If Rick and Tilly were waiting on phone records, he couldn’t take the fall alone, especially if tonight’s bombing happened while he was in their custody. He had to contact everyone, tell them to call it off, that their lives were at stake. He had planned on sabotaging it anyway. From the second Kai had invited him, he’d known he’d be stopping them. He couldn’t bear more fires, more destruction, more guilt. He couldn’t have wished for a more perfect scenario. He’d get to save his friends and repent at the same damn time. All he needed now was a phone. He had to get out of this damn Navigator.

A shrill ringtone brought him back to reality. “It’s Houndum. Turn that shit off,” Tilly hissed, motioning at the radio console. Who is Houndum? Theo wondered, listening intently as the car rattled off, Tilly’s phone call immediately the only source of sound. “Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir,” Tilly fired off in different tones, her vocabulary suddenly restricted. The call ended.

“For ‘safety reasons,’” Tilly began, her fingers unhappily scrunching into air quotes, “he told the fucking news that we’re onto the perps.” She paused. “And he gave a description of the fucking car.”

“Christ, looks like we’re reeling them in tonight, whether you like it or not,” Rick sneered. “I’ll do the honors,” he announced, cracking his knuckles then stepping out of the car.

Rick opened the door, and Theo greeted him with a punishing kick to the throat, leaping out of the car and bolting into the park. Twilight stretched before him, dwindling rivulets of sunlight disintegrating into darkness. Theo scanned ahead as he dashed toward the woods. A few people were on the walking trail: a trotting older woman, a girl his age who was jogging steadily, and a duo of hulking dudes, probably football players, who were practicing sprints. He made the sensible choice.

“Ma’am, can I use your phone?” he asked as he approached the woman. She screamed and threw her phone off the path. “That works!” Theo said as he retrieved the phone without losing speed. I should have said thank you, he thought.

From over his shoulder he snuck a glimpse of the scene. The woman was replaced by Tilly, who was gaining on him with surprising speed. The sight of her gun rocking on her hip supercharged his resolve.

He thought of Jerry’s infamous return lob as the world blurred into a single purpose. Towering conifers welcomed him into the woods on the edge of the park, where he continued his frantic pace, his legs kicking up layers of leaves and sticks. No sunlight pierced the canopy of the Georgia woods, but Theo navigated the forest nimbly, too scared to misstep. He was running so fast, he was winded after his first few steps, but a second wind would come. It had to.