Chapter 90

Kadeem

The kids screamed in the backseat like they were on a rollercoaster ride, a mixture of terror and thrill in their ear-splitting shrieks.

Jack slammed on the brakes and they screeched to a sudden halt, slamming into a ditch on the other side of the road.

Kadeem ripped off his seatbelt and lunged at Rayburn. “Get the fuck out of the car!"

“If we can't go my way, we’re not going at all,” Rayburn squeaked, his face beet red as he shrank in his seat like a wilting flower. “We might as well just turn around now and go back home!”

“Both of you, cut it out!”

Kadeem ignored Ardal's stern voice and rounded on Rayburn again, letting out another menacing growl.

“Mommy,” said Lottie, “I’m scared.”

Her little voice stopped both Kadeem in his tracks.

“Do you see,” Ardal yelled, pointing towards her daughter. Her brothers looked equally frightened.

Erbao, on the other hand, seemed to be having the time of his life. He laughed joyously. “Let’s do that again,” he said, leaning up to confer with Kadeem and Rayburn.

“I’m not going any further,” Rayburn said, looking at Kadeem. “This is over.”

“Good,” Kadeem spat. “I’m glad you’ve seen the light! This entire venture was -“

“Oh, no,” Ardal piped up, her voice rising in conviction. “We are not going home. There is a reason why we're doing this,” she said, gritting her teeth and shifting her eyes to Erbao.

“Then, we’re going through the checkpoint,” Kadeem said emphatically as he narrowed his eyes at Rayburn.

Rayburn dropped his eyes and grabbed his cup of ice again, but Kadeem ripped it from his hand and flung it outside.

"Hey!" Rayburn's face lit up with indignant protest.

Ardal unbuckled, completely aghast. "What is wrong with you, Kadeem?"

Kadeem silenced them both with a low growl. "You'd better give me a good reason, then," he snarled, boring his eyes into Rayburn's pale face. "Right now. Why all the secrecy?"

Rayburn looked ready to faint, but he swallowed hard and sat up straighter, visibly steeling himself before beginning, “I’ll tell you when we get there. I -“

“No." Cutting him off, Kadeem cast a furious glance back at Ardal. "You can't charm me like you did her. If we’re going to break a pack treaty, I’d better know damned well why.”

Rayburn's face set in a stubborn anger. “Fine! Let's do it your way then." He shifted the car into drive and stamped his foot on the gas to drag them out of the ditch.

He turned up the radio and hit the blinker with an icy flick of his wrist. They waited for an old pickup truck with two baying dogs in the bed to amble by before pulling onto the road - this time towards the checkpoint.

A twangy country song played over the speakers. Kadeem killed the music with a violent twist of the knob and raised his eyebrows. “Just like that?"

Rayburn sighed heavily and shot Kadeem a withering look. "Maybe your position will help, who knows? Or, maybe it will just get you - and the whole pack - into hot water when they find us together."

"What are you, a fugitive," Kadeem snapped.

Rayburn met his gaze with stony indifference. "Not exactly."

Kadeem crossed his arms. "This is just lovely, he muttered.

Rayburn's fingers found the radio dial again, and he switched through the stations, seeking some point of solace before settling on silence. He gave an almost imperceptible nod towards Kadeem, his voice edged in disdain. "We'll all be tracked, but by all means, we'll go the official channel, sir.”

Kadeem let out a growl and tapped his knuckles on the steering wheel as a warning. “You’d better watch it, Doc.”

“I’m just telling you the truth.”

“I mean, who would know. Your truth,” Kadeem mimed in question marks, “Is as vague as a tarot reading.”

But the hairs on his arms were standing up on end. He had a good read on people, and for all of Rayburn’s bullshit, it didn’t seem like bullshit.

Kadeem squinted into the rearview mirror at Ardal. She stared back at him with her usual sour expression. He scoffed inwardly.

Oh well, what else was new?

Then he nearly laughed out loud. A lot was new, actually. He'd melt her anger away like butter as soon as he could finally snag a second alone with her.

Kadeem spun around to pat Lottie’s hand. “You’re okay now,” he said soothingly.

“Don’t do that anymore,” she chided, planting her hand on one hip.

He couldn’t help but chuckle at the similarity he saw in her to Ardal. The same look of haughty disdain.

“I promise,” he said, smiling kindly at her.

He met Ardal’s eyes as he looked up. He cleared his throat and turned back around in his seat, trying to hide the worry that they were walking into even more danger than he had bargained for.

What did Rayburn have up his sleeve?

The radio crackled with eerie static as they lurched ahead. A sense of dread washed over Kadeem, gripping him with a Hitchcockian anxiety that grew as the checkpoint loomed closer.

Later, he would wonder if Rayburn had weaved some magical web of emotional manipulation, setting them on their path.

"Mommy, are those werewolves?"

Kadeem did a double take, straining his eyes up ahead, as Ezra's voice cut through the air.

The ordinary crossing was gone. A troop of National Guard were stopping cars and questioning passengers before being ushered through.

Kadeem sniffed the air. There was no mistaking it - the smell of Weres floated through the gas-fumes.

Rayburn gasped for breath, his hands trembling while he clutched the steering wheel.

Sweat pooled on Kadeem's brow as he watched them drag someone away from their vehicle. What the hell was going on in Pack X?

He regretted his words before they even tumbled out, but what other choice was there? "Turn around," Kadeem shouted at Rayburn.

Rayburn stared at him with widened eyes and shook his head in disbelief. "What? I can't! There's nowhere to-"

"Goddamn it," Kadeem growled. Temper flaring as they ran nearly out of time, he leapt across to grab the wheel, veering off between two cars whizzing down the left lane, before jerking the car towards the opposite direction of traffic, abandoning the checkpoint behind them.

Rayburn's glasses slid down his sweaty face and he pushed them back up angrily onto the bridge of his nose. "As if that won't get their attention," he yelled.

"Well, what the hell did you want me to do then," Kadeem screamed at him, eyes daring back to make sure they weren't being followed.

"Listen the first time!"

A spark of blue and red lights illuminated the rearview mirror and Kadeem let out a string of profanity. "Hit the gas you idiot!"

"What? I -"

"Oh, please," he screeched. "Don't act like you don't know how to outrun cops, Mr. Fugitive. Hit the fucking pedal and let's go!"

"Kadeem, you're going to get us all killed," Ardal yelled as the sirens blared behind them.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," Rayburn repeated in a quivering prayer as they raced down the highway, weaving in and out of traffic.

"There," Kadeem shouted, pointing to the exit ramp.

Rayburn jolted the car over to the right, but the car in front of them was slowing down to yield for the speeding cop car behind, sending them like a bullet, careering towards it.

"Exit!" Kadeem screamed.

Rayburn's foot slammed against the gas and he followed Kadeem's directions at the last moment. Everyone and everything in the car lurched violently forward as Rayburn narrowly dodged the vehicle, whipping by through a cascade of gravel. The cop car flew past them, it's sirens blaring in their wake before squealing to a halt, and Rayburn made a sharp U-turn down a side road.

Kadeem erupted into laughter and thumped Rayburn on the shoulder. "Nice one!"

Rayburn began to let out a fit of laughter and a stream of tears in anxious relief.

"That was so freaking cool!"

Behind him, Erbao was on a high and the rest of the kids broke out into enthusiastic chatter.

"I think I wet my pants!" Milo announced proudly

Ardal exhaled and shook her head, rolling her eyes.

Though lighter, Kadeem's heart was pounding in his chest. "We're not out of the woods yet," he said, still panting wildly. "Do you know any other backways into Pack X?"

"Just the one," Rayburn wheezed. A grim determination shone through his face. "I'll get us there."

Rayburn sped down the road, turning down a small dirt trail that led into the woods while the car lurched over bumps and dips in the terrain as they drove through the woods, leaving their pursuers behind.