Scorpion's New EQ

Chapter 32

I didn't see Zach for a while the next morning, and whenever I did, he would say something quick and short like "We can leave at one" or "Make sure we have enough water for the ride, I don't want to stop more than I have to." I couldn't help but wonder if he knew something I didn't, and I began to feel my paranoia take charge. Maybe I should have gone through his room the night before.

By the time Zach decided that we should leave, it was actually two, he had begun to warm up to me a little more. But the small talk that we exchanged in the car still had an icy edge to it.

"I'd say we could be there in three hours, if traffic cooperates," Zach pondered lightly.

"It won't," I responded, looking out the window as the miles passed by us at an antagonizingly slow pace.

My mind was still lingering on the fact that none of the team had answered any of my calls, even after I left voicemails. I had even tried Sylvester once, but that was also a wasted effort. There was something in the back of my mind that told me something bad had happened, but I continued ignoring it. I just had to focus on getting Zach and I to LA in one piece... Or two pieces, since there were two of us...

You'd think that with only three hours of driving to do, we'd be able to get from Point A to Point B without coincidence. But that is where you're wrong, because not even an hour into the drive we began to have car problems. And by car problems, I mean a flat tire.

Zach pulled the little red Saturn to the side of the road and smacked the wheel while cussing. While he worked his anger out on the inside of the vehicle, I unbuckled my seat belt to inspect the tire.

It was the right rear tire that had blown out, and I looked over the destroyed thing with narrowed eyes. It didn't look like any normal blown out tire, it looked like it had been tampered with beforehand.

"Are those slash marks?" Zach asked, suddenly appearing by my side and pointing at a part of the tire near the rim. It was small, and very well hidden by the rim, but sure enough there were punctures created by a knife. Obviously the person that had done it had planned it strategically, for the punctures weren't very visible, and they wouldn't cause any real damage immediately.

I looked at Zach disbelievingly, "How did you see that?" Even I, a genius who looks for details in everything like the way Zach's shirt kind of pulled up at his waist and showed a section of his abs, hadn't noticed.

I thought I saw something flicker across Zach's face but it was gone as he said, "I guess I was just more observant than you." Yeah, okay Mr. Six-pack.

Zach went to call a towing service and I had no choice but to wait. We weren't exactly in a populated area, it was basically the desert, and the road we had been traveling was deserted.

The sun raged down on us and in no time I felt sapped of my strength and I was sweating quite a bit. I sat on the somewhat shaded side of Zach's car, but as the sun rose higher, I was quickly robbed of that.

Finally Zach, who had been sitting next to me drinking a profuse amount of water, stood and said, "That's it. Taylor, there's a little town about half a mile from here. Go there and get us a motel room for the night. The towing company that has to come is nearly an hour out, and they aren't going to be able to get the tire changed before they close today." He then tugged open the door of his car and fumbled around for something before slamming the door and throwing the object at me.

I fumbled it between my hands before I was able to grab ahold of it. It was Zach's wallet.

"I don't mind waiting a little longer," I stumbled over the words as I said them. I didn't want Zach to think I was weak.