be like using a ballistic missile to get rid of a burglar. No, thanks. Damon can stay off doing whatever he’s doing.”
“He’s probably still around,” Nick said. “Luger was acting really weird when I took him out before we left. Lots of sniffing the air and staring.”
Brian frowned. “He doesn’t act weird around Damon. He likes Damon.”
“Well, he’s the only one.” Nick straightened in his seat. “Hang on, I see headlights coming up the damned drive. Turning this way.”
“McNaught?” Charlie asked quickly.
“Yeah. Going somewhere.” Nick tapped Brian’s shoulder. “Get down.”
Brian squished himself down as best he could, hoping nothing showed above the windows. Nick slammed his seat all the way back and did the same. A few cars were still passing on the road, so it was hard to know if McNaught had gone by. Brian held his breath and tried to stay low.
After a minute, Nick said, “Can you Find him? Stay on him this time?”
Brian scrunched his eyes shut and looked inside. Smoldering red-black, fireworks and old leaves. At first, he couldn’t detect the trace amid a tangle of bright silver, warm amber, black-gold— I had him ten minutes ago. He worked his hand into his pocket where the pen was. The touch of smooth plastic against his fingertips grounded him, pulling McNaught’s trace up out of the swirl of colors. There. Gunpowder-sharp there— The trace spun out ahead of him. He set his finger on it and opened his eyes without letting it go.
He was pointing down the road ahead of them.
Nick grunted and sat up. “Oh, yeah. Game on. Maybe. If he’s not just going out to buy some smokes. He’s not heading toward Sam’s, though. Charlie, anything on your end?”
“No. Yes! Here Sam comes in his truck. Fuck, this might be it.”
Nick nudged Brian. “Seatbelt.” He pulled out onto the road, picking up speed. “We’re heading west on Sherman Road.”
“South on Carpenter,” Charlie said. “Tracker’s working.”
“Me too.” Brian’s tongue felt thick in his mouth, but he managed to talk past the taste of gunpowder.
“Good man.” Charlie’s tone was warm but distant… fading.
Brian blinked, realizing that was him, not Charlie. He tried to pull back from the trace without losing it, squinting his eyes so it hovered in the fuzzy space between the world outside and the dark behind his eyes. The trace arced left. “That way.”
“South on Grover,” Nick told Charlie, as they made the turn.
“Parallel now.”
“Yep.” Even through the Finding fog, Brian could hear the excitement in Nick’s voice.
“Wait. Turning.” Nick steered them left, then right, as Brian felt the tugs of direction shifting. “I think he’s making a circle, watching for a tail. I’m dropping back a bit more.”
“Tracking does make this shit easier,” Charlie agreed.
They drove for another uncountable time, with several detours that Nick relayed to Charlie, on smaller and smaller roads, before finally turning onto a rutted dirt track. Nick suddenly put on the brakes, jolting Brian against his seatbelt, then backed up to the pavement, swung left on the bigger road, drove a hundred yards around a bend onto the grassy verge, and cut the engine.
“What?” Brian blinked hard, keeping his finger on the smoky trace in the air.
“That was a private road. Dead end. I spotted McNaught’s headlights stopped way down there. You can let go.”
Brian worked his dry tongue across his lips. “Let?”
Nick pulled Brian’s hand from his pocket, breaking his contact with the pen. The fireworks trace snapped, leaving Brian blinking hard and trying to catch his breath. Nick dug a water bottle out and opened it for him. “Drink. Are you going to pass out?”
“Don’t know.” He fumbled the bottle, got his mouth around the neck. “Maybe not.” He felt sick and shaky, but not as bad as usual. Maybe those little bits of Finding McNaught over and over had helped? He had no clue. He drank the wonderful, wet, life-giving water.
“I’m going to follow him.” Nick tapped Brian’s knee. “You stay put, take care of yourself.”
“I’m coming.” Although his vision wasn’t tracking quite right— Nick had a faint halo of amber around his head. It was pretty, brighter than his eyes in the dark car.
“No way. Stay put. Recover.” Nick opened his door and slid out.
With the dome light disabled and the dashboard dark, Brian’s eyes began adjusting to the night outside. He looked back over his shoulder. Trees arched alongside the road, screening the moon. There was a hint of motion under them that might be Nick, the way amber seemed to flicker