Page 13 of Harbor

Renzo took a hard left, and instead of heading toward the highway again, he went for a rural road that would take them twice as long to cross over into the next state, but would make them harder to find. If anything, it gave them a bit more legroom to move and figure something out.

He’d not realized how bad his paranoia still was when even ten minutes later, with trees surrounding them on the left and right, Renzo still kept peering into the rearview mirror. At the same time, Lucia hadn’t once peeked over her shoulder to check if someone was following them.

He felt out of control.

She was cool, and calm.

Jesus.

You go, I go.

Her words kept ringing in his head. It was the only thing making him feel even remotely better at the moment. Still, his paranoia raged on like it wasn’t going to simmer at all.

What if the SUV had been caught on cameras from another building?

What if the license plate they’d stolen from the first car lot had been put out by now?

“I think we should switch vehicles again,” he said quietly.

Lucia didn’t even question him. “We’ll have to wait until it’s dark again. Seems safer.”

She wasn’t wrong.

In the backseat, it seemed like Diego had finally woken up. “I like trucks.”

It was random as hell. Then again, if he’d been listening to them, it wasn’t random at all. If it was a truck the kid wanted next …

“We’ll find you a truck, buddy,” Renzo said.

THREE

“Where are we?” Diego asked.

Lucia passed Renzo a smile. It was the first time the kid had asked them anything in a while. He didn’t seem to care what was happening, really.

“Just outside Norfolk, Nebraska,” Renzo said, turning to rest his arm over the seat so he could stare at his brother in the backseat of the king cab Dodge truck. Yeah, they managed to find Diego the truck he wanted. How long they would keep it was anyone’s guess, though. More switched license plates, though this time they managed to grab an older truck out of a secondhand lot. “We’re going to stay the night, and drive some more.”

Diego peered out the window, and then promptly yawned. “Here?”

It wasn’t dark yet—dusk was more like it. The time between day and night when the sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon, and the sky was bright with burnt oranges, reds, and yellows as it promised night was coming soon. Night with a black backdrop and bright stars dotted across the inky canvas.

Lately, Lucia seemed to like night a lot more.

Diego and Renzo continued their conversation, but Lucia’s attention was on the window, and the place outside of their vehicle. The parking lot of the motel they had picked for the night, after checking GPS and making sure they were far enough off the beaten path, didn’t look like much. A standard three-star motel, according to the sign in the window, and thankfully, given the office was lit up, it seemed like they were still open to accept someone for check-in.

That didn’t make the place look any better, really.

It wasn’t even two floors, but rather, an L-shaped building with a front step entrance to each hotel room, and white siding that was starting to turn a little yellow. It certainly didn’t feel like a great vacation spot, but rather, a stopping point in the night for people like them who had been driving far too long and didn’t have any other choice. A sign attached to the entrance of the office said there was an in-ground pool in the back. Not that Lucia figured that was any good for them considering it was September, and they planned on getting back on the road before it was even light out again. The lights on the big sign mostly worked except for a few on the part of the sign that flashed a constant message of vacancy.

Which was funny because you know, the place was empty. It didn’t look like they had anyone staying there at the moment. Lucia figured that was good for them. Less people who might notice them, and all that.

But what did it say for the hotel?

Not very much.

“Hey,” Renzo murmured.

Turning away from the window to face him, she smiled. “Hey.”