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mine. We both got somethin to remember Rico by. Guess I got a little extra, though, huh?
I d progressed to full-blown bawling.
Hey. Damn. Look, I got a cop I can call, he ll get my arm looked at. It s just a flesh wound,
anyhow.
Uh-huh. I could see Mitch inside. He d long since paid for the gas but seemed to be giving
us some time alone. I really needed to pull myself together or I d miss my chance to say some
important things. Um. Look. You know your invention? It s awesome, and it s a really huge hit
in the future.
His face lit. I ll have to start from scratch with the plans, though. Gotta split town for awhile.
I ll have Castro breathin down my neck now.
189
190 Trouble Under Venus
I sniffled and wiped my cheeks. Don t bother. His eyebrows shot up. I mean, to start the
plans over. Stu already stole the idea. He gets rich off it. I hope your money wasn t in the house,
too?
He blew a raspberry. See what I told ya? Corrupt fucker. Nah, I took the money to that safe
place where your money is.
Okay. I looked over at the store, where Mitch was taking his time at the drink cooler. I
gotta do this before Mitch gets back out here. He s something of a stickler for the rules.
No kidding?
Yeah. I ve got some advice. Kinda like a cheat for the future. But you have to promise not
to change your mind and decide to get in contact with me, like, before summer of 2010. At his
nod, I plowed on, knowing Mitch would go ballistic if he knew. Bottled water. Take all the money
you can spare and buy stock in it as soon as possible. Trust me. You might question it once in a
while, but if you stick with it, you won t be sorry.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and hunched his shoulders. Anything else?
Don t bet on the Red Sox winning the series for a long time, yet.
He chuckled. Okay.
One more thing. I know you re planning to leave town. This is just& Mitch was heading
out the door. & for good luck. And to, like, remember me by. I pressed the turtle into his palm.
I d really like it if you d meet me in Sedona on July seventeenth, 2010. At Bell Rock.
July seventeenth?
Yeah, seventeenth, like my birthday. At nine AM. It ll be hotter than shit later on.
He turned the turtle over in his hand. It s broken. What kinda fuckin good luck charm is
broken?
Same old Dennis. I ve got the other leg here. It snapped off in my pocket last night but I ve
been dragging it around with me.
You believe it s still lucky, even if you keep the other leg? He was wearing that shit-eating
grin again.
Do you want the other leg? How bout I stick it up your nose, smart ass?
Mitch sauntered up. Family feud already? He hadn t bought a damn thing, after all that
time in the store. I got five bucks on your pump, man. He unscrewed his gas cap and stuck the
pump nozzle in.
Dennis nodded, but didn t move. His grin faded somewhat. We stood there looking at each
other like a couple of idiots while the gas gurgled into Mitch s tank. It would be full soon, and
we d leave.
As the pump clicked off, Dennis stepped toward me. Comere. His voice sounded broken,
foreign. Cool collected Keen was losing it. He gave me a long, hard hug. Some guy did a damn
good job raisin ya. Sorry. Sometimes things just& well, sorry. And then he let go and walked
into the store. At the door, he stopped and put the turtle in his pocket.
Autumn Piper 191
You okay? Mitch s voice was gentle behind me, his arms strong around me.
No. The hole I d had my whole life was now filled with a big, throbbing hurt.
Let s& go. Out of Miami. We re done here.
Chapter 35
Stars shone bright above us. What remained of the moon cast just enough light for us to
see the trail.
I huffed and puffed in an effort keep up with Mitch.
After three solid days on the back of his bike, my legs were truly in pain.
He d shocked me when we d arrived at Sedona and found a storage unit to stow the bike in,
and prepaid for both the storage and a post office box for thirty years. A gamble, but it would be
really cool if the bike was still there when we got back to 2010.
Which had left us to hike all the way out to the Bell Rock vortex, even farther away from
town in 1980.
Wow. Look how tiny town looks from up here. Maybe he d stop to look and allow me
to catch up.
You all right back there? He backtracked to where I stood. Ready?
I was. I d done what I set out to do, finished with the past. Now it was time to go home and
face my future. Our future.
The trees around my little triangular vortex were just as twisted as I remembered. We stepped
off the trail and I felt the power right away.
This would be easy. Not because the vortex had so much energy, but because we were here
together.
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