“No. He’s just different.”
“How so?”
“For starters, he kills people.”
Diesel crossed the Delaware River into Pennsylvania.
“Do you know Wulf?”
“Yes.”
“Have you known him for a long time?”
“I’ve known him forever,” Diesel said. “He’s my cousin.”
That took my breath away. His cousin. He was hunting down a family member!
“This must be hard on you,” I said to Diesel. “I would hate to be in that position.” And my mother would be in a state.
“Someone has to disable Wulf, and I’ve been tapped. Even if it wasn’t my job, I would probably feel compelled to stop him.”
“Has he always been bad?”
“He’s always been different. Intense, melancholy, angry, obsessed with his power. And brilliant.”
Diesel looked normal. He was the embodiment of the all-?American charismatic oaf. But he was from a gene pool closely related to Wulf. And Wulf wasn’t nearly normal. Wulf dominated his airspace and radiated unnatural energy. And God knows what else Wulf could do. So I had a few thoughts here about Diesel and his abilities that went beyond normal. Or heck, maybe I’ve just seen so much weird stuff since I became a bounty hunter that I’ll believe anything.
Carl was making sounds in the backseat. “Puh, puh, puh.”
Diesel looked at him in the rearview mirror. “What’s with the monkey?”
“I think he’s amusing himself.”
“Puh, puh, puh, puh, puh,” Carl said.
Diesel turned the radio on and Carl made the sounds louder.
“PUH, PUH, PUH, PUH.”
Diesel shut the radio off and shot a black look at Carl. “If you keep making that sound, I’m going to set you out at the side of the road and not come back for you.”
Carl blew out a sigh and went silent.
“Feeling cranky?” I asked Diesel.
“Not until a couple minutes ago.”
“Chirrup,” Carl said. “Chirrup, chirrup, chirrup.”
“Do you have your gun with you?” Diesel asked me.
“Yeah, but there aren’t any bullets in it.”
“Probably a good thing,” Diesel said.
“Chirrup, chirrup, chirrup, chirrup, chirrup,” Carl said.
Diesel exited the highway and hooked a right.