There are things Jordan did that I found out about later. This was one of them. He left the house sometime after midnight and came back before the sun came up and I was asleep for all of it. He didn't tell me where he went. He didn't tell me anything. He just came back and went to bed and the next morning he acted like nothing happened because for him, I think, nothing had. It was just something he did. A night he got through.
I found out the shape of it eventually. Not the details. Just the shape. That's usually how it goes with Jordan.
* * *
1am. I took the Charger.
I drove to the first location with the radio off. Not because I was nervous. Just because there was nothing I needed to hear right now. The streets were mostly empty, a few lights here and there, the city doing its quiet thing. I kept the speed down and stayed in my lane and thought about nothing in particular. That's the trick. You let your brain go soft. You drive like it's any other night.
When I got to the truck I parked a block over and walked to it. Black F-150, exactly where it was supposed to be. I went around to the rear driver's side and crouched down and ran my hand along the underside of the bumper until I felt the tape. Key was right there. I peeled it off and stood up and looked around and then I got in.
It smelled like someone had been eating fast food in it recently. The seat was pushed too far back. I adjusted it, checked the mirrors, and pulled out.
Five minutes out I put the mask on.
* * *
I parked at the location exactly where I was told and cut the engine and waited.
They came in fast. Twenty cars, maybe more, pulling up from both directions, both sides of the street. Doors opening before they'd fully stopped. The sound of windows breaking, doors coming off hinges, and then I heard one shot, then two, then it opened up and I stopped counting.
Three to five minutes. That's how long it lasted. It felt shorter.
I sat in the truck and looked straight ahead and kept my hands on the wheel.
Two guys came around to the bed. More people behind them, moving fast, loading. I watched it happen in the side mirror. They knew exactly what they were doing. Nobody was wasting motion. The bed filled up faster than I expected and then one of the guys slapped the side of the truck twice and I pulled out.
* * *
Three cars behind me. That was the tail. I knew they were there and I didn't look at them.
The streets were empty. I kept the speed steady and took the route I had memorized and let my brain go to that place it goes when I'm doing something I need to not think about. Not blank exactly. More like background noise. The city sliding past the windows. Stoplights. The sound of the engine.
A car came in from behind hard. Close. I don't know if there was more shooting after I left or if they were running from something or what. I didn't look. I kept my eyes forward and I drove.
That's the job. Drive. That's all I had to do. Just drive.
So I drove.
* * *
The drop location had people already waiting when I pulled in. They moved on the truck immediately, two guys on the bed before I'd even set the brake, everybody knowing their part. A third guy came around and opened the passenger door and got in without saying anything. I pulled back out.
He directed me with hand signals. Left. Right. Straight. Four minutes, maybe five. He pointed at a spot and I pulled over and stopped and he slid behind the wheel before I'd closed my door and drove away. I watched the truck until it turned the corner and disappeared.
Then I walked back to the Charger.
* * *
I drove to the storage unit. Changed out of everything in the dark, bagged it, locked the unit. Walked home. It was still dark out, that deep part of the night right before the sky starts doing anything, and the neighborhood was completely still.
I came around the corner to my street and I saw her.
Maddy. Sitting on the front step. Jacket on, arms crossed, like she'd been there for a while and had decided she was going to keep being there until I showed up.
I stopped for half a second. Took her in. Then I kept walking.
She looked up when she heard me and said hey.
Hey, I said.
She stood up. Looked at me the way she looks at things when she's already decided what she's going to say but is checking one more time to make sure she still means it.
Can we talk?
I looked at her standing there on my front step at whatever time this was. Whatever had just happened in the last two hours sitting somewhere behind my eyes that I wasn't going to let forward right now.
"It's 4am"
She just looked at me
"Yeah", I said. Come inside