Page 46 of Convergence

“You are so brave,” Everett murmured softly into my ear. “I’m so proud of you.”

“I spoke to the dash cam. I hope the real police hear it,” I said. My voice sounded sleepy, and I noticed my adrenaline crashing.

As soon as I could feel my hands and fingers again, I was drowsy with the heat of the car and the steady thump of Everett’s heartbeat under my cheek. We were safe for now; I had saved my guys.

16

Iwoke up with a start when I heard a car door shut. The buzzing lights of a gas station made me blink as I sat up. Everett gripped my hips tightly as he sat up with a start, too. I whirled around, taking in our surroundings and looking frantically for Nate. We were in a gas station, a major chain that had a little store inside. We were the only car in sight, and it was still dark. The blaring tv that played at the pump screamed to life with an advertisement for hot dogs and ICEEs and I heard Nate swear at it as if it had also startled him. Everett smirked and exhaled his relief when he heard Nate’s voice. He knocked twice with his knuckles against the window over his shoulder. He smoothed my knotted hair back from my face with his other hand.

“Oh hey, you’re up,” Nate said, peering down through the window.

“Where are we?” Everett asked in his raspy sleep voice. I looked him over as he sat up in the car. He had been leaning against the car door and holding me as we slept. His t-shirt was rumpled and pushed up, exposing a strip of tan lower abs. My core clenched at the sight of him and his raspy voice.

“We’re outside of another college in Ohio. I wanted to get us somewhere we might be overlooked,” Nate said with a yawn.

“What time is it?” Everett asked, catching Nate’s yawn.

“It’s about three. It’s only been like two hours,” Nate answered as he pulled out his wallet from his back pocket. “I gotta go inside to pay in cash.”

“I’ll go,” I said, my bladder complaining. “I’ll put money on the pump, and you fill up while I grab us some food and coffee.”

Nate handed me some cash, since I didn’t have my wallet or a purse. “Be careful. Wait, here, wear this hat I found in the car.” He handed me a red beanie hat that smelled strongly of cologne. I wrinkled my nose at it and tucked the handcuffs back into my coat sleeve.

“Take Nate’s glasses, too,” Everett said. “You’ll be less recognizable if our pictures are out there.”

“Then I can’t see shit, bro. They’re broken anyway,” Nate grumbled, but handed them over.

I put them on and blinked to ‌adjust. They were thick black Ray-Ban frames, and he truly had terrible eyesight. I adjusted their placement on my nose and ears, as they were now crooked where they had broken.

“Jinkies Scoob, Velma would surely love to see this sexy librarian,” Everett joked, and smacked me on the butt as I climbed out of the car. Nate groaned like he was in pain.

I rolled my eyes and went into the gas station, the bell above the door tinkling cheerfully. The half-asleep attendant only briefly looked up and saw I was a small female, not a large man wielding a gun and robbing the place. “Thirty on pump 6, please,” I said with surprising ease as I handed over some of the cash. The attendant wordlessly nodded, and I stepped away. I kept my face turned away from the clerk and looked for the bathrooms. The bathrooms were eerily quiet and echoed when I ripped off the toilet paper. Nothing was abnormal, but I was waiting on bated breath for the next attack.

The gas station had a pretty good selection of bottled coffees and waters, and I grabbed the containers most closely resembling our normal coffees and cradled them in my arms. A small TV was playing over the beer cooler, and I stopped when I saw my own face smiling back next to Nate and Everett’s. It was our grad school graduation pictures, showing us proudly smiling for the cameras. It flicked over to grainy and dark dashcam footage from two hours earlier. I stepped closer to the cooler and pretended to browse in order to hear the news better. I heard the tail end of what I said to the dash cam and the reporter said dispatchers watched it live after alleged car jackers stole the cop cruisers. Those were not average car jackers, though. Someone had sent them specifically to kill the three of us. My heart hammered painfully in my chest, and I clutched the bottles of coffee and water.

“This statement made by Reid is believed to be false, as Truman College officials state there is no Professor Hoffmann at their school. A student has come forward and claims to have been in classes with the trio and that they often joked about using their knowledge to hurt others,” the news report continued.

The video flashed to me hitting the fake cop with the nightstick twice until he fell and Everett holding the gun. “Experts in behavior assert they believe that Reid, Monroe, and Gibson thought these carjackers to be actual police officers and attacked to avoid arrest. The tip lines are open and will remain open until these individuals are apprehended. Cleveland police believe them to be armed and dangerous as most of Truman College and its surrounding neighborhoods remain on lock down.”

With a steadying breath, I turned away from the tv as the news continued to another story. I grabbed a small glasses repair kit, a few bags of chips and granola bars, a pair of sunglasses, and a baseball hat with a bird mascot on it. I placed them on the counter with shaking hands. The attendant had not been watching the news, and therefore likely had not seen my face plastered all over it. He didn’t even pay any attention to me other than to tell me the total and take the money I slid across the counter. He gave me my change and slid everything into a plastic bag and handed it to me. Neither of us said anything else as I made my way quickly out of the store. I saw Nate finishing up at the pump and Everett was snapping his fingers to get my attention from where he was at an old and crusty looking pay phone near the ice box.

I went to his side as he spoke into the black receiver. “Cookie Monster?”

An angry yell came from the other side, and Everett hung up. “I can’t quite remember his phone number. And now I’m panicking because what if the number he had is no longer his?”

“You’ll get it,” I whispered with a hard swallow. “You have to.”

He peered at me with narrowed eyes as he dialed again. “Cookie Monster?”

Another confused and angry shout. I didn’t blame them. It was the middle of the night, after all.

Everett growled in frustration and tried again, shoving the coin into the slot, as Nate approached us. He took his glasses off my nose and held out a hand for the bag. “You okay?” Nate asked, concern etched his features.

I shook my head. “Our pictures are on the news. The police saw what happened with the fake cops. Said they were carjackers, and we thought they were real police and attacked them to avoid being arrested. They have some kid saying we were in classes with him and we talked about hurting people. They- they said I was lying when I talked to the dash cam when I said someone tricked us.”

“Fucking hell,” Nate swore and snapped open a bottle of coffee. “I knew that was going to happen. I fucking knew it.”

“Cookie Monster?” Everett grunted into the phone. He was about to hang up when his eyes popped open and he clenched the phone in his fist. “Yeah, it’s me. I need your help.”

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