Page 119 of Indigo Sky

“You have to try, okay? Look for a latch or a cable. Pull it. Whatever you find,pull.”

“Thanks, man. You can get out of here. I’m good,” Nate said.

I froze, expecting footsteps to come toward me at any second.

“Rev—"

“Shh,” I shushed her, pressing my finger to my lips as if she could see me.

“Nah, I’ll come inside with you,” Donny said, his voice now suspicious and wary.

He was onto something. He was onto Nate. Did he know I was here?

I didn’t think so. He’d be more proactive. No, his concern was Nate. Nate finding something. Nate … what? What was he afraid of Nate seeing?

Don’t think about that.

“Kate,” I whispered, my voice barely sounding like my own, “did you find—"

“I can’t,” she replied, shrill and panicked. “I-I don’t feelanything. I can-can’t.”

I looked around, my eye on the ground. “Okay,” I whispered. “Okay, hold on. Let me … let me think …”

I neededsomethingto pry the trunk open. Inside the shop, there were more than enough tools to get the job done, but out here, I seemed to be left to whatever was on me. Which wasn’t much, apart from the gun and my wallet.

Fuck, where are the cops?

I crawled around the car and tried the door, thinking there might be something inside to help, but the car was locked. Donny had the keys, I assumed.

“Goddammit,” I whispered, knowing I was running out of time.

But maybe the cops would get here before he could leave. Maybe—

“All right, for real this time, I’m out of here,” Donny said, and then came the sound of crunching gravel.

“Okay, dude. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I hurried to the side of the building without a second to spare. Donny unlocked Kate’s car with the fob and got into the front seat. I listened to her scream as he started the engine. I prayed and prayed she wouldn’t say my name and give me away, and she didn’t.

Good girl.

Donny peeled off toward the road, and I hurried around the back of the building to Nate’s car.

“Motherfucker nust have the gun. And—wait, he didn’t take his car,” Nate said, confused. “Why—"

“Kate’s in the trunk,” I said hurriedly, struggling to hold on to my sanity. “She’s in the fuckingtrunk.”

“Of her car?”

“Yes!” I pulled the driver’s door open. “Give me the keys. We have to go.”

“But the cops—"

“They don’t know where to go, Nathan! But we can follow. Look at my phone. See if they’re still on the line.”

Nate got into the car as I did and tossed the keys my way. As I tore out of the parking lot, my lead foot weighing down on the pedal, I caught his reluctant smirk. One that looked almost like pride.

“The fuck are you looking at me like that for?”

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