Page 188 of Johnny

Or… there is. There always has been. That’s the whole reason my father and I were working on

our secret project.

But… I look over at Johnny. That means I have to make a choice. And it’s not fair. I just got to

know him. I just got to like him. I just, maybe even, started to love him.

“No, everything’s fine,” Johnny says to the phone.

Fine? I scoff. Everything is decidedly not fine.

“I think I’ll be back in Key West tomorrow. Yeah. No,” he says. Roughly this time. “I’ll tell you all

about it when I get there. Cool. Bye.”

He ends the call and sighs. “They’re OK.”

“They’re not OK!” I say. “We’re all fucked! They’re going to kill my dad, and kill your brothers,

and all those other people!” I’m suddenly weary with despair. I know how Gilgamesh felt when he

got back from his journey of secrets.

Everything sucks. Everything is messed up.

There is no future past tomorrow at nine AM. No future at all.

Johnny lets out a long breath of air and then shoves the phone back into his pocket. “It was Logan,”

he says. “On that first call. It was Logan telling me that someone blew up the helicopter people. That

wasn’t his helicopter we used today. He rented it from a friend and now that friend and all his people

are dead. They blew the whole place up. It was a warning. They killed them because they’re not Way.

But it was just a warning for me. Either I show up tomorrow or that same scenario will play out down

in Key West where…” He laughs. But it’s one of those ironic laughs. Me and irony? We’re so well

acquainted I’d recognize it anywhere. “Where I told them to all stay put. Where I gathered them all up

in one convenient location so the Way could take them out with one blast.”

But then he looks me in the eyes and goes hard. Hard like the stone tattooed on his arm.

“What are we gonna do?” I ask.

“We’re gonna show up on that island at nine AM tomorrow morning.”

“And they’re going to kill us,” I squeak.

“No,” Johnny says. “No, they’re not going to kill us. If they wanted us dead, Megan. We’d be dead.

They know where we’re at. That drone didn’t have to drop a package. We both know that.”

“Then why do they want us?”

But it’s a stupid, stupid question. I know why they want us. At least… I know why they want me.