drove away, waving as he went. He accelerated slowly, shifted smoothly, and seemed to be a good driver. Tony and Shahla climbed into the truck. It was somewhat messy inside, but appeared to be drivable. It was quite new. It had a remote for locking and unlocking the doors.
“You need to find a better way to introduce me,” Shahla said as he backed down the driveway. “‘My, uh… friend’ doesn’t cut it.”
“Sorry. I was going to introduce you as my sister, but then I thought there was no reason to lie.”
“Just ‘friend’ is fine. It’s the hesitation that hurts. We are friends, aren’t we? We’ll still be friends when this is all over, won’t we?”
“Of course.” Of course. Tony concentrated on getting to the intersection Nathan had named. Shahla watched the map and gave him directions. They approached from the south. Nathan had said the southeast corner. Tony stopped the truck a hundred yards from the corner. Nathan’s car wasn’t there. They were on a residential street with some vacant lots. The corner lot was vacant. Traffic was light. Nobody was outside.
Tony said, “I know you haven’t driven a stick-shift before, but you’re going to have to drive this from here to the corner. You can do it in first gear. I’ll talk you through it.”
“Where are you going to be?”
“On the floor in front of your seat. In fact, let’s trade places right now.”
They managed the switch with some jostling.
“We need a plan that protects your safety,” Tony said. He was getting more and more apprehensive as the meeting time approached. “I will hide when Nathan comes into view. When he parks, drive up until you’re behind him, but not too close. We want to be able to pull out fast if we have to. Leave the engine running and the door open when you get out. I hope to hell we’re right in thinking that he doesn’t have a gun.”
“Tina only mentioned a knife.”
“All right, but stay behind his car. Under no circumstances are you to get in the car. Do you understand that? If he starts to get out of the car, you immediately get back in the truck.”
“But we’ve got to get Tina out.”
“Tell him that Tina has to get out before you get in. But as soon as Tina is out, you yell for me, and I’ll get out of the truck. Then both of you hightail it to the truck.”
“What if he comes at you with his knife?”
Tony had been rummaging in the glove compartment of the truck. He pulled out a box cutter. “I’ll use this. It’s what the terrorists used on 9/11.”
“It won’t do any good against a knife.”
“Let’s see what else we’ve got.” There were some items behind the seats. Tony found a large flashlight and a crowbar, among other things. “I’ll use the crowbar as a weapon. Maybe I should get out of the truck when you do.”
“But seeing you will be like seeing the police for him. He might kill Tina before you can do anything.”
There was no safe way to do this. The discussion continued. Tony showed Shahla how to use the clutch to shift into first gear and neutral. That’s all she would have to be able to do, like the terrorists who had to be able to fly a plane but not land it. They were talking, and when the car came up behind them, Tony almost didn’t hear it, even though the truck windows were wide open.
Shahla glanced in the rearview mirror and said, “It’s him.”
Tony ducked, hopefully before Nathan could see him through the rear window of the truck, and hunched down on the floor in front of the passenger seat. The position was painful to his knee. He heard the car drive slowly past them.
“Tina is in the front seat,” Shahla said, sounding relieved, but without moving her lips. “She looks okay. I think Nathan saw me. He’s stopping. Now he’s parked at the corner.”
“All right, drive up behind him.” Tony’s heart was hammering. He wished he could play a more active part in this. He was afraid for both Shahla and Tina.
Shahla started the engine all right, but when she shifted into first gear and released the clutch the truck stalled.
“A little more gas, and then release the clutch very slowly.”
She tried again. This time the engine roared as the truck crept forward. Then suddenly it lurched ahead.
“Foot off the gas,” Tony yelled over the noise of the engine. “Depress the clutch and coast.”
Shahla got the truck under control and coasted slowly to a stop. She put it in neutral and set the parking brake. She made a move to open the door.
“Wait,” Tony said, softly. “What’s he doing?”
“Nothing,” Shahla whispered, speaking like a ventriloquist. Just sitting in the car.”
“Open the door, but don’t get out yet.”
Shahla did that. After a few seconds, she carefully stepped down to the pavement, moved around the open door, and was out of Tony’s sight. He gripped the crowbar hard with one hand and put his other hand on the handle of the passenger door, ready to open it and jump out of the truck. He strained his ears, trying to hear over the idling of the truck engine.
Tony heard engine noise from the other car. It was starting up. Did Nathan have Shahla? In a panic, he raised his head and looked through the windshield. No, Shahla was standing right in front of the truck. Something had spooked Nathan, and he had taken off.
Tony scrambled over to the driver’s seat and sat down. Shahla ran around to the passenger side and jumped in. Tony slammed the gearshift into first gear and took off after the silver car. It had immediately turned the corner and was heading back toward La Cienega.
“Call the Bonita Beach Police,” Tony said. “They can coordinate the chase. We’ve got to try to keep him in sight and give the police an opportunity to stop him.”
“What about Tina?”
“We’ll have to take the chance. As long as he’s driving, he won’t hurt her-unless he cracks up. And we won’t get too close to him”
Shahla got the Bonita Beach station on the line. She gave reports on Nathan, which were passed on to other units. “He’s heading north on La Cienega…he’s turned left…he’s turned left again…he’s disappeared.”
Nathan had lost them again, through a series of risky but clever left turns. When he was sure Nathan was long gone, Tony parked the truck, despondent. He and Shahla sat slumped in their seats, not speaking. A police car rolled by a few minutes later, but aimlessly, without direction.
CHAPTER 38
“He knows you’re with me,” Shahla finally said. “I’m sure he won’t speak to me again.”
“It’s time for the faithful to gather,” Tony said. The sun had set. “Let’s go back to the park. That’s where we’ll find Nathan.” He said it with more confidence than he felt. Even if that was the gathering place, had they scared Nathan so much that he wouldn’t show up?
“It’s all we can do.” Shahla was really in the dumps.
They took the exit from La Cienega that led to the park. As they drove toward the entrance, they saw a police car parked across the road, completely blocking it. Two uniformed officers, one male and one female, were leaning against the car, shining flashlights at Tony’s truck to make sure he stopped. He did.
“Don’t get out,” Tony said to Shahla. He didn’t want them making any moves that might look suspicious to the police.
The female officer came to Tony’s window and said, “The park is closed.”
Tony said, “I’m Tony and this is Shahla. We’re the ones who spotted the kidnapper a little while ago. He’s with the group that believes they’re going to ascend into heaven tonight. We think they might come here.”
“That’s why we’re here,” the officer said. “We cleared everybody out at sunset. That’s when it closes, anyway. There’s nobody in the park. If anybody shows up, they have to go through us.”
“When we were here this afternoon, we found a couple of gates leading from the ridge into residential areas. Somebody must have keys to those gates.”
