Chapter Nineteen: Compass
The sun died a spectacular ruby death. It warmed their backs with the last of its power, and yielded to the horizon one fiery finger at a time, holding on until the last possible instant.
Going…going…gone.
Blazing red faded to pink. Pink gave way to purple.
Darkness sifted down like black sand from the heavens, and Jane and Penny were left alone in the night.
By the time the first stars began winking and flashing overhead, Jane's breaths had turned to white clouds. He continued to hop along, but his pace had slowed.
Penny had stopped crying a while ago. Her face was dry, smooth and blank. Her eyes stared straight ahead, unfocused on anything.
Off in the distance, a lone coyote yipped and howled.
Jane shivered. He hoped he'd made the right choice, leading them all the way out here.
It was an intricate chess game, trying to guess what his opponent would do. Trying to guess what his opponent would think he would do.
Jane frequently played the game at work, and he won every time…Almost.
He had also played the game with Red John.
And lost.
Everything.
Mustache Man wasn't Red John. Mustache Man was most likely a professional killer. His partner, too. It explained the relaxed attitude, the execution-style shooting, and the fact that they were working in a pair.
Hitmen followed orders. There was structure involved. Logic, planning.
Even though their plans had been blown to hell by Jane's unexpected presence, the killers would continue to function as professionals. Mustache Man knew that Jane and Penny were alive. He also knew that, as witnesses, they could not be allowed to remain that way. He would use logic to deduce where they'd gone, and attempt to come find them and kill them.
A logical person in Jane's situation would either try to hide, or else flee and seek help.
There was a garage to hide in, and a whole house, too. There was a road, and, miles down, there were other houses. There might even be a car or two to flag down on the way.
The desert, on the other hand, was empty infinity. A big stretch of nothing. The Void. No houses, here. No cars, no phones, no people.
No help.
But in the dark of night, a big stretch of nothing would take a very long time to search.
The killers were on a time crunch – they couldn't know whether Jane had already called the police. Mustache Man would look in the most obvious places first…Jane hoped.
As for the help part, Jane would have to leave that to Lisbon and the others.
He wished that he could make it easier for them, wished that hiding from the killers didn't mean hiding from the good guys, too…
If only there was some secret clue he could leave. A sign. Something the killers wouldn't understand, or even think of. Some way to guide his friends in the right direction—
Jane's heart gave a sudden, marvelous leap inside his chest. An idea burst to life in his brain, like a flower unfolded in the full glory of the sun, and he almost smiled, in spite of everything.
Very gently, Jane tugged on Penny's arm, changing their course.