Black Oil, Red Blood

Chapter 34



As I sat stranded in Gracie’s root cellar and stared at the PetroPlex security footage, I felt more helpless and more powerless than I had in my entire life. And now I wished I hadn’t yelled at Nash last night. What if I never got the chance to make amends? What if Nash and I really could have had something, and I had ruined it forever?

Goodness knows it was hard enough for me to find men. Most of them ran away when they found out I was an attorney. But Nash hadn’t. He hadn’t been intimidated at all. That was pretty rare for a non-attorney male. As for attorney males, the good ones were few and far between.

As PetroPlex security hauled Nash out of the frame, Cameron paged through various other screens, trying to keep up.

They dragged Nash down the hall and threw him in some kind of a holding room, locking him in and leaving him there.

“What are we going to do?” I asked.

Cameron was pulling up schematics of the building.

“What can we do?” Miles asked. He looked miserable.

I couldn’t stand the thought of just sitting idly by and letting the scenario at PetroPlex play out. Fitz hadn’t hesitated to pull the trigger on Dick. I didn’t feel very optimistic about Nash’s future under those circumstances, even though he was a cop. I wondered if his cop status was the reason he was still alive at the moment. If he had been an ordinary civilian, would Fitz have just killed him then and there instead of throwing him into a locked room? Or was it that he was going to use Nash to get to us?

A glimmer of an idea started to form in my mind.

I rummaged through the rest of Nash’s stuff and found another gun. Carefully keeping it aimed at the ground, I turned to Miles.

“Miles,” I said. “Give me your car keys.”

“Why?” he asked. “My car is in my driveway halfway across town.”

“If I run, I can make it in forty-five minutes.”

“Oh, okay,” Miles said. “Only forty-five minutes? Well here you go.” He tossed me his keys and then let loose on me. “Forty-five minutes is like, an ETERNITY in Nash time. You think Nash has forty-five minutes left? Because I don’t. And besides that, what if someone sees you running across town? What if Chief Scott finds you? What if the neighborhood brigade calls you in?”

I raced up the cellar stairs and into Gracie’s house, Cameron and Miles right behind me.

“Chloe, you can’t!” Miles called after me. “What are you doing?”

I tore through Gracie’s house and into her bedroom, rummaging around in her closet. I felt like I was doing a lot more rummaging in other people’s bedrooms these days than I thought I’d ever do in my whole life, but oh well. It’s the way it was.

I found a pair of dark aviator sunglasses and a Stetson hat that had most likely belonged to Derrick. Piling my hair on top of my head, I jammed the hat down as far over my ears as it would go. The hat hid a lot of my face as well as my distinctively red hair. With the large aviator glasses, I would be almost unrecognizable.

I shut the closet door for privacy and exchanged Gracie’s frumpy pants for a pair of cutoff jean shorts, cinching them around my waist with a belt so they wouldn’t fall off. It was hot outside, after all. I didn’t want to be running in long pants.

The biggest problem was the shoes. Gracie’s shoes didn’t fit me, so all I had were the high heels Miles had bought to go with my suit a couple days ago. I’d have to make do with them the best I could.

I hoped that once I got to the refinery, I wouldn’t be so funny looking that I couldn’t get anywhere inside of it. Maybe I could find some protective gear once I got in and improvise.

I opened the closet door and was ready to go.

“Cameron,” I said, “I know it’s risky, but set up your network in the house and give me your cell phone. That way you can get on Gracie’s land line and walk me through what’s happening. If I can get in the building, and if you can keep an eye on the security cameras and get me where I need to go, maybe I can unlock the door and get Nash out.”

“With what key?” Miles asked.

“Good point,” I said. “Miles, give me your credit cards.”

“No way,” Miles said. “This is never going to work. You’ll just get yourself caught or killed, or both.”

At this point, I wasn’t sure I really cared. “My boss is dead. I have no job. I have no house. I have no car. I have no money. If anything happens to Nash. . .”

Miles looked at me for a moment, then crossed his arms defiantly.

I raised my gun and pointed it at him.

“Are you serious?” Miles said. “What is your problem?”

“Give me your credit cards,” I said softly.

“You wouldn’t,” Miles said.

Yeah, of course he was right. I wouldn’t. I lowered the gun. “Please, Miles. It’s important.”

“Oh, all right.” Miles yanked his wallet out of his pants, flipped it open, and flung his credit cards at me. “But this is never going to work.”

“It’s our only shot,” I said.

“Are you sure you’re up for this, Chloe?” Cameron asked.

“What other way is there?”

Cameron hesitated, thinking. “Options are limited,” he said carefully.

“Limited!” I said. “That’s the understatement of the year. Now, if you’re operating inside the house, you’ll have to be extremely careful,” I told Cameron.

I thought I saw a hint of amusement flit across his face, but surely I was imagining it?

“The cops will be going door to door,” I said. “Try to stay low and keep out of sight. If any of the neighbors see you. . .”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Cameron said. “Trust me. This isn’t my first rodeo.”

“Ain’t,” Miles said. “The expression doesn’t sound right if you don’t say ‘ain’t my first rodeo.’”

Cameron shrugged.

“Miles, while Cameron’s on the computer, you and Lucy sit by the window and look for police or snoopers,” I said. “If you see anyone, get out the back door and back into the root cellar. Got it?”

“Never gonna work,” Miles said.

“We can try,” Cameron said, ignoring the daggers Miles looked at him.

“We have to get it done,” I said. “If we don’t, Nash is dead.”

“And so are you,” Miles said. “I don’t like it. I don’t like it one bit.”

“Unless you are prepared to physically restrain me, you don’t have a choice.” I gave Cameron and Miles quick hugs and raced out the door. “Call me from the landline when you get set up!” I called back to them.

Forty-five minutes was an ambitious estimation of time, since I was pretty out of shape. I raced down Gracie’s sidewalk and into the open road, praying my hat and sunglasses would do the trick and hide my identity. If it didn’t, I was toast for sure.