else stay in your vehicle,” Walter said over the walkie-talkie. “Molly, can you find a new license plate for the van?”
She was in the Jeep, ahead of us, and jumped out. She walked confidently into the back of the parking lot.
“How long is it to Reno?” Bruce asked from the driver’s seat.
“Ninety minutes,” Mary said. “And I don’t care what anyone else says: I’m taking the first shower.”
“Tired of washing in the stream?” Kat asked. “I may fight you for that shower.”
“How many rooms are we getting for the twenty of us?” Jim asked. “I vote we splurge. I want a bed.”
“A bed,” I said, relishing the thought. “I haven’t gotten a single good night’s sleep in forever.”
“I’m with you guys,” Bruce said. “But I’m not the one holding the money. I’m just driving the car.”
“I donated my life savings to this,” I said. “And I’m getting a bed.”
Mary squeezed my hand. We had shared a tent, along with Bruce and Larry. I had gotten used to nuzzling up next to her, wrapping my arms around her as we slept.
Mary had become a part of me, more than I had ever thought possible. We spent every waking minute together. We knew how to press each other’s buttons. When we ran the hills at camp, I could tell when she was just tired or when she needed real help—and she did the same for me. When she was fussing with the camping gear, making dinner or stoking the fire or sweeping dirt out of the floor of the tent, I knew what must be troubling her. I knew her thoughts, and she knew mine.
And she helped me as I struggled to get over killing the sheriff. When I woke in the middle of the night, screaming and fighting against the claustrophobic confines of my sleeping bag, she could whisper me back to sleep.
When this Calling was over, I would have nothing left—no home to go back to, no money to live on, no friends I could turn to. Except Mary.
But could I truly turn to Mary? Now that she was going off with Bruce, I … Well, I didn’t know. What if something happened to her?
I had to get that out of my head. I shouldn’t be paranoid. This had been the plan for two months, almost. I should have come to terms with it.
Ahead of us I saw Molly climb back into the Jeep, the old license plate in her hand. She worked fast.
It took 20 more minutes for Douglas and Barbara to return from the grocery store, and they had a full cart. I wished that it could be a hot meal, but at least it was food. They stopped at each vehicle and handed off bread, cold cuts, mayo and mustard, and far more snacks than we’d ever need: potato chips, Hydrox cookies, Hershey bars, caramels, Ring Dings, Twinkies, and several six-packs of Fanta, 7Up, and TaB.
Mary took the bread and cold cuts and took sandwich orders from everyone in the car. It wasn’t fine dining, but it tasted fresh, and it was the first meat we’d eaten in months that hadn’t been cooked over a campfire.
We ate and ate. The sudden sugar rush of snack foods we hadn’t had since June made us all a little sick, but I stuffed myself nonetheless. I think I ate half the Ring Dings all by myself.
Kat held the newspaper on her lap while she ate. “They’re calling it the Great Daylight Fireball,” she said. “And dig this—it’ll fly over Nevada up to Canada.”
Mary finished chewing a bite of her salami sandwich and read over Kat’s shoulder. “It says it might not hit. It’s close enough to pass through the atmosphere and burn. We just need it to work as the trigger.”
John came up to the car and Bruce rolled down his window.
“We’re going to hit the bank,” John said.
“Whoa,” Bruce said.
“Are you serious?” Kat asked.
“It’s almost closing time,” John said, looking at his watch. “We want to hit it before they lock up. Look, I know you’re not happy with him, but Eugene is taking the lead. He’s robbed three banks before.”
Bruce laughed. “And he spent five years in jail for it.”
“Because his getaway car chickened out.”
“And you’re asking me to go with him?” Bruce asked. “To make sure he doesn’t accidentally shoot someone?”
“I’m not worried about that.”
“This isn’t something easy to walk away from,” Bruce said. “Do we have a getaway car?”
“We’ll take the Skylark. Molly will switch the plates. In the meantime, I want you and the other two vehicles to go to Reno now. Find us rooms at Harrah’s. Use your fake IDs.”
John looked back at me. “You’re coming with us, Mikey. You too, Kat. This is your team’s operation.”
“What?” I asked, flabbergasted. “Why?”
“Partly because you saved everyone’s asses at the gun store, but also because you have grown a hell of a distinctive beard. It’s gonna be you, me, Kat, Eugene. Grab a pistol and make sure it’s loaded.”
As John left the window, Mary squeezed my hand. I kissed her and grabbed my M1911.
“Don’t say it,” I said as she stared at me. “I’ll be careful.”
But even as I took the pistol and tucked it in the back of my pants, hidden under my shirt, I could feel myself trembling. Still, I climbed out of the Suburban and walked back to the Skylark, where the six of us robbers gathered. Kat walked with me. She was in a T-shirt and jeans.
“I didn’t expect to be doing this today,” Kat said to me.
I put my hands in my pockets to hide their trembling. “You’ll do great,” I said. “We’ve practiced working as a team. And we have both Walter and John to help us, and they know what they’re doing. We just need to make sure we keep Eugene under control.”
“He’s done this kind of thing before,” she assured me.
“I know what he’s done.”
“Listen,” Kat said. “I know you hate him for what happened at the gun store. But we have to work together. This whole trip to Turkey and Iraq is going to be for nothing if we can’t work together.”
“I know it,” I said.
She touched my arm. “It’s going to be fine.”
“We’re robbing a bank.”
“We need to. We can’t buy plane tickets if we don’t. We have to live in Turkey and Baghdad for three weeks, remember.”
I stopped, and looked at her. “I trust you,” I said. “I just don’t know what to do about him.”
“I trust you, too,”
