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"On the Road Again"
Seein' things that I may never see again
And I can't wait to get on the road again
- Willie Nelson
They found the truck where it had been left, and Murray got behind the wheel. "You sure it's a good idea to let him drive?" Hopper asked.
Joyce shrugged. It had worked out for her so far. And she didn't want Hopper driving—the last thing they needed was for someone to see the escaped American prisoner behind the wheel of a truck. As far as the Russians knew, Murray was Yuri, and from what she could tell, nothing Yuri did would surprise anyone.
Keeping Hopper's guard friend off Yuri had been something of a challenge, but they'd promised him he could take his revenge later. When they were safe. Safer.
Murray pushed the pedal to the metal, and the van burst through the gates. "Sayonara!" Murray screamed as he went past, the gates flying apart and landing somewhere in the mud.
The sound of the gates falling was followed by the sounds of bullets. Joyce shrieked and ducked. Maybe it would have been a better idea to let Hopper drive. Actually, that would have ended with them being shot at, too. Men certainly liked to do crazy things that ended in gunfire.
Hopper wrapped himself around her, shielding her with his body.
Up front, Murray was screaming "Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God!" and the van was careening along at what Will would have called turbo speed.
At last, silence fell, broken only by Yuri's moans.
"You okay? You all right?" Hopper asked breathlessly.
"Yeah."
He shouted up front. "Okay?"
"Okay? I'm great! Whoo!" Murray whooped. "Oh, nothing like a little prison escape to get your day started, am I right?" he asked Enzo.
"We're not out of the woods yet. My people do not take kindly to escapes. They'll be hunting us."
"Yeah, well, we aren't exactly planning on sticking around," Hopper told him. He let go of Joyce with a final glance to assure himself she was okay and climbed forward to stick his head through the window into the cab of the van. "Where's the plane you came in on?" he asked Murray.
"That plane? Um … that crashed." Joyce winced at the memory, and the realization that they were pretty much stuck here, unless Yuri had another plane in his back pocket. Which meant making nice with Yuri. Ugh.
Hopper frowned at her over his shoulder. "Crashed?"
She pointed at Yuri. "His fault."
Yuri made noises indicating that he did not, in fact, believe it was his fault, but no one was interested in what Yuri thought.
Except Hopper, it appeared, who was now making his way back toward Yuri, no doubt to ask him if he had another plane in his back pocket.
"A word of warning, Jim," Murray said. "That man is more slippery than an eel dipped in baby oil. I wouldn't trust a word out of his mouth."
Hopper yanked down Yuri's gag.
Making really gross noises as he spat the remnants of lint out of his mouth, Yuri moaned, "My tongue. My tongue! I … I can't feel my tongue."
Enzo turned around and glared at Yuri.
Hopper took Yuri's face in his hand, holding it very still with that Hopper look that had made their tenth-grade gym teacher let them skip the mile run. "We need to get out of here, back to the States. Can you get us to another plane?"
"Now? You're asking for Yuri's help after dragging him through miles of shit tunnel? I could have told you we are going wrong way hours ago. You Neanderthal!" He spit the words into Hopper's face.
"Watch your mouth or I am going to take this—" He waved the gag he had just taken off of Yuri. "I am going to rub it along the bottom of my shoe, and I'm going to jam it down your throat."
"Well, go ahead!" Yuri said, all his previous certainty that he was on top of the situation having come back in a rush now that he could talk again. Joyce had preferred it when he was gagged. Hopper made as if to stuff the gag back in his mouth and Yuri hastily added, "But then you'll never make it out of my country alive."
"So you can get us out." Joyce hated herself for falling for his crap again, but they needed to get out of Russia, and they needed to get home. If the Russians had the Upside Down, then El and Will were still in danger.
"For a glass of water and hot steam bath … and five-inch stack of American dollars." It was amazing how quickly he went from a poor abused hostage asking for a little pity to a greedy pig demanding money. "Yuri will fly you to moon."
Hopper groaned and let go of him, Joyce scowled at him. From the front seat, they all heard the sound of a gun cocking, very loud in the small metal van, and Enzo whirled around, the gun pointed at Yuri's head. There was no doubt in Joyce's mind that he was more than ready and willing to fire it. "You make another demand, you double-crossing mudak, and I'll decorate the roof of this van with your brains."
"Why so angry, comrade?" Yuri asked with an ingratiating smile. "Rough couple days for you, I'm sure. But now you are free. Everything works out. Happy ending for everybody! No?"
The gun hadn't wavered a bit, despite Murray's questionable driving. "For you, that will very much depend on how you answer. Comrade. Will you take us to America? Yes?" He put his thumb on the hammer of the gun. "Or no?"
There was a moment of silence when Joyce could practically see Yuri trying to turn this situation to his advantage. At last he nodded. "Yes. But for—"
"Ah-ah. No demands," Joyce reminded him. "You owe us for drugging us and dragging us here."
"You? You owe me for plane you crash!"
"That was your fault!"
"Children!" Murray snapped from the front seat. "Time for a détente. Make nice."
Joyce and Yuri glared at each other, but both subsided into their seats while Hopper dragged directions back to Yuri's stash out of him.
