TWENTY-SIX
And you thought all we had to worry about were
earthquakes. According to mining engineer G. Warren Shufelt, Los
Angeles sits above a lost city filled with golden treasures and
mysterious inventions left by a race of Lizard People with
intellects far in advance of our own. Shufelt says he found records
of this reptile race in the ancient legends of the Hopi Indians,
and is presently raising funds to drive a shaft 250 feet under the
ground beneath Downtown.
—Los Angeles Daily Tribune, January 29,
1934
Zach kept looking through the back window
as they drove away.
“We’re just going to leave them there?”
“Yes.”
Zach watched them through the back window until
Cade turned down another street.
“Yeah, I suppose they can call DHS for a tow
truck.”
“They weren’t from Homeland Security,” Cade
said.
“How do you know? Were the badges fake?”
“Not the badges. The names. There are no employees
of DHS named Helen Holt or Augusto Reyes.”
“How can you be so sure? You know the name of every
Homeland Security employee?”
Cade didn’t respond.
“You know the name of every Homeland Security
employee, don’t you?”
“And their positions,” Cade said. “Those two,
whoever they are—they don’t exist.”
Zach wondered what that meant. Before he could ask,
Cade spoke again. “I would have expected better driving from a car
thief.”
Zach looked over at him, stunned. Nobody knew about
that.
“I never—” Zach started. Then decided fuck it, no
use lying.
“That was a long time ago.”
“It was nine years.”
“Right, I forgot. That’s like waiting in line for a
latte to you, isn’t it? What do you care anyway?”
“I’m wondering how you ever got away with
it.”
“Well, I didn’t, obviously. I got caught.”
“Only once,” Cade said.
“Once was enough.”
At first, Zach told himself it was little more than
a practical joke. People in his hometown still left their cars
unlocked. If they didn’t, Zach had figured out a way to pop open
most doors. If he couldn’t bust the lock, he’d learned that a spark
plug, tossed just so, would shatter a car’s window instantly, with
barely a sound. He taught himself how to hot-wire from a schematic
he found on the Net.
It was a challenge. And it was dangerous—miles away
from the hours in class where he was the predictably bright
student, the kid who got along with everyone, who always said and
did the right things.
The money didn’t hurt, either. Tyler, one of Zach’s
buddies, was pretty much aimed at prison from the moment he came
out of his mother’s womb. Absent father, abuse from Mom’s
boyfriends, too little money and too much time on his hands.
He and Zach were friends in grade school, before
either knew they shouldn’t be. Both latchkey kids, with single
moms. Tyler came over to his house after school. They stuck
together, like some bad movie version of themselves, the tough guy
and the brain. If he stopped to think about it, Zach knew Tyler
counted on him for stability. And he knew that once he went off to
college, he’d never see Tyler again.
In the meantime, Tyler knew a guy who was willing
to pay them for the cars they brought him. Laughably small amounts,
really. But Zach wasn’t exactly rich himself. He needed cash for
that Ivy League escape he’d planned.
So, while he spent time after school and weekends
doing Mock Legislature, Poli-Sci Club and volunteering for
campaigns, Zach also ran around a few nights every month stealing
cars.
Then they were caught.
The cop who wouldn’t buy into Zach’s bullshit—the
one Griff resembled so much—also figured out this was the reason
for the recent rash of auto thefts. He and the prosecutor gave Zach
a choice—go to juvie or turn in Tyler and his buyer.
Zach, sitting in a grimy conference room in the
courthouse, didn’t have to think about it long. He saw his whole
future turning to dust. He asked for only one condition: that his
arrest record remain sealed.
Tyler went to juvie. His buyer went to prison. Zach
made his escape.
And this was where it got him. He tried to settle
back into his seat.
“You’re not as different as you think, Zach,” Cade
said. “Everyone has secrets. You’ll see.”
Zach wasn’t sure what that meant. He wondered if
Cade had heard Helen’s conversation with him. Then he yawned so
hard he nearly passed out. He looked at his watch and wondered when
he’d get any sleep.
“Almost sunrise,” Cade said, as if in answer.
“We’re going to the safe house.”