Jenny got out but stood behind the safety of the door.
“There’s a flashlight in the glove compartment,” Joey said. “Would you get it?” Goose had always been a stickler for being prepared. The glove compartment also contained emergency highway flares, and there was a large medical kit in the trunk.
Joey took the flashlight and switched it on. The beam cut through the night that had closed in around them. The Suburban’s beams slashed across the top of his mom’s car. Joey walked back and peered at the Suburban’s cab.
Nothing moved behind the glass. The greenish glow of the dashboard lights outlined the seats and filled the cab. If anyone was inside, he or she had to be lying down.
Joey directed the flashlight’s beam into the Suburban. As brave as he’d acted in the car, the last thing he wanted to face was a drunken military guy who wanted to blame him for the wreck. He’d seen young Rangers who’d had too much to drink get into fights, and even somewhat inebriated, those men remained dangerous.
“Maybe the driver is hurt.” Jenny came over to Joey and took his arm in her hands. She looked worried. “We need to check on him.”
Having the young woman that close, smelling her perfume, Joey felt ten feet tall. He was definitely the guy, and the logical choice to step into the potential danger. “I’ll check on him.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“It might not be safe.” Joey hoped that it was, but he wanted her to realize that he might be taking his life in his hands. Well, maybe not his life, but he could get socked. Of course, if he got socked and then was able to restrain the guy the way Goose and Bill had, he’d be a hero, right? Maybe it wouldn’t matter so much that he was only seventeen.
“Why wouldn’t it be safe?” she asked.
“He could be drunk.”
A frown of distaste turned Jenny’s lips down. She’d obviously wiped her face because blood smeared her chin. “I’ve been around drunks before. Trust me, if he’s drunk I won’t feel like we owe him anything.”
Joey started preparing his next argument and Jenny left him standing there. He jogged to catch up. Man, he couldn’t figure her out. She’d gone nuts on him in the car, and now she was willing to walk into a situation like this.
On the passenger side of the Suburban, Joey stepped in front of Jenny. She didn’t protest. Trying not to shake, Joey directed the flashlight’s beam into the big SUV.
No one was inside.
Joey continued examining the Suburban’s interior, looking for a bottle or beer cans. Surely there was something that would help his case with his mom when he tried to explain what had happened to her car.
“Did he get out?” Joey asked.
“Who?”
“The driver.”
“Did you see the driver get out?” Jenny’s tone turned unexpectedly sarcastic.
“I think that was during the time I was kinda knocked unconscious,” Joey replied.
“If I’d seen someone get out of this car, I’d have told you.” She stepped back from him and crossed her arms.
Joey sighed. Man, there was nothing he could say that didn’t lead to a potential argument. “I didn’t say that you wouldn’t.”
“Then what were you saying?”
He turned to her. “Look, Jenny, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come across like that. But there’s no way whoever was driving this SUV just disappeared.”
She narrowed her eyes angrily. “Then you’re saying this car just rolled down the road till it hit us?”
Joey looked back down the street. There were no parking places, no stops along the way where a driver might have left an idling vehicle.
“Something else happened,” Jenny said, looking back out at the traffic. “We weren’t the only ones it happened to.”
Turning his attention back to the Suburban, Joey tried the passenger door. The door opened easily. The SUV had obviously sustained less damage than his mom’s car.
“What are you doing?” Jenny demanded.
Joey popped the glove compartment open. “Trying to find out who owns this SUV. A lot of people carry their insurance papers in the glove compartment.” He rifled through the contents and found a small expandable file that contained the insurance verification form.
Anthony Macintyre was a sergeant who lived at Fort Benning.
“Hey,” Jenny said. “Look in the driver’s seat.”
Instinctively, Joey started to withdraw, thinking there was something dangerous there. He swung the flashlight beam over the uniform lying on the seat as though the clothes had been driving the car. Before he could move, Jenny shoved in beside him and reached across the passenger bucket seat and plucked the uniform from the driver’s seat.
As Joey watched in disbelief, Jenny went through the clothing. She opened the leather wallet. “Sergeant Macintyre, Anthony. That what you found?”
“Yeah. You really shouldn’t—”
“Joey, something really weird is going on here. We need to know everything we can.” Jenny picked up the guy’s cell phone and punched buttons. “The last call he got was from Fort Benning.” She showed Joey the glowing screen.
Joey recognized the exchange as one that belonged to the military base even though he didn’t recognize the number.
Jenny punched another button and held the phone to her ear.
“What are you doing?” Joey asked.
“Returning the call,” Jenny said. “Maybe we can find out who called Sergeant Macintyre, Anthony.”
“What?” Joey absolutely could not believe it. “Do you know how much trouble we’ll be in?”
“Joey, look around. A lot of people are already in trouble. Do you think this many people just happened to wreck all at the same time?”
Disorientation rocketed through Joey as he surveyed the wrecked cars and the milling people. This can’t be real. It can’t.
“No answer,” Jenny said. “Just a recording that all circuits are busy.”
Joey fished his own cell phone from his jacket pocket. “Maybe it’s just that phone. Let me see the number.” When Jenny showed him the screen, he
