“Did you see anyone?” Jamie asks.
“No one familiar, but they’re also about half a mile up the road, so what do I know? I didn’t see any of Hickey’s cars.”
“Maybe they left them,” Amy says. “Just piled into that RV of theirs.”
He nods and Cara says she’s going to find us a new route. We go into the shade to rest—it’s an oddly hot day for December. Thoughmaybe not oddly hot for Florida.
About twenty minutes later, we hear the familiar sound of an engine and tires against the road.
Jamie and I jump up, looking at each other to verify we’re both hearing the same thing. We should have gone back somewhere we could hide; instead we’re in the open next to the road. I try to remember a building close by that we can run to, but then the RV rounds the curve ahead of us.
We’re trapped. Again.
I curse under my breath and go back to my bag. As much as I don’t want to, I take out the handgun Jamie stole from the dead man during the alligator attack. Jamie gives me the same look of resignation I must be wearing.
The RV comes to a stop—but there are no other cars behind it. For a while nothing happens, then the door swings open. The first thing I see is empty hands held up toward the sky.
A bald white man with a thick salt-and-pepper beard steps out. A few people follow behind him, but none of them are Hickey or the others from the Keys.
And none of them have weapons.
I lower the gun in my hand as they line up in front of the RV. One of the men catches my attention—a big burly white guy with a scar running down the left side of his face from forehead to jaw, and gauze over his eye.
“The monster!” the Kid yells. I turn and see him duck behind Daphne, who shushes him and tells him what he said is not nice. But the “monster” just laughs and looks at the others, who chuckle along with him.
The bald man shakes his head. “Kevin, I told you to stay hidden.” He turns his attention back to us. “Sorry. Even before he was hurt, he looked like a monster.”
“Fu—” Kevin cuts off the curse, glancing at the kids. “Screw you, Cal.”
“Not much better,” Cal says.
But I’m raising the gun again. “Wait. You’ve been following us? That was you last night?” And the night before. Lurking around us while we slept.
Cal raises his hands again as if to remind us he’s not armed. And Hickey still hasn’t come out of the RV. If they were following us—for at least two days—then maybe Hickey isn’t with them. Why would he let us get farther away from the Keys if he was supposed to bring us back?
“Sorry,” he says again. “We just wanted to be sure before we introduced ourselves.”
“Sure about what?” Rocky Horror joins us. Cara and Amy as well. Amy holds Henri-Two in her arms.
“That the people holding you at gunpoint weren’t still with you. We saw you all on the side of the road. Then two nights ago we saw you drive past us in some of the vehicles, and we thought it was them again. They sent some people after us when we drove past.”
“Yeah,” Jamie says. “We assumed they were sent to invite you to join up with them.”
Cal shakes his head. “If that was the case, it was the worst invitation we’ve ever received. They pulled their guns on us immediately.”
“Where are they?” I ask.
Kevin’s good eye goes back to the kids and he shakes his head.
“Got a couple nice holes in the RV along the way,” Cal says.
“Is that what happened to your eye?” Cara asks.
Cal speaks for Kevin. “No. That was... it happened a while ago.”
“Why did you follow us if you thought we were Admiral Hickey and the others?” Rocky Horror asks.
Again Cal speaks, so I assume he’s the leader. “We wanted to make sure we weren’t running into them again. So when we saw your fire, we waited till you all fell asleep and then scoped you out. When we saw the kids, we assumed you were trying to get away from the others. That the way of it?”
