“What do we do once we get out the window?” he drawled, and there was a slight edge to his voice. “Not that I don’t have complete faith in you, Maggie May, but I hate to go into anything blind.”
“Don’t bother me with details. I’m making this up as I go along.”
She dressed more quickly than he did, pulling a pair of jeans over her running shorts and topping it with a cotton sweater against the early morning chill. She didn’t bother with her purse, simply taking out the credit cards and money. Slipping into her Nikes, she was busy with the latch on the narrow window when he came up behind her.
“You really think we’re going to fit through that?” He eyed it dubiously.
“If I can, you can,” she muttered, pushing the rusty hinge open with what seemed a scream of metal to her sensitive ears. She stood motionless, waiting. No sound came from anywhere around them, and Maggie could guess that in a sleazy old motel such as the Lone Star Bide-a-Wee the soundproofing was almost nonexistent. Either they hadn’t alerted their watchers or their enemies were as circumspect as they were. Whichever it was, Maggie didn’t care to wait around to find out. “Follow me, Pulaski,” she said, climbing up on the shaky toilet seat and scrambling out the window, landing on the ground with more silence than grace.
Mack landed with more of a thud, but he hit the ground running, and within moments they were a block and a half away, racing down the deserted sidewalks of the sleazy little border town. They didn’t stop until they were winded, until Maggie fell against the side of a building, gasping for breath, holding the stitch in her side. And then she grinned up at him, immensely pleased with herself.
“Damn, we’re good,” she said, with almost a sense of wonder.
Mack took a little longer before he was able to speak. “You like this, don’t you?” he wheezed.
“I haven’t decided yet.” Her breathing was slowing to normal. “But it sure is exhilarating.”
“If you say so. I’ll ask you again—what next?”
“I was thinking we might sneak back, reconnoiter a bit, and see if we can learn anything. If we’re very careful—”
“Lady,” Mack interrupted her in awesome tones, “you just dragged me at a dead run halfway across this miserable little town. Are you seriously suggesting we go back again, putting our lives in danger?”
“Who says our lives were in danger?” she shot back, stung. “They may have been just watching us. I want to see—” Whatever she wanted to see was lost in the sudden bright flash of light to the west of them, followed by a crack of thunder and a minor earthquake. Maggie was flung back against the building, but Mack maintained his balance, staring at the billowing black smoke that was filling the predawn sky.
“I guess the black sedans were expendable,” he said grimly.
Maggie followed his gaze. There wouldn’t be much left of the motel in an explosion of that size, and she ran a nervous tongue over suddenly parched lips. “As I was saying, the first thing we do is get the hell out of here,” she said, her voice almost as raw and strained as Mack’s permanently wrecked one. “We need transportation. I’m counting on you for that. Come on.” She headed off at a brisk trot, and he followed.
“What the hell do you mean, you’re counting on me?” he demanded, jogging beside her.
“You’re the one who used to run with teenage gangs,” she pointed out coolly. “Surely you remember how to steal a car.”
“I should be offended.”
“You should be flattered. I’m sure I could manage to steal a car if I had to, but I’m trusting your expertise. Is our best bet a private car or something on a car lot?”
Mack gave up arguing. “I always preferred car lots. That way you get your choice.”
Maggie nodded. In the distance they could hear sirens, fire engines and, no doubt, police. “Be ready to duck if they come our way.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said with spurious docility. “Anything you say.”
She cast an apologetic glance back over her shoulder. “Sorry. I forget that you’re more than capable of holding up your end of this situation. I think there were car dealerships somewhere in this area of town.”
“Used car would be better.”
“Used cars if we can find them,” she agreed.
Her memory, thank heavens, hadn’t failed her. As sirens screamed by on parallel streets she and Mack moved farther and farther away. Until they finally turned onto what passed for the local strip, the golden arches of McDonald’s dim in the slowly lightening sky, the used-car lots lit by strings of brightly colored lights.
“How does O’Malley’s Used Cars sound, Pulaski?” she asked.
“Sounds terrific as long as Mr. O’Malley doesn’t have a night watchman or an unfriendly Doberman.”
Maggie smiled at him sweetly. “I can’t tell from here. We’ll just have to live dangerously.”
He just stared at her for a long moment, a bemused expression on his face. “I’m warning you, I’m out of practice. And I never was one of the experts. Fast Dougal was as good as they come, stealing a car in under a minute. The closest I came was three and a half minutes, and that was when I was in practice.”