TJ turned to her little brother, losing her temper for just a second, and telling him to shut the hell up and let her think. John Wesley looked to Holly, who grabbed him by the hand, and marched out to the patio where Ladarius and Chastity waited. The glass doors open, wind and rain blowing on into the marble floors. Chastity motioned for them to come on, so she could get to what she wanted to take with them. TJ figured if they were real quick about it, maybe they could get on the boat and out onto the water before Chastity caught up.

“And don’t even think about leaving without me,” Chastity said with a wink, dangling the boat keys in her hand.

“You gave the keys back?” TJ said to Ladarius as the girl disappeared up the winding marble staircase.

“How’d I know the cops would show up?” he asked. “Hell.”

They ran out into the rain, John Wesley and Holly first, bending over and heading down the steps and down toward the dock. TJ got halfway when the flashlight spun on her and she heard a man’s voice telling them to stop. Ladarius pushed her on ahead, TJ feeling the water soak up into her fancy suede boots and her hair cling to her head. The man yelled some more and she nearly slipped at the landing, Holly reaching out for her, offering a hand as she crawled on board. The boat open with only a canopy overhead. John Wesley found a seat in the back, clutching his suitcase, looking mad as hell.

“We’re fucked,” Ladarius said.

“Not yet.”

“Sure we are.”

“Come on,” Holly said. “Come on. Start the damn engine, Ladarius.”

“I don’t have the damn keys.”

“Then do that thing you do with the cars,” Holly said. “Right? Do I have to draw you a goddamn map?”

Even with all the yelling and the cold rain out on the water, Holly swearing took TJ back a little. She looked up the hill and saw two large hulking figures on the stone patio, twin flashlight beams flicking across the boat and their eyes.

Ladarius reached up under the dashboard, feeling for wires and controls while TJ watched the flashlight beams bobbling and twisting down the stone steps, those cops getting closer and closer. She grabbed Ladarius’s arm and squeezed it, closing her eyes, praying like hell that all the bad deeds that boy had done wouldn’t jinx them. They just needed a little kick, a little electric spark on that starter and they could get across the lake and maybe find a new way, find a new path to keep on trucking west.

The motor started.