Chapter Thirteen

Alex had just finished stuffing a couple of pairs of underwear, a couple of pairs of socks, and a clean t-shirt into his bag.  He grabbed his toothbrush and a comb, threw them together in a zip lock bag, and jammed them in with his other stuff as well.

Mr. Darcy had told him on the phone to get his things together for an overnight trip.  He was going to be flying to Albuquerque for a drop off and a pick up as well.  So far, that was all Alex knew.  He was supposed to get over to Mr. Darcy’s office as quickly as he could.  His flight left tonight.

Alex hoped that the car outside would actually start.  He wondered how long it had been sitting there in that shed without being run.

He was fairly confident that he had packed everything he needed, and he figured that if he hadn’t, Albuquerque was relatively civilized and he’d be able to find whatever he was missing there.

Alex slung the bag over his shoulder, found the keys for the car, locked up the house and headed for the garage. 

The interior of the Cutlass wasn’t in the best shape – it looked like a car that had been driven regularly since 1985.  He turned the key, and waited several seconds as the engine cranked.  He really hoped it would start.

After about six seconds of cranking, the engine turned over and started running.  The engine’s idle had a strange, loping quality, and Alex wondered how far the car would actually get.  There was also a high-pitched whine coming from under the hood that couldn’t be good. 

He put it in gear, and it lurched forward with more force than he was expecting.  He rolled it out of the garage, slowly, then put it in park and shut the garage door.  He noticed the whining sound was even noisier outside of the car.

Back in the car, Alex stepped firmly on the brake, and put it back in gear.  This time the Cutlass didn’t lurch forward quite so forcefully.  He let go of the brake and rolled down the driveway.

Alex noticed the ride seemed a little rough for a Cutlass, but figured it might have something to do with being roughly thirty years old.  When he got down to the street, he checked for traffic and stepped on the gas like he would with any other average four door sedan from the 80’s.

What happened is that the Cutlass suddenly came to life, a roaring, snarling beast clawing viciously at the pavement as Alex frantically spun the steering wheel to the left.  He had no idea how, but the tires didn’t slip a bit, they just grabbed on to the road and launched the car as if that’s the way a Cutlass Ciera was normally driven.  In a matter of seconds he was pushing sixty miles per hour.  His brain and his right foot finally started communicating again then, and he let off the gas.

“Whoa,” Alex said.  He checked his rear-view mirror, and looked around to see if anyone, especially any police, had witnessed that little adventure.  At the moment, it looked like he had the road to himself.

He reached a stop sign a couple of miles down the road, and came to a complete stop.  Alex listened to the car again, and thought about where he’d heard that kind of off-kilter idle before.  Family cars, generally speaking, ran smoothly unless something was way out of whack.

Then he remembered a buddy of his who had been way into drag racing.  He’d installed a really hot cam in the V-8 of his Mustang.  That was what the Cutlass sounded like.  That didn’t account for the whine, though. 

Alex took a quick look around, didn’t see any approaching cars, put the Cutlass in Park again, popped the hood release, and got out to see what was hiding under there.  He opened the hood, and his jaw dropped.

So far as he knew, Cutlass Cieras were front wheel drive cars.  Alex wasn’t sure what he was looking at, exactly, but he did know that there was no way this car was front wheel drive.  Also, he wasn’t exactly sure how they’d managed to cram a supercharged v-8 under the hood, but apparently they had.  He realized that he might just be looking at the ultimate sleeper.

More importantly, he might just be driving the ultimate sleeper.

Alex slammed the hood shut and jogged back to hop in the car again.  He put his seat belt on, put the car in Drive, and did a quick check for police.  It looked like the coast was still clear.

He smiled widely and stomped on the gas pedal.

Once again, the tires did not spin, but clung tightly to the road.  The Cutlass launched forward violently as the engine roared, forcing Alex back into the driver’s seat.  The front of the car lifted slightly, and all of a sudden Alex realized he was going to need to pay attention and drive this car, as it edged slightly towards the side of the road.  The speedometer blew past sixty miles per hour and kept climbing without slowing down.  Alex gripped the steering wheel tightly and gave it the slightest input to keep the car pointed in the right direction, and not run off the road.

At one hundred and ten miles per hour, he lost his nerve and let off the gas.  The Cutlass had still been accelerating hard, and it felt like he’d dropped an anchor when he let off the gas.

So apparently Megan hadn’t been kidding about the car.  He realized he was going to have to be careful and behave himself while driving this car.

And probably keep a close eye on the fuel gauge.

Alex drove as responsibly as he could manage for the rest of the trip to Mr. Darcy’s office.  When he arrived, he parked on the street just in front of the entrance to the building.  As he walked in, he looked back at the car again, and marveled at the fact that it looked absolutely bone-stock, at least to his eyes.  An expert in 1980’s Oldsmobile models might be able to spot something changed or out of place, but he sure couldn’t.  It just looked like a piece of shit winter beater car.

I love this job, Alex thought.

When he walked into Mr. Darcy’s office, Megan was busy writing something.  She glanced up at him.

“Hello, Mr. Minor.  You can go right in, Mr. Darcy is expecting you,” Megan said.

“Thanks, Megan,” Alex said.  He walked past her desk and into Mr. Darcy’s office.

“Mr. Minor, excellent timing!” Mr. Darcy said. “I hope the farm house is treating you well.  I’m sorry we had to stash you out there so far from the action, but better safe than sorry until we find out just how much of a threat Victor Steel cares to be.”

Alex thought that “cares to be” was an odd choice of words, but didn’t say anything about it.  “It’s fine, and the house is great so far, thanks.”

Mr. Darcy’s eyes twinkled a bit.  “What do you think of the Cutlass?”

Alex smiled and said, “It’s a heck of a car.”

Mr. Darcy chuckled and said, “Yes it is.  If that car can’t outrun something, then it can’t be outrun.”

He continued, “Anyway, Mr. Minor, I have another assignment for you, and time is limited.”

Mr. Darcy pushed a pair of airline tickets across his desk to Alex and glanced at the clock.  “It’s four o’clock now, and your flight leaves at eight.  You’ll be flying to Albuquerque to pick up a small parcel and bring it back.  I’ve got the details for you in this folder.  You’ll also be delivering something.”

He took a thumb drive out of his pocket and handed it to Alex as well.

“A Ms. Julia Child will be sitting next to you on the plane.  At some point during your flight, make sure she gets this,” Mr. Darcy said.

“It’s not the Julia Child, is it?” Alex said.

“Well, I’m sure if you asked her, she would tell you that she is the Julia Child.  But no, the Julia Child that you’re thinking of passed away some time ago now, don’t you remember?” Mr. Darcy said.

“I guess it slipped my mind,” Alex said.  He put the thumb drive in a zipped pocket in his bag, and picked up the tickets and folder that Mr. Darcy had given him.  “See you in a couple of days.”

“Take care, Mr. Minor,” Mr. Darcy said.

Alex left Mr. Darcy’s office, gave Megan a polite goodbye, and hurried down to the Cutlass again.  He hadn’t been to Albuquerque before, and he was excited to go check it out.  He hoped he’d have a little time to check out the town while he was there.

The drive to the airport was uneventful, though parking was a bit more of an ordeal than he’d expected.  It turned out that maneuvering a wildly over-powered Cutlass in a parking ramp was a bit of a challenge.  He managed to avoid crashing it into anything, however.

Alex hadn’t looked at the tickets Mr. Darcy had given him, and he was taken by surprise when the agent asked him if he knew where the first class lounge was.  This trip was going to be full of firsts for him, it seemed.

He was amazed at how fast getting through security was as a first class passenger – it was almost as good as back in the days when he didn’t have to more or less strip naked in order to get on a plane. 

It only took him a few minutes to find the lounge from there, where he settled in to a comfortable chair and was absolutely thrilled to be offered a drink shortly afterwards. 

He promptly fell asleep.

Alex woke up just in time to realize that his plane was going to start boarding any minute, so he gathered his things and hustled over to his terminal.  He arrived just in time, and didn’t have to wait at all to get on the plane.  Sixty seconds later, he was in his seat and the flight attendant was asking him if he’d like something to drink before take off.

He asked for a glass of scotch, and settled in to his seat.  He suspected that he could get used to this.

A couple of minutes later, a petite blonde woman in high heels and dark-washed blue jeans sat down next to him and said, “Hello!”

Alex greeted her, and waited to follow her lead for conversation.  He wasn’t quite expecting what he got.