MADRIGAL

Chapter 7

The week had been a cross-country tour of America, a different state each night. Jane had spent the previous forty-eight hours in two capitals, Columbus and Indianapolis respectively, and after a few hour's nap in a four-star hotel, she was on the road, having departed with a gift from the concierge. Overnight shipping granted her a new set of cards engraved with names and locations. The night was going to be busy, so Jane and Deanna worked the same city with separate lists and priorities. In the past month, if she could trust what she had been told, she had saved over two hundred lives. She experienced times of doubt when she stalled her convertible at a crossroads, but there was no denying the encounters with criminals in the midst of their crimes.

In her time with Madrigal, she would receive an occasional text warning her to enter a building through a different door or to watch out for someone at a certain spot. Deanna explained that this was where Jane had most likely been killed, and that these warnings avoided that fate. Deanna estimated that she herself had probably been killed dozens of times, and that each message was a nice little reminder that they had died and that they couldn't die.

Four hours later, Jane was in Louisville, strolling past some shops in the downtown area.

Three minutes later, Jane used a stun gun to electrocute the man entering the doors of a jewelry store before he could shoot the owner inside.

Two minutes later, Jane was back on the road

Twenty-eight minutes later, Jane pushed a small button near her steering wheel, causing the convertible to stall at an intersection for five minutes.

Thirty-two minutes later, she was in a small suburb, her car blocking the route of another vehicle that would have blown past the school bus stop signs into an elementary school child crossing into the road.

Forty-seven minutes later, Jane pushed the small button near the steering wheel, causing the convertible to stall at another intersection for five minutes.

Twenty minutes later, Jane blasted her horn at a bear strolling through another neighborhood near an unsuspecting home owner who was tending to her front garden, scaring the hell out of both.

Fifty-three minutes later, Jane stopped her car before some railroad tracks in front of a car that would have become stuck trying to navigate around the lowered gate.

Thirteen minutes later, Jane received a frenzied call from Deanna, who was yelling red alert, and demanding an immediate pickup.

Eight minutes later, Jane stopped next to Deanna's car, a bullet-riddled sedan which sported a bent and bloodied front grill.

Fifteen seconds later, Deanna tossed a tote of her toys in the convertible's back seat.

Five seconds later, Deanna tossed a lit Molotov cocktail into her own car as she jumped into Jane's.

Nine minutes later, Jane drove to her next location as the two women argued loudly as to whose lists of names took priority.

Thirty seconds later, Deanna placed a CD in the car stereo, stating it was a song she liked playing when she was running home, a rap song about drugs and FDR's health problems.

Six minutes later, Jane exited her car in front of an apartment building, making sure to take the keys, as she ran in to help evacuate the building before a fire broke out.

Thirty-two seconds later, Deanna drove Jane's hotwired car away.

Sixteen minutes later, Jane's pulling of the fire alarm evacuated most of the residents, and the elderly that had trouble moving were helped by Jane, as their names and apartment numbers were those on her cards.