A Million Miles Away

Chapter 3

They found a barbecue joint a few miles from where they had the high speed chase. Josh paid for them in cash and they found a booth by the window, looking out at the nothingness of rural Tennessee. The three of them devoured their food and never spoke a word until they were all finished with their barbecue sandwiches (which all of them internally admitted was the best bbq they ever had) and fries. AC/DC's "Jailbreak" played on the sound system. Alyssa approved especially since it was older AC/DC. She liked Bon Scott better than the new guy.

Everyone finished their meals and leaned back, letting their newly bloated guts protrude over their pants. Josh looked out to the Mercedes sitting in the gravel parking lot. It didn't belong. Especially with the numerous pickup trucks on either side. Another pickup truck entered the parking lot. The sound of crunching rocks permeated into the restaurant.

"We need to ditch the car," Josh said.

"Huh?" Henry said lazily. His eyes were heavy.

"We need to ditch the car," Josh repeated. "It's gonna get us in trouble."

"I agree," Alyssa said. "Handles nice though. I'll give it that."

"What are we driving if we ditch the car?" Henry said.

Josh and Alyssa both looked at him.

"What?"

"I thought you said you were gonna call your parents again later," Josh said.

"Oh. Yeah. At some point. What's the rush?"

"I mean it's cool dude. There's no problem if you wanna bail."

Henry wasn't sure what to say to that. He didn't want to go home but he didn't want to tell Josh that he'd rather hang out with them, especially with Alyssa right there. He noticed Alyssa looking at him. She knew something was up. He could sense it. Great. She opened her mouth to say something and Henry braced himself but she stopped herself. She opened her mouth again but this time peering out the window at the car.

"We'll find someone trying to sell a decent car and we'll trade. No biggie," she said.

Henry thought of something that filled him with anxiety. "How was he able to find you out in the middle of nowhere like that?"

Josh shrugged. "I don't know."

"No seriously. How could he know where you were?"

"Did you look through the bag of money?" Alyssa turned to Josh. "I mean completely?"

"No. Not really."

They went out to the car and opened the duffel bag. Josh sifted through the wads of cleanly stacked bills. The bag was deeper than he expected and as he went further in, he found it more difficult to kept it from spilling over into the hole he'd started. Josh shoved his hand to the bottom of the bag and he scanned the surface with his fingers. He nearly stopped and gave up before touching something plastic. Josh squinted and wrapped his fingers around the object, then brought it out from the bag. He held a small plastic object that resembled a TV remote but much smaller. On one side was a tiny green light that shone brightly.

Alyssa cursed.

"What is it?" Josh said.

"He's tracking us," Henry said.

Josh went wide-eyed. "Oh."

"Gimme it," Alyssa said holding out her hand. Josh looked at it, then up at her and again she had an expression of confidence that went beyond him. He gladly gave her the tracker and without a moment of hesitation, Alyssa attached the tracker underneath the belly of a Ford pickup next to the Mercedes. She turned back to Josh and Henry.