“Except the gasifiers will be a lot slower. Not sure it will take long, which means we move quickly when it’s time. Don’t want to run the risk of getting caught inside, if Fletcher decides to double back before we’re done.”
“That seems prudent, sir.”
CHAPTER 32
“Look out,” Destiny said to her driver, pointing at a coyote in the road.
Sawtooth whipped the steering wheel to the left, just missing the scrawny carnivore, whose head was down and digging at something underneath an overturned fifth wheel on the shoulder. He looked back at the animal and laughed. “Damn, someone had themselves a really bad day.”
“That was years ago,” Shotgun said from the backseat.
Destiny swung her eyes to Sawtooth. “Keep your eyes forward, please. I’d like us to get there in one piece.”
Sawtooth did as he was told, pressing down on the accelerator a moment later, then angled the truck to miss another one of the seemingly endless potholes that had invaded State Highway 89. At least what was left of it.
Sawtooth turned the wheel again, this time left, taking the vehicle into the oncoming lane. “You know, just once I’d like to see someone else out here with us, taking a drive to no place in particular.”
“Orderville is not no place in particular,” Destiny replied.
“Well, I beg to differ. Look around. This whole area is a ghost town.”
“Sort of like everywhere else.”
“Good point.”
“You just want to play a game of chicken, you adrenalin junkie,” Flipside said, his gray hair flapping in the wind.
“Hey, at least I still have adrenaline.”
“Maybe you should slow down. Would be easier to avoid all the holes,” Shotgun said from the rear seat.
“I second that idea,” Flipside said from his spot next to Shotgun. “You’re not doing my back any good.”
Sawtooth laughed. “Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You people are just jealous that I get to drive. Deformed foot and all.”
“I wasn’t saying that at all,” Shotgun said.
“Sure you were. You are just too big a pussy to say it to my face.”
“All right, people. That’s enough. We’ve got to work together. There’s a lot of road ahead and I need everyone focused,” Destiny said, unfolding a paper map and spreading it out across her lap.
“What’s the next turn?” Sawtooth asked.
Destiny traced her finger over the map. “A right, I think. But not for a couple of hours.”
“A couple, as in two?”
“Yeah. Thereabouts. I’m sure there will be a sign.”
“Of course there will be. This is Utah. Mormon country,” Flipside said.
Sawtooth snorted a laugh. “What does that have to do with anything?”
Flipside held for a few beats before answering. “It doesn’t. Just saying.”
“Hopefully the pavement holds out,” Destiny said, gripping onto the armrest when the truck swerved to miss another defect in the asphalt.
“Otherwise, we going to have to four-wheel it,” Sawtooth answered. “But don’t worry, I can handle it.”
“Maybe we should stop so we can take a quick pee break?” Flipside asked as the truck dipped and swayed after hitting another rut in the road. “You know, before it gets really rough.”
“Again? Seriously?” Sawtooth asked. “That’s what, the fourth time this hour?”
“It’s his prostate,” Shotgun said. “He can’t help it.”
Sawtooth huffed, his twenty-eight-year-old eyes glancing in the rearview mirror before he spoke. “I know what it is, but he really needs to hold it. We’ll never get there at this rate.”
“You’ll get old too, someday,” Flipside said.
“Me? Never? I’m going to go out in a blaze of glory. You watch. None of that getting old shit for me. Not in this godforsaken world.”
Destiny folded the map in half, laying it in her lap. “Looks to me like we’ll be there in plenty of time.”
“Only because I’m driving.”
“Yeah, like a madman,” Flipside said.
“At least nobody’s going to mistake me for Miss Daisy.”
“What does that even mean?” Shotgun asked.
“It means you two don’t have near the skills I have behind the wheel.”
Destiny turned and looked at the two in the backseat. “Now I need everyone to remember—we don’t share any confidential information with the new people until we know more about them—”
“—and make sure they have what we need,” Shotgun added.
“Trust but verify,” Sawtooth said in a terse tone, as if he knew ahead of time what she was going to say.
“We know the drill,” Flipside said to Sawtooth, leaning forward in his seat as if he was doing so to make a point. “Just ‘cause I’m old does not mean my memory is gone.”
Sawtooth didn’t hesitate with his retort. “Yeah, well, that’s not exactly true, now is it?”
Destiny continued, “Let me do most of the talking. I’ll introduce you one at a time and you can all say hello and shake hands and whatnot.”
“Quick meet-and-greet. Got it,” Shotgun said. “Then what?”
“Then I’ll take it from there.”
“What she really means is she’ll make it up as she goes along,” Sawtooth quipped. “So everyone mind their Ps and Qs and don’t screw this all up by becoming Chatty Kathys.”
Destiny couldn’t argue with him. He was correct but she chose not to acknowledge his comment. “We just need to be careful until we know what’s what.”
“What if this is some kind of trap?” Flipside asked.
“Then we’re fucked,” Sawtooth said. “In reality, we’re fucked either way. Isn’t that right, Destiny?”
“It’ll work out,” she replied, letting out a sigh. “It has to.”
“Nothing like relying on blind faith when everyone’s life is on the line,” Sawtooth said after a roll of his eyes, working the wheel faster than before.
* * *
Wilma scanned the area to the right of the barn with the binoculars, while her boss finished his business behind a bush a few yards away.
She could hear Craven’s moans of relief as his stream splatted on the ground against what she assumed was a layer of crusty leaves or other crinkly debris.
Men were fortunate, being able to empty themselves anywhere they needed to, all without having to worry what might be crawling underneath their parts when they sat on a makeshift toilet seat.
It was just one of the many unfair things she’d realized in her life, much like the fact that she hadn’t been with a woman in years. Not that she couldn’t go without; it just added a certain kind of pressure to an already impossible situation.
“Anything?” Craven asked when he returned.
“No, looks all clear to me. I think we’re safe.”
“All right then, let’s head—”
“Hold on a minute,” Wilma said, interrupting his response. There was a dust trail leaking into the sky to the right—at least a couple of miles away. Damn, she’d almost missed it. “Someone’s coming. Fast.”