Chapter 16: False Light

“Oh no, oh no, oh no.”

Jewel chanted the phrase over and over as Luke gripped Alfonzo’s shoulder to try to shake him awake.

“Fonz! Fonz, wake up, we’re gonna crash!”

Luke’s yelling had no effect whatsoever on Alfonzo. Another sharp gunshot whizzed through the night. Ron cursed and grasped McKenna’s hand tightly.

Before anyone could muster up a good panic, Luke plummeted himself up to the front seat to land on top of Alfonzo. Alfonzo didn’t move but his right shoulder was now beginning to drip blood onto the console.

“Jewel, get something to stop the blood, now,” Luke said brusquely as he gripped the steering wheel and tried to maneuver the gas pedal over Alfonzo’s Birkenstocks. McKenna hadn’t heard this authoritative tone from Luke before, and apparently Jewel wasn’t used to it either. “Jewel!” he snapped.

Jewel tore her eyes from the road that was streaming by as Luke steered them as safely as he could through their high-speed chase. Luke was dodging around seemingly slow-moving vehicles while their followers lagged only seconds behind.

Looking around briefly and not finding anything to staunch the blood, Jewel started to panic. “Luke, what should I use?”

Luke was intent on finding an exit or somewhere they might pull off to find safety; McKenna realized she needed to pull herself together and be helpful to the cause of saving their lives.

“Here, use this,” she said, letting go of her dad’s hand and offering up her sweatshirt. “Dad, should I tie it straight around the wound to give it direct pressure even though the bullet is likely still in his arm?” She only possessed minor experience with first aid and nothing beyond that, and she was quickly getting sick at the sight of all the blood.

“Yes, just like you’re doing,” Ron offered, glancing behind at the fast approaching black vehicles. “Make it tight.”

McKenna tied the sweatshirt around the best she could.

“Any suggestions, folks?” Luke asked with a high-pitched edge to his voice. “I can’t find a turn off anywhere nearby. The signs are flying by too fast.”

“Jewel, keep holding this right here,” McKenna instructed. She looked up to try to offer advice to Luke, but only saw thick trees lining the highway and not much else.

Ron suddenly jerked his head up. “There’s a gas station on your right about two miles ahead,” he said excitedly. “I used to stop there on the way from the school to Artichoke. If they follow us there, the gas station will be populated so they shouldn’t be able to hurt us there. Well, I hope not anyway."

“Sold,” Luke said. “I don’t think we have another choice. Here goes nothin’.”

McKenna spied the speedometer creeping up to 135. If they missed the turn or didn’t slow down fast enough, they would all be toast before their assailants could even reach them.

Looking back, their followers had backed off a little bit and weren’t keeping pace with Luke’s higher speed. They might just be able to make it after all.

The rest stop flashed into sight. They were almost there, so close to the bright lights that would give them protection.

Then McKenna’s brain registered something rather strange for the late hour at the gas station.

“Luke, don’t turn in!” she screamed.

“Why?” he howled back, hands ready on the wheel to make the quick turn.

“They have back up!”

The other occupants of the car looked to the gas station and saw at the pumps another foreboding, black limo and sedan with tinted windows.

The image was brief as Luke swiftly took McKenna’s advice and rocketed past the gas station.

At the gas station, a dark-haired man jumped out of the sedan, but before any of them could get a good glimpse, they had flown by the station.

“Look, the other cars are pulling into the station. I think we’re free now,” Ron said with relief. “Good work, Ken.” He ruffled McKenna's hair like he used to when she was younger.

“Not to rain on our success train but we need to get Fonz to a hospital stat,” Luke said.

As if he heard his name, Alfonzo’s eyes slowly opened.

“No time for a hospital,” Alfonso croaked. Luke then remembered he happened to be sitting on his uncle so he shifted to try to make Alfonzo a little more comfortable in his injured state. “Jewel,” Alfonzo said, looking into his niece’s wide eyes. “Use my phone, call speed dial 7 and make arrangements to use the jet at location 4. We’re only about forty minutes away. Less than that if Luke keeps driving like a maniac.”

Everyone went silent as Alfonzo’s eyes closed again and his head rolled to the side, his forehead creasing with discomfort and pain.

“Fonz, what about your shoulder? You need a doctor,” Luke said forcefully.

“Luke, we can worry about my injury on the plane. We need to make this flight or we won’t be able to stop them in time.”

Nobody dared ask who and what they were supposed to be stopping and why it was more important than a crucial hospital visit.

Jewel wordlessly picked up Alfonzo’s phone, dialed 7 and waited for an answer.

Chapter 15: Wide-Eyed

The caravan of three cars travelled along the abandoned stretch of road with no end in sight. The silence filled the car until McKenna could no longer handle it.

“Alfonzo! What are we going to do?” McKenna’s normally calm voice was as shrill as a fire alarm.

Alfonzo’s jaw was tense as he tried easing the car through to break free, but every time he moved the car a centimeter the black car behind instinctively adjusted to block him. There was no way out.

“There’s no way out.” Alfonzo stated simply.

They had traveled for what felt like 500 years but in actuality was about 5 miles when Alfonzo decided to take drastic action.

What happened next was so quick that if you paused to scratch your nose you might have missed it. Alfonzo jerked the steering wheel to the far left, directing the car into the opposite lane and clipping the back of the limousine in front of the caravan. Luke’s head smacked into the window and McKenna’s package of Cheetos flew across the backseat of the car. Jewel’s scream was drowned out by the sound of the gunshot. The glass in the back windshield shattered. Ron stretched across McKenna to protect her from the flying glass and Luke braced himself against the back of Alfonzo’s seat. Jewel’s second scream was muffled as she covered her head with her jacket and curled up into a ball. Alfonzo kept his hands on the steering wheel and his eyes on the road.

The speedometer inched past 110 mph as Alfonzo made to pass in front of the lead car, but the black car was not only keeping pace; it was veering toward Alfonzo’s white car in an attempt to side ram them.

Gunshot. This time the bullet came from the driver side of the lead car. It made contact with the front of the car above the passenger-side tire, thus eliciting another scream out of Jewel.

“Great, real bullets," Alfonzo muttered under his breath. These guys were aiming to kill.

Alfonzo let go of the steering wheel and reached into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a small hand pistol and aimed toward the black car. He must have been a sharp shooter back in his day because Alfonzo managed to shoot out the tire of the lead black car, then he wrenched his body and shot through the back window – clearing the top of Ron’s head – to shoot out the tire of the black car behind them. All the while he pushed on the gas and was able to whip around both black cars and speed off ahead of the mess they’d left behind.

“Is it safe?” Luke started to sit up, but one more gunshot rang through the air. It hit the trunk of the car, but missed the tire that the enemy had been aiming for.

“Obviously not yet,” Alfonzo growled.

The car accelerated to 125 mph and they shot off into the pitch black night. McKenna lifted up her head and found tears streaked all across her face and shirt. That was, by far, the most frightening seven minutes of her life and she had her eyes covered for most of it! She turned to face her father and the wide-eyed look on her face pushed her dad over the edge. He wrapped his arms around her and they silently cried.

Jewel pulled her head out of her sweater and slowly stretched herself out. Her trembling jaw and racing heart stared straight ahead at the road. Luke rubbed his left shoulder that had rammed into the window and begin to check out the damage of the car. The back windshield was gone. Glass was everywhere. But where had the bullet gone? Luke’s eyes slowly trailed across the car until they landed on Alfonzo’s right shoulder. His tacky suit coat was quickly soaking through with bright crimson blood.

“Alfonzo! You’re bleeding! Alfonzo, we need to pull over.”

Luke reached up to touch his uncle’s shoulder. Alfonzo’s head slumped to the side. The car was still rocketing down the quiet interstate but the driver had passed out.

Chapter 14: Down the Aisle

At first, hearing Luke say they were going to Paris made McKenna's heart stop for a moment. The thought of leaving the country for any more adventure made her a bit nauseous. Then, just before she panicked, she hesitantly and cautiously asked, "Wait, you're joking." She chuckled nervously and added, "It's hard to tell if you're joking, sometimes."

Luke, who was walking ahead of the group into the grocery store, turned slightly and responded with an almost uneasy seriousness, "I'm not joking, actually. I've never been more serious in my life." Alfonzo and Jewel continued walking toward the store as McKenna and Ron stopped walking. Luke turned around and heaved a sigh. "We have to go to Paris."

At the same time, McKenna and her father urgently asked, "Why do we have to?"

"You know, because that just how things go sometimes," Luke responded, unhelpfully. He directed his attention to Ron. "Mainly because of Chris. Alfonzo realized some time ago that you would likely be more than helpful in this situation."

Uncomfortable, Ron replied, "I don't know if that's at all the case. I knew Chris years ago. My preference in this situation would be to not be involved with the situation at all. More importantly, McKenna shouldn't be a part of this."

Luke pursed his lips, turned, and began walking toward the store again and Ron followed behind. McKenna was surprised at the lack of resistance her dad was showing toward the new gang, especially after having been beaten up only a couple hours previous. She would have thought that Ron would cleverly manipulate some way of getting out of everything, but all he did was follow every command the gang gave him that night.

A few moments passed and McKenna was nearly alone in the poorly-lit parking lot. She lightly sprinted to catch up to the rest of the gang as she shouted to Luke, "But I don't even have a passport."

"You won't be needing a passport," Luke responded.

"I don't have anything packed, let alone anything with me."

"Why do you think we're taking a shopping trip?"

McKenna's eyes were starting to hurt from being awake, and her patience was starting to wear. She now had so many new questions regarding the unfolding situation, and she didn't even know where to begin asking about Paris.

As McKenna, Ron and Luke began to scope out the store, Alfonzo turned out of one of the aisles near them. "We'll be gone about five days," he said quickly and emotionlessly, and then he disappeared into another aisle with his squeaky-wheeled cart.

"That was...weird," McKenna thought out loud.

Luke was quick to sheepishly defend his uncle. "He can come off as odd, and maybe a little cryptic, but he's not bad. He's a good guy."

"He reminds me of a guy from school, years ago. You know, quiet. Cryptic, like you said. Maybe a little odd."

Feeling like she was the only one who was even mildly aware of the fact that they were all going to somehow venture to Europe soon, McKenna stated as she walked away to the dental hygiene aisle, "Well folks, I have teeth to brush before we go anywhere. Inside or outside of the country."

After sifting through the contents of the store, McKenna met up with everyone else at the check stand. An ornery girl who had hair that was dyed like a skunk and a mouth full of bright green bubble gum began scanning all of the items onto Alfonzo's card. She scrunched her eyebrows together as Alfonzo told everyone that a private jet was waiting for them about an hour away, and that Chris and his "buddies" were likely meeting up with some other "friends" near the Gare du Nord train station in Paris.

As everyone made their way back to the car, McKenna and Luke walked behind the group, shopping bags in each of their hands. McKenna asked quietly, "Where exactly did Alfonzo get access to private jet?"

"Different friends from over the years. I don't know from whom, exactly, but I don't know a lot about where he comes up with almost all his plan backups. You just kind of have to learn to roll with what Alfonzo puts together. He's smart. Street smart. He knows what he's doing."

Sketchy, McKenna thought. Was she really supposed to trust a guy who randomly pulls out the "I have a private jet" card? She felt like she was in a movie.

After loading everything into the trunk, the adventure began again. They turned onto a dark, narrow and abandoned stretch of road. Alfonzo began giving them more information regarding their escapade. "It'll take less than ten hours to get to France, so get your rest on the jet. After that, we'll need to get to Chris."

"What are we supposed to do when we find him?" Ron asked.

"We're not to that point, Professor. Please just listen and adhere to my plans, and it'll all unfold in no time." Ron shifted in his seat, irritated with Alfonzo's vague responses.

McKenna asked, "So, I don't understand how we're even supposed to get in to France, legally." As soon as she said the last word, she shrank down and bit her lip.

A few moments passed in a thoughtful silence. Out of the blackness of the night, a dark limousine slithered onto the road behind them. Its headlights punctured the thick darkness for a brief moment, and then were quickly shut off. Everyone in the car was quiet as they looked to Alfonzo for answers to their unspoken questions. McKenna's heartbeat began to speed up when Alfonzo didn't break the ominous silence. She turned to Luke and saw his jaw clenched and wide eyes desperately piercing the darkness.

A couple long and dark minutes passed in a confused quiet when a sleek, black car turned and pulled in front of them, its headlights off. Alfonzo angrily muttered into the silence as the car ahead slowed down. It was only a few feet in front of them now, and the limo was only inches behind. They were trapped between two shady and foreboding vehicles with no apparent way out getting out of the caravan.

Finally Jewel spoke up, her voice cracking. "Fonz, who are they?"

Alfonzo was silent. He shook his head and his grip tightened on the steering wheel. He finally spoke. "I don't have any idea who these people are, but I get this absurd feeling that maybe they know who we are.