Born to Run Read Free Page A

key, smiled at the sound of a perfectly tuned V8. He felt the vibe as the car rolled slowly out of the showroom, and Jack lowered his window. It was one of those mornings that screamed "convertible"--seventy-two degrees, blue skies, not a cloud in sight--but for every perfect December day in Miami there was hell to pay in August. One leaky canvas top on a vintage automobile with crappy air-conditioning was enough in Jack's lifetime.
    The showroom garage door closed automatically behind them, and Theo burned rubber out of the parking lot.
    "Easy on the new tires," said the salesman.
    "Sorry," said Jack, as if it were his fault.
    Theo didn't apologize. He just beat it up U . S . 1.
    The salesman made his pitch over the roar of the engine.
    "This baby isn't quite show quality," he said, "but it's a dead ringer for the modified Mustang Steve McQueen drove in the Bullitt movie. Highland Green paint. Black interior. Three - ninety big block engine pushing four hundred horsepower. I've met dozens of Mustang know-it-alls who swear it was a Shelby flying over the hills of San Francisco in the famous chase scene, but it was a fastback, just like this one. Which is a good thing for you. A restored Shelby in this condition would set you back well into six figures."
    Theo downshifted and stopped at the red light. A couple of fit young women clad in running shorts and breathable tank tops were jogging in place at the curb, waiting for the walk signal. Theo revved the engine as they passed in the crosswalk. The Latina with long legs smiled and waved. Jack waved back.
    Theo grabbed Jack's arm with enough force to break it.
    "Never wave at chicks."
    "Oh, come on. Andie is not going to get upset over that."
    "Got nothin' to do with Andie. Mustang Rule Number One: You don't wave at chicks. Period."
    "But she waved at me," said Jack.
    "Don't matter. You just look, nod kind of cool-like, and say Wassup?"
    "How is she supposed to hear me if I'm sitting inside a car?"
    "She can see your lips move."
    "She can also see me wave."
    "If she sees your lips move, her mind hears 'Wassup?' If she sees you wave, she hears 'Hey there, Lieutenant Dan: it's me, Forrest. Forrest Gump!' So, don't wave. Ever. Got it?"
    "Got it."
    The light changed and the Mustang launched like a rocket. Jack switched on the radio.
    The salesman leaned forward and said, "The sound system is obviously not original, but you've still got your AM dial if you want that 1960s experience."
    Jack tried to find music, but the AM band was mostly Spanish talk radio. At the left end of the dial, an English-language news station caught his attention. The reporter had a decided urgency to his tone: "--is no official word yet, but Associated Press is reporting that Vice President Grayson was unconscious when emergency responders airlifted him from a private refuge near Everglades National Park and transported him to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami."
    "Music," said Theo.
    "No, wait."
    "Mustang Rule Number Two," said Theo, but Jack cut him off.
    "I'm serious. Shut up."
    The reporter on the scene continued: "The vice president spent all day Friday in the Everglades with a special blue-ribbon commission that is studying twenty-first-century threats to the ecosystem. This morning he was on a guided hunting trip on privately owned land when, approximately thirty minutes before sunrise, something went terribly wrong. Of course, it is widely known that Vice President Grayson has a history of heart trouble. He suffered two heart attacks in his forties, and two years ago he spent his fifty-second birthday in the hospital with chest pains. We can only speculate as to whether today's emergency was health related or some kind of accident. At this point, information is scarce. The hospital has released no comment, except to confirm that the vice president is there. And this area of western Miami - Dade County where the incident occurred is very isolated, as you might well imagine. We're told that the other