Like Mind Read Free Page A

voice.
    “Corey, I really want you to stay alive. Is that okay?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Good,” she took a moment to think, biting her lower lip slightly and looking down at the counter. When she looked up at me through her lashes she continued, “I know it’s a little weird, but I have a place we can go. You’ll be safe there. The doctor didn’t know about it.”
    I wasn’t thinking about the slobbering death-doctor at this point. Not even a little bit. My heart was beating in my ears now too. So I’m pretty sure the rest of the conversation went like this, but I can’t be positive.
    “It’s not weird,” I reassured her, “I trust you.”
    She smiled and laid her hand on my cheek, “Good. Good.” She inhaled as if there were something else but then she decided against it and said. “We should go. My car’s in the parking garage.”
    “Don’t you want to finish your coffee?” I asked in my most debonair voice.
    “We can take the cups with us.”
    “Oh, yeah.”
    So we got up and walked out to the parking garage. If you’ve never been there, you should know that the Powell’s parking garage is old and awkwardly tight. Its wooden support beams and tight corners make for interesting driving and some awkward, parking jobs. But it’s free when you buy something at Powell’s so it’s worth the stress.
    We walked out of the stairwell and I lagged a bit behind to see which car she walked to. I secretly hoped it would be the Smart Car, because they’re so tiny and cute, but she pulled out her keys and the silver BMW responded with flashing lights. At the time I wasn’t really in a position to think about the disparity of her age and occupation and this car. My mind was wandering ahead to her apartment instead.
    The cool leather interior of the car smelled like new and something else, vaguely metallic. I got in first while she did something in the trunk. As she opened the door I heard shouts coming from the stairwell area.
    “Damn, they followed you.”
    “What? Who?”
    She didn’t answer. She just got in and started the car. I snatched at my seatbelt as she threw the manual transmission into reverse and gunned the engine. I was sure she’d hit the central structure of the garage, but she cranked the wheel just in time to miss both the cars on either side of our parking space and the bits of building behind.
    Another quick shift and she was in first gear staring down the burly twins. They both had bruised and scraped faces from our meeting earlier. I was both proud and a little embarrassed. They got out of the way when Anka sped toward them. But I quickly saw that she was going too fast to avoid hitting the cars ahead of us.
    With a crank of the steering wheel and a pull of the handbrake, she threw the car into a sideways slide. I heard the engine rev slightly as the wheels spun and screeched and we slid around the corner of the parking structure and down toward the ramp. When we got to the straight ramp, she dropped the brake and straightened the wheel just in time to keep me from smashing into the wall and we sped down the steep path to the exit.
    At the bottom of the ramp traffic from 11th street blocked us in. We waited for a moment, but I could already hear the tire squeals of the twins in pursuit of us. Anka glanced at me, checked behind the car and backed up a few feet before pulling out onto the sidewalk and heading south. People dove out of the way as we came to Burnside, after a moment’s hesitation, she punched the accelerator and sent us left down the main street in Portland.
    I thought we were clear, driving away, when Anka slammed her hand against the steering wheel.
    “Damn them!”
    “What, how did they follow us?”
    “See for yourself.”
    I looked back to see the Smart Car rapidly gaining on us with the burly twins crammed inside. There was barely enough room for both sets of shoulders within the tiny vehicle. If they hadn’t tried to attack me yesterday I probably would have laughed