Archie scrambled back onto his knees, and extended the sleeve of his jacket over his hand, clearing bits of glass from the lower edge of the window. “When we get a chance, we jump.”

The approaching Arrivals had slowed, shifting slightly to create some space in the middle. Pamela was slowing, turning, and then stopping. The car was, it appeared, waiting for the other cars to come up alongside so it could be part of the larger formation.

Nick and Rory crawled over the front seat and crowded into the back with Archie, who said, “We’re heading straight in there.” The other boys looked. Their escape route turned out to be a Victoria’s Secret store.

“Now!” Archie said.

“Don’t leave now,” Pamela said. “The fun’s just starting.”

Archie tumbled out the window, landing on the floor on his back. “Shit!” he said. But he didn’t take long to dwell on the pain. Rory was about to drop onto him. Archie scrambled to his feet, moving toward the store in the process.

Rory got through the window without stumbling and ran as far as the entrance to the store, then stopped to make sure Nick got out safely.

Nick scrambled through, but instead of following, he ran around the back of the Arrival to the railing for a view down into the lower level of the mall.

“Come on!” Rory shouted at him.

But Nick stayed at the railing and pointed down. “There’s none of them down there!” he said.

It was true. Peering down into the lower level, people were standing about, looking upward, wondering what the hell was happening. The only way to reach the lower level was by a set of escalators only a short distance away.

“Down there!” Nick said. “It’s safe!”

But the Arrival they’d just escaped from clearly didn’t want Archie and Rory to join their friend. It turned its wheels sharply, as if getting ready to drive directly into Victoria’s Secret.

“Shit, man,” Archie said, grabbing Rory by the arm. “We can’t chance it. We go that way and the car’s gonna get us for sure. We gotta stay in here.”

But Nick was still waving them his way.

“No!” Archie shouted. “If you can make it to the escalator, go!”

The car started to advance.

“Come on!” Archie said, yanking Rory’s arm. The two of them started running into the store, dodging around displays of underwear on a table and countless racks of bras and panties and swimsuits. There was no one else in the store. Clearly, customers and staff who’d been here had managed to get out somehow, or had slipped into another, nearby retailer.

Running deeper into the store, they passed a mannequin decked out in seductive black lingerie, the fake woman’s hand posed provocatively on her hip. Rory paused his escape for half a second, his eyes feasting on the sight.

“Whoa,” he said.