belonged to those other guys. Brenda’s got wheels and Parker’s gonna ride with us.’
‘Then I’ll do it,’ Williams said. ‘Thanks.’
Mackey said, ‘You sure you don’t want to get some sleep first?’
