Chapter 26

6:10 p.m.– 7:18 to Termination

One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them. —Thomas Jefferson

“Turn right on 2200, and then right again into the second parking lot. We’re going to Cache Firearms.”

Celeste made eye contact with him in the rear-view mirror. Her eyebrows raised.

“Don’t you already have a gun?”

“Not the right kind.”

She shook her head slowly, like a parent exhausted from dealing with an obstinate two-year-old. She turned the car into the parking lot next to a small cream-colored building with aluminum siding. There were two doors in the front. Letters on one half of the building read Abbey’s Carpet. The second door had no sign.

“Park there, to your right. Turn off the engine. We’re going to wait.”

Celeste parked next to a dumpster that blocked their view from most of the parking lot but still allowed Nick to see the door of the gun shop.

The shop windows were tinted dark, blocking the inside from view. Maybe to keep impressionable young minds from lusting over weapons of violence.

He couldn’t guess how many people were inside. He’d give it a few minutes to wait and watch.

They sat for a time in silence. Nick placed a blanket over Jane, and she slept in its warmth. Celeste stared straight ahead. Nick watched the door.

Most of the people driving into the parking lot went to Abbey’s Carpets. Occasionally a figure would enter or leave the gun shop. Nick wanted to find a time when the store was empty of customers, but it looked like that might not be possible.

More customers meant more variables, and he didn’t want variables. Especially when those variables were gun owners.

Celeste had said little since leaving Willow Park. She appeared lost in thought. Maybe mulling over his crazy ideas of simulations. Maybe planning a way to escape.

He waited another ten minutes. A woman had left the gun shop a few minutes ago, but nobody had entered for a while. Hopefully, it was empty.

He took a few deep breaths. He needed adrenaline. He wished there was some way to flip a switch and flood his body with the stuff.

He pulled the car handle and kicked open the door. “Open the trunk and give me the keys.”

Celeste leaned over and pulled a lever. Nick heard the trunk release behind him. She passed him the keys. Stepping out of the car, he dropped the keys in his pocket. He felt the gun in his pants and pulled his shirt down to cover it.

Opening the trunk, he looked through the bag of groceries he’d purchased in Preston. He found the cloth baby carrier, opened the packaging, and tied the sling around his waist. He continued to pull in deep breaths. Oxygen to the brain. He felt his heart begin to speed up.

Closing the trunk, he returned to the side of the car. He unbuckled Jane and lifted her out of the car seat. She awoke, took a shuddering breath, and started crying. Nick put a hand under her butt. The cloth was cold and damp, heavy with moisture.

Celeste watched him from the front seat, but Nick couldn’t read her face. No fear. No concern. Just a grim demeanor.

He held the baby against his torso and pulled the pouch up between her legs, so it supported her weight and kept her in place. Her legs dangled down to either side. He tied the straps of the pouch around his neck, making sure everything was snug.

Quick breaths. Quick exhalations. Build the nervous energy.

Jane continued to cry. He bounced on his toes, testing the strength of the knots.

Everything held.

He got a pacifier from the back seat and ripped open the packaging. He held it to Jane’s mouth and she sucked for a moment before starting to cry again. She turned her head, refusing it.

Closing the car door, he knuckled Celeste’s window and motioned her to get out of the car.

“Do you remember what I told you earlier today?” He had to speak loudly over Jane’s crying.

“You’ve told me a lot of things,” Celeste got out of the car.

“I’m going in there to get a gun. I don’t have enough money left to buy it, so I’m going to have to take it. If anything goes wrong . . .” He let the silence convey his message.

Celeste frowned. “I have money. If you tell me what the gun is for, I could pay for it. As long as . . . as long as you’re not going to hurt anybody with it.”

“Do you have cash?” Nick kept bouncing. Kept breathing.

Celeste shook her head. “No, a credit card. But I won’t buy the gun unless—”

“You can’t use a card,” Nick said. “They’ll know you’re with me.”

“They’re already going to—” Celeste stopped, then raised her voice. “So, you’re going to walk into a gun shop with a baby, and rob them? Nick, what the hell are you thinking? Every person in there is going to have a weapon. You have the keys; let me keep the baby while you get the gun.”

Nick’s face burned. He hated his actions. And he hated that Celeste was here to witness them.

His heart was racing now. “I can’t leave you alone. And nobody shoots a guy with a baby strapped to their chest.” He hated himself even more as he said it, but he didn’t have any other options. He needed that gun. “If I take the baby, then we have a better chance that nobody gets hurt.”

Celeste slammed her car door. “That’s what I like about you, Nick. You’re so thoughtful of others.”

“Her timer doesn’t run out for another ninety years,” Nick said. “She’s going to be fine.”

“You’ve made other timers change,” Celeste said. “What if walking through the doors changes Jane’s timer?”

The arguing with Celeste raised his temper. Raised his adrenaline. He continued to bounce, almost jogging in place.

“Then we’ll leave,” Nick said. “And you know what? You stay where I can see you. If your timer changes, we’ll get out of there as well.”

Checking the parking lot once more, he motioned Celeste toward the gun store. Jane continued to scream at his chest.

“Nick, please,” Celeste said. “Tell me why you need another gun. Let me buy it. But don’t do this.”

“Go.” His voice was loud, both to be heard over Jane and because he needed an outlet for the energy building inside of him.

Celeste opened her mouth but closed it again when Nick reached around behind him and pulled out his gun. He tucked it behind Jane, nestled between his stomach and her back.

He pointed with his other hand and Celeste followed his directions. Jane added her cries to the sounds around them—traffic, rustling leaves, an airplane somewhere above them.

Nick checked the two timers and then took a deep breath. His heart was pounding. Nervous energy seemed to almost crackle in the air around him. “Remember what I said.”

Celeste looked him in the eye. “You’re a monster.”

“I know. Now move.” He tried once more to give Jane the pacifier. She jerked her head to the side, refusing it and crying. Tossing the pacifier to the asphalt, he stepped around the side of the building. With Jane on his chest, and Celeste off to his left, he strode toward the door of Cache Firearms.