Pete Cawdron - Feedback

“But you’re saying—”

Jason was cut off by a radio squawking on the professor’s hip. Lachlan raised the radio to his lips, depressed the transmit button and said, “Are we close?”

“Thirty seconds out,” a disembodied voice replied.

“Quick,” the professor said, gesturing to the back of the truck. “Time to go!”

Lily hopped off the crate, still holding Jason’s hand, gently leading him along with her. Jason followed her, dazed. The truck swayed and he reached out with his hand, steadying himself against the wall.

“We need to switch vehicles,” Lachlan said, gesturing for him to follow. “We’ll continue this conversation in our next ride.”

Lily let go of his hand and grabbed the motorcycle.

She pulled the bike up, standing beside it as she flipped the kickstand back beneath the exhaust pipe. Lily began wheeling the bike to one side, walking it in a three point turn as the truck began to decelerate slightly.

Professor Lachlan stood by the door. He had an industrial control panel in his hand, a thick, long rubber-coated panel with only a couple of buttons. As he held his thumb on one of the thick buttons, the door began lowering back down as a ramp again. Hydraulic pistons eased the ramp down until it was level with the scuffed wooden floor of the truck.

Jason came up behind the professor.

Wind swirled into the back of the trailer, drawing in the spray and rain. The freeway behind them was devoid of cars. Streetlights stood at regular intervals, lighting up the lanes of the freeway as they receded behind the truck.

The rain stopped, swiftly and abruptly, and Jason realized they were driving under an overpass as they slowed. No sooner had the rain stopped than Lily rushed past Lachlan and Jason, wheeling the motorcycle out of the truck and onto the ramp. She let go and the motorcycle freewheeled over the edge of the ramp, crashing onto the road and skidding into the dust and mud on the shoulder of the freeway.

The truck didn’t stop.

“Come on,” Lachlan said, jumping down from the moving truck and breaking into a run beneath the overpass. Lily waited for Jason.

Rather than hesitate and talk himself out of jumping, Jason sprang out, surprising himself with how confidently he could move when he really wanted to. He gripped the side of the ramp, swinging his legs over and dropping to the ground. The concrete was further away than he anticipated, and he stumbled, almost falling, but Lachlan grabbed him, jogging alongside as Jason broke into a clumsy trot to keep from keeling over. Lily jumped from the moving truck as Jason came to a halt on the side of the road. She moved gracefully, with the tone and precision of an athlete.

The back of the truck was already rising into place as the truck accelerated out from beneath the overpass. The driver worked through the gears rapidly, racing the engine and picking up speed again as he cut back into the storm.

Standing there beneath the overpass, with the truck already just a set of red lights disappearing into the rain, Jason felt vulnerable, but Lachlan and Lily looked relaxed.

“So,” Jason said to Lily, trying to hide his discomfort with humor. “Do you come here often?”

She smiled. Her face radiated warmth in the cold of night. She had a beautiful smile, but it seemed out of place beneath a decrepit overpass in the midst of a storm.

Lachlan was talking intently on the radio. He walked off beneath the overpass and Jason couldn’t hear what he was saying over the sound of the rain falling on either side of them.

The motorcycle lay in a heap on the side of the freeway. Its handlebars had twisted awkwardly as it fell and green fluid leaked from beneath the front struts. Whether it was antifreeze or brake fluid, Jason wasn’t sure, but another clear liquid soaked into the dust from beneath the seat. That had to be gasoline. Lily didn’t seem to care that her bike had been wrecked.

“I don’t get it,” Jason asked, gesturing toward the expensive dirt bike. “Why go to such elaborate lengths and then dump your motorcycle on the side of the road?”

“We can’t leave any evidence.” Lily replied. “Sooner or later, they’ll match the truck and search the trailer. We need to make the trail as difficult as possible to follow.”

“And that’s going to help?” Jason asked, walking around the bike.

“Oh, it’ll be gone by dawn,” she replied casually, pointing across the freeway, out over the river beside them. “Someone from the Bronx will nab it, someone not related to us, and that will lead DARPA on a wild goose chase into a dead end.”

“But look at it,” he said, gesturing to the cracked plastic and dented muffler. When Lily had first pulled up in front of his building, the motorcycle looked brand new. Now it was a dusty, muddy wreck.

“You’d be surprised,” she replied. “This makes it more attractive. If the bike looked too good, they wouldn’t touch it, expecting a set up. It’s got to look like something they can fence with no questions asked. Nah, this is just about right. It’s a diamond in the rough.”

Lily stood there walking slowly around the motorcycle, admiring her handiwork. She pulled out a smartphone and took a picture of the bike as it lay there on the shoulder of the road.

Rain continued to pour down beyond the overpass. A cold wind blew around them, peppering them with spit and spray.

This was the first opportunity Jason had to stop and think since he’d seen Lily flipping through her cue cards in his bathroom. Lachlan was still talking on the radio. Lily was checking something on her phone. She didn’t have that with her yesterday, he knew. Yesterday, he thought she was sweet and innocent, now he wasn’t so sure.

Jason found himself wondering which side of this battle he’d inadvertently joined by jumping on that motorcycle with her. Something dark was going on, that much was obvious, but what it was still eluded him. He trusted Lily and Lachlan, but he was also aware his trust was without cause. He could be trusting the wrong people! Yes, someone had been shooting at him. But was it him they were aiming for? Or were they warning shots, trying to intimidate the two of them into stopping? He didn’t know.

The rain was somewhat hypnotic, causing him to feel numb.

“Upsetting, huh?” Lily said, coming up behind him and snapping him out of his lethargy.

As if reading his mind, she added, “If it’s any consolation, those guys back there were firing rubber bullets. Body shots sting, but even a rubber round can be lethal if you take one to the head.”

“Ah,” he replied. “That’s why you gave me the helmet.”

“Well, it wasn’t to compensate for my riding,” Lily added, grinning.

“Here they come,” Lachlan said, joining Jason and Lily as he clipped the radio on his belt.

White lights appeared through the night, breaking up in the rain.

“Professor,” Jason began. “I have to say, all of this is freaking me out a little, and a little is an understatement. I’m having a hard time buying what’s going on here. This is crazy! Nothing you’ve told me makes any sense.”

“I know,” Lachlan replied in a soft, kind voice.

“Please be patient,” Lily added, but her words weren’t reassuring. Jason wanted answers. He wanted an explanation that was coherent and complete. So far, all he had were fragments of a puzzle.

“I will tell you anything you want to know,” Lachlan promised, resting his hand on Jason’s shoulder with fatherly care. “There is nothing I will keep from you, Jason. You have to believe me.”

Jason appreciated his honesty, but he was aware that Lachlan was only now offering this promise to him. He’d known Lachlan for years. For at least four years, Lachlan had maintained a facade, a charade.