Son of Tesla

SON OF TESLA: Chapter 15

JEM JERKED AWAKE AND lunged forward. Petar's hands were still holding him down, dragging him back into the dream. He scrabbled at them, trying to knock them away, and found that it was just his seatbelt. He looked over. Petar's eyes left the road and flickered to his.

While their eyes were locked, Jem felt a strange sense of calm come over him. He felt sheltered. Then his eyes left Petar's and he twisted in his seat to look into the Escape's rear. The gray, predawn light filled the interior with soft shadows, but Jem could see at once that the back was empty.

"Where are they?" Jem said. Panic. The calm flooded away like water from a leaky tub.

"Safe," Petar said softly.

"Safe? Safe! Where are they!"

Petar had spent the past three hours preparing what to say when this moment inevitably arrived. They're at the hospital. There's $50,000 tucked in the purse beside her bed. Oh, and by the way, I'm taking you to Colorado with me. It all sounded flat, hollow, stupid. Petar drew a blank.

"Safe," he repeated, the word coming out weak.

Leaving the hospital, Petar had turned west and hadn't stopped. Right now, they were just a little past Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, coursing down Interstate 76 toward Ohio. Dawn was barely beginning to break over the ribbon of highway laid out in front of them. Orange sunlight streamed through the rear window of the SUV. Petar's eyes were tired. His shoulder ached in the morning chill, and his thigh was throbbing from the Koschei's beryllium knife. He needed sleep. But first, he had to deal with this.

"Take me back," said Jem, voice flat and emotionless.

Petar shook his head.

"Take. Me. Back."

"Can't," Petar breathed, almost inaudible, eyes forward.

Click. Petar glanced over at the sound just in time to see the unlatched seatbelt slide up Jem's chest before he lunged across the center console and grabbed the steering wheel. The SUV lurched into the slow lane. A car horn blared. Petar wrestled for control and the Escape screeched back into the fast lane.

"Are you crazy!" Petar shouted.

"Pull over!" Jem screamed, twisting the wheel again. The car turned too fast. Drifted on the asphalt, turning sideways. Petar pushed Jem away and wrenched the wheel again. The car straightened. Now Jem was hammering the side of Petar's head with his fists. Petar raised his right hand to deflect them and kept his left on the wheel. Kept his eyes to the road. The blows slid around his blind guard and pounded against his skull. A sharp hit rapped against his ear. It stung.

"They're at the hospital!" Petar shouted. "They're okay!"

"I want to see them. That's my family, you idiot!"

"You'll have to trust me."

"Why the hell would I trust you? I don't even know you!" The blows were still falling. "You wreck my car!" Thunk. "You show up at my house!" Thud. "Your friend shoots my mom!" Thu-dunk. "And now you, what, kidnap me? Who are you? What do you want with me?"

"Can you calm down so I can explain?"

"No."

Thunk.

"He wasn't my friend."

Petar tensed for the next blow. It never fell.

"Who?"

"The Koschei."

"Who?" Jem echoed.

"The man in your house. The man who shot your mother."