I’d move heaven and earth to be Sonny Daye for him.
But all I had to do, it seemed, was love him.
And pray for a better tomorrow. Wasn’t that what the song was about? Waiting for a sunny day?
I fell asleep in Ace’s arms, hoping that tomorrow would be a sunny day.
Moving Parts
ERIC’S GPSwas surefire, which was a blessing, because weaving the Winnebago through the desert wilderness without ripping out its chassis wasnoteasy.
After a few scant hours in Brady’s arms, Eric woke and slid out of bed, knowing that the only way to avoid the roadblocks was to wind through the desert and find some of the narrow back roads that the satellite showed.
He’d gone about half an hour when his earbud gave a tone. He hit it and heard the cool voice of Lee Burton. “You up?”
“Looking for the back way to the station in Baker,” he replied tersely.
“We got you on satellite. You’re half a mile from a military road that will take you directly south. Five miles down, you’ll find your west crossroad. It’ll get you to the sheriff’s office by oh-five-thirty.”
“You, sir, are a lifesaver,” Eric said, letting out a relieved breath. According to Brady, shift change was at six.
“That’s not all I got for you,” Burton said. “Ernie told me your cover, about the sidepiece with the love nest, and that got me and Ace thinking. Cuthbert has a wife and kids—he wouldn’t keep the phone there because too many people can find it, you feel me?”
“Yeah,” Eric said, remembering Brady asserting exactly that during their planning session the day before.
“But I came in to work early and ran his financials, and he’s got a spare apartment right square in the middle of Victoriana.Jason’s gone to pay it a visit to see if the phone doesn’t show up there.”
“Does that mean we shouldn’t do the station?” Eric wouldloveto not have to break into a police station.
“No, look for the phone, because this is just a hunch. But also you’re gonna hear dispatch and plans and shit. We may not be able to avoid all the action today, but you can bet your ass you’ll hear something useful. If you’re feeling really bold, steal us a fuckin’ radio, hear me? You got a plan for how to go in?”
“I’m going in to complain about vandalism,” Eric said. “According to Brady, there should be one guy holding down the fort, and the dispatcher talking to the people in the field. While I’m making an unholy stink, he’s going to be sneaking around searching for the phone and doing crime.”
“Gotcha,” Burton said. “Keep your Bluetooth on, even if it makes you look like an asshole, and get out of there quick—especially if we recover the phone first, hear me?”
“Hear you,” Eric said. “And hey, there’s the road.” And thank God. He legit thought the camper was going to fall apart bolt by bolt.
“THE SHO’LLgo faster,” Ace said reluctantly.
“The SUV is safer,” Sonny told him. And then his voice broke a little. “Besides, I see where this is headin’, Ace, and I can’t do that to a friend.”
Ace gave Sonny a fond look, their sweet touches of the night before in his eyes. He could argue for both sides, but the SHO was Sonny’s baby, and Sonny got a say.
“The SHO is pretty identifiable here,” Ace admitted as they stood under the auto bay in the dark. “You got that Forester primed?”
Sonny nodded. While the rest of them had planned, plotted, and discussed, Sonny had spent the last three days working onthat SUV Brady had brought them in his spare time. They hadn’t been able to change out the ID, but then, they hadn’t submitted change of ownership and weren’t legally required to for another four days. And Ace figured Brady had other things to do. Nope, this car was clean, impossible to track since it had already been declared totaled, and thanks to Sonny, it could probably go 40 mph above factory-spec top speed.
The SHO would blow them away, but the odds of anybody knowing where this vehicle came from and who was driving it were significantly lower.
“It would have made an exit,” Ace said wistfully, but then he brightened. “But this way, we can still race the SHO in two weeks, how’s that?”
“I wish you didn’t have to, Ace,” Sonny said softly, and Ace didn’t brush him off. He never did.
“Remember what we said?” he asked, although of course Sonny remembered. “You couldn’t stop working on cars if they tied your hands behind your back.”
“And they couldn’t stop you from driving ’em if they locked you up,” Sonny said. “I hear ya. Let’s get through this day.”
At that moment, they heard the whine of another SUV coming behind them on the desert. Not many people knew this, but between Ace test-driving the SHO and Burton and Ernie finding privacy out behind the gas station before they’d found the cul-de-sac, there was a significant area of flat land out there. He knew Eric and Brady had gone farther north to evade their gunman, but Jai had no problem picking out the well-worn flatness that would help him cut around the roadblocks they could see developing on either side of the garage.
