"I know someone who can help" Michael said. I helped Lincoln get up and wrapped my arm around his waist so that he could walk properly. We made our way to an apartment and Michael knocked desperately on the door. It was unlocked quickly.
"I need your help" Michael said, as we stumbled into the apartment.
"Michael, what are you doing?" Nika asked.
"Cayenne pepper"Michael said, as I helped Lincoln onto the couch.
"What?"
"In your kitchen. Do you have any?"
"Um… yeah, maybe"
"I'm going to need some rubbing alcohol, some towels, and pain killers. Whatever you've got"
"And some booze"
"Please!" I got up to help Nika with the stuff.
"Want some help?" I asked.
"Uh yeah. Thanks" She said, handing me some towels and alcohol, I walked over to Michael and handed him them, as he rolled up Lincoln's pant leg to show the wound, which was now bleeding pretty badly.
"Easy, easy, easy, easy" I said, wincing at the blood.
"It's fine. Let's keep moving" Lincoln said as Nika came back with some more supplies.
"We keep moving, that leg keeps bleeding. That leg keeps bleeding, and we're not getting out of Illinois" I said, handing Michael some rubbing alcohol.
"This is going to hurt" Michael poured the alcohol on the wound as Lincoln groaned in pain.
"That's good, that's good, that's good" I said, watching the alcohol clean the wound. Michael dabbed at the wound with towels, as Lincoln drank some of the booze, Michael sprinkled the pepper on the wound and Lincoln groaned again.
"This'll seal the capillaries" Michael said in response to my questioning gaze.
"Michael, you should not have come here. The police have been here asking questions" Nika said.
"We didn't have a choice"
"Listen, you know I'm thankful for the help with the green card, but I just don't want to get involved -"
"I know, I know" He started shouting "It wasn't part of our deal! I know, I know!" He sighed "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. There was nowhere else to go"
"When I saw you on the news I was worried. I just hoped you'd crossed the border by now"
"So did I" Michael secured the towels around the wound and secured it with duct tape.
"Keep giving him these. See if you can find him some clean clothes" He handed her the pain killers.
"Okay" She whispered, and left.
"I've gotta go back and get our car" Michael said, getting up.
"Forget the car. We can get another" Lincoln said.
"I don't need a car, I need that car"
"Why?" I asked.
"Because in that car is everything we need to disappear" Michael left and I handed Lincoln some more alcohol which he took gratefully.
I heard a car park out front and went to take a look.
"Michael's back" I said, and I helped Lincoln outside.
"What's going on?" He asked, as Michael removed the license plate from the car, and switched it with another one.
"Apparently, I wasn't the only one looking for this car" Michael replied, as me and Lincoln got in the car.
"Great. Let's get out of here" Michael went out to talk to Nika, and I felt a bit of jealousy towards her.
"You all right?" He asked me, when he got back in the car.
"Yeah" I said.
"Good. We're heading west, toward the money, toward LJ. Just got one more stop to make" Michael said.
"What for?" Lincoln asked.
"You trust me?" Michael asked us.
"Let's put some music on" Lincoln asked.
"No!" Michael shouted, quickly grabbing his wrist to stop him.
"Forgot. No radio. Man, it's quiet out here. Inside there was always noise, you know? Someone yelling, guards making rounds. Kinda got used to it." He chuckled.
"You're right. We should go back" We all shared a look and laughed.
"Yeah… The tats, they weren't just for getting out, were they?" Lincoln asked.
"Breaking out was just the beginning. Now it gets a little more interesting" Michael replied, shrugging.
"Mmm-hmm. Because me getting strapped to the electric chair wasn't interesting enough" Lincoln mused.
"All I'm saying, is inside, we had the element of surprise. No one knew what we were planning. There's something about this guy, the one in the elevator? He's like… " I thought back to the elevator.
"It's like he knows where we're going, what we're thinking" Michael said. "If that's true, then it's just a matter of time before he finds out about the money in Utah, Bolshoi Booze, our way into Mexico… everything" We all thought that over for a few seconds, and then Michael got out his cell phone.
"You ready for this?" Michael asked.
I nodded "Make the call"
"Hey, it's me. I've got Linc and Riley. We're on our way there" He said, into the phone "If for some reason you can't make it, call me back at 917, 454"
"There" Lincoln pointed.
"It's not much further now" Michael said, and set the odometer back to zero.
We drove for a few minutes when Michael broke the silence "You ready?"
"Yeah" I said.
"Now" Michael slammed on the breaks, and I held onto the car door as the car skidded on a bridge facing the railing. We got out and looked over the ledge. Michael rattled the railing.
"This is the one" Michael and Lincoln unscrewed the bolts securing the railing in place.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" I asked.
"Should do, the least it's going to give us some breathing space" Michael replied.
"You see them?" He asked Lincoln.
"Nope. Maybe he didn't get your message" He said. I watched as they pushed the car back.
"All right, that's good, that's good, that's good, that's good" Michael popped the trunk, and got out two packages of meat.
"I'm sorry, we don't have another one for you" He said.
"It's okay" I said. "I'll figure something out"
I watched Michael and Lincoln put the meat in the front seats of the car, and Michael put a hockey stick on the gas pedal. Lincoln slammed the door, and Michael turned on the radio. He did something with the phone and tossed it into the car.
"Just one more thing … Remember, once I hit scan we've got about thirty seconds before it reaches 103.7"
"Then she blows" I said.
"That's right. Ready?" Michael asked.
"Ye-ah" Lincoln said, smiling. Michael reached in and hit scan, the radio changed channel, Michael released the emergency break, jumping back as the car zooms forward and slammed the door. I clung to Michael's arm,as we looked over the edge at the car.
"Okay, let's go" We started to run across the bridge but Michael slowed down.
"Wait, the music's not changing. Wait, wait, wait" We stopped at the edge of the bridge and watched the car.
"Some thing's wrong"
"What happened?" I asked.
"I don't know. We're going to need that explosion" I looked up as I heard a siren coming.
"He's here. He's here" I followed them as they made their way down the riverbed.
"The radio must have jammed. We'll have to set it off manually" I said.
"Car could blow any second though" Lincoln pointed out.
"The Feds are going to be here in about two minutes. If it doesn't look like we're dead, we will be" He raised a fist towards Lincoln "Rock, paper, scissors" Lincoln ignored him and walked towards the car.
"Lincoln" I hissed.
"It's my turn" He approached the car, and crawled partly through the window.
"How many stations between 102.1 and 103.7?" He called back.
"Way out here? Just one, probably" I bit my lip worried, I held onto Michael's arm preparing for the explosion.
Lincoln thankfully got out the way, and we climbed to the top of the dirt slope above the crash, looking down on it.
"We should have a pretty clear path to Utah now" I dusted off his hat for Michael "They'll turn their attention to the other guys which means we'll be off the radar for a while"
"What if they get the lab results back from the accident?" Lincoln asked.
"We'll be in Mexico by then" Michael replied.
"Provided the transport comes through" Just as he said that a car pulled up and Nika got out.
"Looks like I owe you another one" Michael said.
Nika gave him the keys "It's okay"
"Okay. Well, uh, once we get to Mexico, I'll send you ten thousand, like I promised. Plus another three for the car" Michael tossed the keys to Lincoln and I got in the back seat. Nika soon joined me, and I smiled at her. I got a smile back and I felt a bit better about this plan.
AN: Done! Yay. I don't really like Nika, so thankfully she's gone soon.