Alistair McIntyre - Shallow Creek

“Positive. Please trust me.”

The silence on the open line provided Brendan with little solace.

“Sure,” his dad finally said, defeated.

Brendan choked back what he pretended wasn’t a tear and hung up. When his phone reverted back to the phonebook screen, he saw another useful entry, but knew he couldn’t just call. He’d have to do this one in person.

Chapter 43

Crouched between two parked cars, Brendan scanned the street one last time before making his move. The act of standing shot searing pain into his midsection, but he managed to reduce his reaction to a mere grimace. Screaming in pain wasn’t going to help him sneak around much, not in this quiet neighborhood. He crossed the street quickly and mounted the stairs to Kim’s apartment.

No obvious cops had watched the place, or even swung by, in the fifteen minutes Brendan had spent observing from down the street. Confident that the police and DEA were focusing their efforts elsewhere, Brendan rapped on the door and stepped back. Only when he heard the shuffling of feet approaching the door from the other side did Brendan suddenly realize Kim’s mother was probably watching him right now. Did she have any good reason to call the cops on him? He didn’t think so, but it was hard to tell friend from foe at this point. A quick glance back to the kitchen window of the main house revealed no sign of Kim’s mom.

“What are you doing here?”

Kim looked like crap. She wore her bathrobe and some house slippers shaped like a cartoon character Brendan vaguely recognized. Her hair was a mess and she had a box of tissues in one hand.

“You feeling okay?” he asked gingerly, testing the waters.

“I’m sick,” she said, her congested sinus fully evident in her voice. “I’m the only person who can get a cold when it’s seventy degrees out.”

She was probably sick because of the huge swings in temperature that this part of the country suffered from at this time of the year. Sure, it was seventy plus during the day, but at night the air could dip below fifty.

“That sucks. Can I come in and talk for a second?”

“No. You’re an asshole for even showing up here,” she said, but the door stayed open.

“I’m sorry for not telling you, and I wish I had a better explanation other than, ‘I don’t remember any of it.’”

“Yeah, right.”

Brendan held his hands up in surrender. “Fine, don’t believe me. That’s not even why I’m here. I think my brother kidnapped two DEA agents and is holding them at his cabin.”

“Wait, what? Are you serious?”

She sneezed as she moved back from the door to make way for him, but Brendan ignored the invitation. Suddenly he didn’t want to tempt fate by entering a contaminated zone.

“Yeah, the DEA have been on to him recently, and I think he kidnapped these cops,” Brendan said. “They’re in danger.”

“So I was right about Grant?” she asked before blowing her nose prolifically.

“Looks like it. I think he’s up near the top of this local operation.”

“So why are you here? Go tell the cops about this place.”

“The police aren’t exactly my best friends right now. They think I’m involved with my brother’s scheme.”

“Are you?”

“Am I what?”

“Involved with Grant,” Kim said, as if talking to a stupid child.

“No. Of course not.”

She processed all of this for a few moments before speaking again. “Can I trust you?”

“Yes.”

“I trusted you before. I trusted you more than anyone else I’ve ever met.”

“I know, and I’m sorry for that,” Brendan said. “I want to make that up to you somehow, but right now, I need a favor.”

She rolled her eyes and walked away. “Here it comes.”

“I need your car.”

She sat down on a stool near the front door. “To go where? To your brother’s cabin?”

Brendan nodded.

“Is it anywhere near your family’s old cabin?”

“Yes, why?”

“You’ll need more than my crappy little car out there, Brendan. Use your head.”

Kim got up and brushed past him as she made her way down the stairs. He hurried along behind her, wondering what she was up to.

“Wait here,” she said at the backdoor to the main house.

Obeying her without protest, Brendan leaned against the back wall, right next to the door. Checking every direction for cops or other general onlookers, Brendan tried hard to not look too nervous as he waited for Kim to reappear from inside the house. When a black sedan slowly cruised by the long driveway, his heart crawled into his throat until the car moved on.

After waiting a full minute, Brendan started to get antsy. What was she doing in there? People’s lives could hang in the balance, and she was off doing God only knew what.

What if she called the cops? Was that why she’d lured him out here, so that she could get into the house, away from him, to make the call in privacy?

As Brendan peeled himself cautiously off the wall, the door opened and Kim appeared, keys in hand.

“Take my mom’s truck.”

She handed the keys over and clicked the garage door open with the remote in her other hand. The wide aluminum door ascended to reveal a pristine, blue Ford F-150 with all-terrain tires and a short lift kit. A gleaming toolbox hung across the bed, right under the rear window.

“I can’t promise it’ll look this good when I bring it back,” Brendan said, admiring the clean machine.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m going to tell her you stole it.”

“What? Why?”

She smiled beautifully despite her cold. “Just kidding. Don’t be a dumbass.”

Brendan recovered enough to get into the truck and start the engine. He rolled down the window as he backed it out, carefully avoiding Kim’s car in the process.

“Have you got any money?” Kim called to him.

Brendan stopped the truck. He patted his pockets. “I left everything at my parents’ house.”

“Here, you stole this from my mom, too.” She passed him a few folded twenties through the open window. “And don’t think this means I’m not still pissed at you.”

“Can we sort that out later?” She folded her arms and nodded. “Thanks a lot for your help. I really appreciate it.”

She huffed a little and waved him on. “Go fix this, and then come back to me in one piece, okay?”

Chapter 44

Hope enveloped Brendan as he drove casually out of the neighborhood. Kim still had a thing for him, he was sure of it, but for now he needed to file that away and focus on escaping Shallow Creek. Surely the cops had blockaded most of the town by now, setting up a perimeter to hinder Brendan’s flight.

When Brendan thought about it, though, that DEA jackass, Norman, would probably deploy most of his limited assets to search for his missing agents. Sacrificing the search and rescue teams in order to stop Brendan leaving town wouldn’t be as high a priority. With that in mind, Brendan made the decision to sneak out of town the way they used to in high school. The chances of anyone patrolling that area would be slim.

This part of Shallow Creek had changed a lot since he’d last visited. Developers had converted a lot of the old houses into businesses of various sorts. Some had kept the homes up and even restored some of them, which Brendan appreciated since these houses were the oldest buildings left in town. Others had pulled down the historic structures and replaced them with cheap pre-fab shacks promising quick oil changes or greasy donuts.

Seeing the old town of his parents’ childhoods disappearing like this distracted Brendan enough that he would’ve missed his turn if not for the streaks of mud staining the main road in a V-shape emanating from the tiny, unmarked lane. Once on the dirt-covered lane, Brendan smiled. A lot had changed in Shallow Creek, but teenagers would always want to get away from their folks to do stupid crap. He followed the straight road as the buildings became more and more sparse, giving way to the empty fields and short hedges lining the pavement. Just when the lane appeared to terminate in a thick stand of bushes, Brendan caught sight of the old gap in the hedge on his left and cut the wheel, sliding the truck out into the field.