Cool morning wind blew through the empty spot where the windshield had been. Ethan took them down a back road that was only dotted with a few homes, and it was quiet and almost peaceful.

Maisie glanced back at Lennon, but he was staring out the window. They had a little over an hour to get him out. He must have been nervous.

She, on the other hand, was trying desperately to ignore the sad, sinking feeling growing in her chest as they got closer to the compound.

“What are those?” Lennon asked.

Maisie turned to see what he meant. About twenty cars, all different vibrant colors, were lined up on the side of the road. They were all small, with seats for only two people, and looked more like rockets than cars. The front ends were sleek and pointed, with tail fins extending from the end. She couldn’t imagine them being very useful for anything.

“They’re for racing,” Ethan said.

“I need one,” Lennon said.

Ethan snorted. “My dad would be so thrilled by that reaction.” He glanced at her, seeming to consider his words for several moments before speaking. “I appreciate you standing up for me, by the way. With Beto. About my dad.”

“No problem. It’s true, that neither of us has room to judge.”

“Isaac Rojas…My dad told me once that he was scared of him. And my dad isn’t scared of anyone.”

She laughed. “I wish he was still around so he could hear that. He would have been smug for days.”

Ethan gave her a confused look. “Was he not scary, then?”

“Oh no, he definitely was.”

From the back seat, she heard Lennon laugh softly.

“But, not to me,” she continued. “The way he treated other people was…well, not great. But I knew a different version of him.”

“I don’t know how to deal with it sometimes,” Ethan said quietly, his eyes on the road in front of him. “Everything my dad’s done.”

“This seems to be your way of dealing with it,” she said, gesturing to herself, and then Lennon. “Helping us.”

“Yeah. I guess so.”

She hesitated, looking down at her bruised hand for a few moments. “I kind of compartmentalized it all for a long time. Just tried not to think about everything my dad had done, or made excuses about how he didn’t have a choice. But now, especially with everything’s that happened recently…” She trailed off, turning to look out the window. “It’s harder to justify lately. Now that I’m faced with similar choices.”

She felt a hand on her arm, and she turned to see Lennon leaning forward, a soft expression on his face. He squeezed her arm. “You can love someone who did bad things. He was still your dad. And a pretty good one, from what you’ve told me.”

She smiled at him, but it was tinged with sadness.

Damn, she was really going to miss him.

“Same goes for you,” Lennon said, clapping Ethan on the shoulder before sitting back.