In the end, Mike was glad he was going solo. It gave him the chance to get creative with the plan Ken had put in place for him. He was supposed to just park the truck by the entrance and run, but Mike had no intention of doing that. He’d be sitting in the front seat when that bomb went off, and the last moment of his life before he was reunited with Bonnie would be knowing that he had helped to extinguish just a little piece of evil on this earth before he left it.
By tomorrow, it would all be finished. The thought gave him a sense of comfort. By this time tomorrow, he’d be free.
Austin, Texas—Five Days Later
The papers were still filled with news of the bombing. Two nurses had been killed, along with a janitor. No patients, thankfully—the bomb had gone off before the doors had opened—but the man driving the truck filled with explosives had been killed. Cait had stared at his photo for a long time, sure that she had seen him before, but the name, Michael Chambers, failed to ring any bells. Politicians—including Patrick McRae—had been quick to denounce his actions, but he was already being hailed as a hero and a martyr on the darker corners of the Internet. Cait switched off the talk radio station and snapped her phone into the speaker jack. She scrolled through her music until she found something she wanted to hear—an old Ani DiFranco song she used to listen to on repeat in college—and she listened to it as the engine idled. She glanced at the clock: plenty of time to get to the clinic. Rebecca was inside getting herself together. Cait didn’t want to rush her.
The Jeep was in the shop—the repairs the mechanic had made back in New Mexico turned out to be a temporary fix—so she was in a loaner. A little hatchback, low to the ground and with a transmission that took its sweet time changing gears. It made her miss the Jeep.
She glanced over at Adam’s apartment. The windows were dark, and his Corolla was parked out front. She hadn’t seen anyone go inside since she’d been back, and the yellow police tape she’d expected to see cordoning off the area never materialized. No one knocked on her door asking questions. It was almost as if he’d never existed. She figured at some point the landlord would get wind that the place was empty and rent it out to someone else, though considering she’d never met the landlord herself and the monthly rent flew directly from her account to some anonymous property management company based in Cedar Park, it might be a long time before anyone learned that Adam wasn’t living there anymore. Wasn’t living, period. She wondered if his body was visible out on that mesa or if the birds had picked his bones clean.
She checked the time again. Getting close now. Another five minutes and she’d go inside and get Rebecca.
After they’d left the courthouse, Cait had driven her back to the house in the Lubbock suburbs and sat outside while Rebecca ran in and packed a bag. They’d been staying together in Cait’s apartment since, Rebecca taking the bed while Cait slept on the couch in the living room. Cait had insisted on that. She wanted her to be as comfortable as possible, and anyway, Cait wasn’t sleeping that much at the minute.
She blamed herself, if she was being honest. She knew deep down it wasn’t her fault that Adam had come after them, but there was a little persistent niggle at the back of her mind that said it had been punishment for what she’d intended to do on the trip. Rebecca kept saying that she’d forgiven her, and part of Cait believed her, but she chalked that up more to Rebecca’s good character than having atoned for her own sins. She had a ways to go on that front.
This was a start, at least. Giving Rebecca a home and a bed and a clean set of sheets. Giving her a ride to the clinic. Cait would look after her once it was over, too: she already had a stack of magazines and a stocked refrigerator. She was starting to find she liked taking care of her. Was maybe even good at it.
Her front door opened, and Rebecca emerged. To the average pair of eyes, she looked the same as she