Page 3 of The Last Grift
“Motherfucker,” he growled. “Not an automatic.”
With the next twist of the key, he pressed the clutch to the floor and the engine sputtered to life.
Gabriel pulled away from the curb and started down the poorly lit street.
“Here’s to nothing all over again.”
TWO
GABRIEL
Monday
The exit signloomed out of the dark; one of the I-5 rest stops was coming up and his body demanded rest. The adrenaline that had surged through his bloodstream was long gone, and he needed to clean out the fence gouge before his leg turned black and fell off.
So much drama, Chance.
Ignoring both his mother’s spectral voice and the small-car icon that directed drivers toward personal vehicle parking, Gabriel drove into the large vehicle area and hid his car behind a semitruck.
Under the harsh LED lighting of the restroom, Gabe did the best he could to clean the injury to his thigh. It wasn’t as bad as he’d thought, but he’d probably have a scar. Moisture flooded his eyes as he dragged the antiseptic wipe across the wound.
“Mother of hell, that hurts,” he whispered in the privacy of the stall. “Is tetanus more painful than this shit?” Wanderingaround in blood-soaked jeans wasn’t acceptable either—people were bound to take notice. He changed into fresh Levis, banging his elbows and one knee painfully against the metal walls of the stall as he did so, then stuffed the stained jeans into the trash can on the way back to his car.
Rolling the driver’s side window down about a half inch so the car wouldn’t steam up, Gabriel leaned his seat back as far as possible to accommodate his six-foot-two frame, which wasn’t far enough since his go-bags took up most of the back seat.
Shutting his eyes, he let the rhythm of the pattering rain on the car’s roof calm him while he figured out his next move, even though he knew there was only the one. With one hand, he clutched at the envelope in his pocket and noticed what wasn’t there.
His phone must’ve fallen out when he’d lurched over the chain-link fence. It was for the best. That’s the story he was going with.
He tried to rest, focusing on the staccato of the rain over his head and the growl of the highway just a few hundred feet away instead of the fuckery that had gone down that day. Sleep was a long time coming.
The nearby mumbleof a semi’s engine had Gabriel opening his eyes. Lifting his wrist, he checked the time and blew out a breath. It was just after six in the morning and the semi next to him was getting ready to head south.
He hadn’t slept more than a few minutes at a time, jerking awake at every sound he heard.
With a deep breath and then another, Gabriel rolled his neck to get the kinks out and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. The semi’s engine changed tempo, becoming more of a growl,and its side-marker lights flashed on, and then the big truck began to move out of the parking spot. Gabe stabbed his key into the ignition and turned it. The Honda started right up.
For now, he’d follow the truck out to the highway and disappear into the crowd.
Fast-talking Gabriel Karne was out of moves.
THREE
GABRIEL
Tuesday
The narrow two-lanehighway curved dramatically to the left and downward. A gap in the wall of forest exposed a small, half-empty bay a few hundred feet below. Various seabirds and a bald eagle fought over and feasted on the exposed sea life.
After looping around the bay, the highway headed north as advertised. To Gabe’s right, the cold waters of the Hood Canal were choppy and gray. A particularly strong gust of wind buffeted the Honda, and he had to fight to keep to his side of the road. Highway 101 during the winter months was not intended for the weak-hearted.
“Fools like us, maybe,” Gabriel grumbled.
A fool like you, Chance.
The radio signal had cut out forty-five minutes behind him, so all he could do was concentrate on staying on the road.
Unable to stop himself, Gabriel glanced at his reflection in the rearview mirror again. The same person he’dalways been looked back at him, just more gray through his hair. His long, straight nose—slightly crooked from an incident in his twenties—was paired with dark slashing eyebrows and green eyes that people had often told him were striking. It was difficult to see much of his mother, but the shape of his chin was similar to Heidi’s.
