Free Havoc by Jeff Sampson Page B

Dalton said, jittering in his seat. “Where are we going? A club?”
    â€œI was thinking we could go scope out BioZenith. Find out more about who did this to us. You know, like…” I waved my hand. “Intel.”
    Dalton tilted his head back. “Boooring!” he boomed.
    I scrunched my eyebrows and looked at him side-eyed. “Uh, excuse me?”
    He shook his head at me. “ Man , that sounds boring. I don’t want to go look at some empty building all night. My dad works there, I’ve been there. It’s just cubicles.”
    Well. When he put it that way, it did sound pretty dull. And I did not want dull, not when I was finally free . I was wide awake now; energy coursed through me. I needed to do something to ramp up the adrenaline—and digging through paperwork in offices wasn’t going to cut it.
    Licking my lips, I nodded. “Yeah, you’re right,” I said, grinning now, imagining the strobes and beats of a club. The feel of all that energy and tension, all eyes on me. Only this time, there’d be no killer to worry about and ruin my night. “We should—” I began to say.
    â€œGot it!” Dalton shouted. He was already putting the car into drive and pulling out into the street as he spoke. “I know what we’re doing.”
    Crossing my legs, I leaned back into the leather seat. “And what’s that?”
    Dalton grinned dangerously at me. “Street race.”
    I raised an eyebrow. “Like The Fast and the Furious drag racing or something?”
    â€œYou got it. Scott Schwartz does ’em. I know there’s one tonight. I never go, but man I want to. I could outdrive all their asses!”
    I looked out at the dark, slick street of the quiet suburban neighborhood. It would be dangerous. Possibly deadly. And completely over the top.
    It sounded perfect.
    â€œAll right, Paul Walker,” I said. “Let’s do it.”
    I rolled down the window as Dalton drove, sticking my head outside and letting the wind tousle my hair. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. The air after the rain was still crisp, and the cool wind was refreshing as it washed over me. I’d almost forgotten this part of being nighttime me, the way my senses were heightened, the way the world felt so vibrant that being Daytime felt numb in comparison.
    Not that she’d—I’d—noticed the difference during the day, what with being so stupidly worried all the time about everything .
    Dalton turned his music back up, not as loud this time, and I heard him slamming his palm against the steering wheel to the beat as he steered the car to wherever he was taking me. I opened an eye and peered at him to see him driving with his eyes half-closed, head banging like he was front row at a concert. I thought I’d had a lot of energy, but Nighttime Dalton seemed like he’d snorted freeze-dried Red Bull or something.
    I smiled and went back to letting my head loll out the open window.
    Headlights flashed through my eyelids, and I heard the grumbling of cars, the sounds of voices. The car slowed, and I looked up to find that we had turned down some road lined with empty, industrial-looking buildings with real estate signs stuck to the blank windows. Probably companies that caved with the economy so bad. I recognized the area as part of the business district in north Skopamish—the same area where BioZenith was based.
    Go check it out , a distant voice whispered in my head. You’re here anyway.
    I snapped up and sat straight. Daytime Emily, talking to me? Not a chance. Right? She—I—never had before. Though on the night I kicked Gunther Elliott’s ass, I distinctly remember feeling as though she and I had become one and the same, for at least a little while. But that didn’t mean I wanted her around all the time.
    Of course, the past few days I’d been talking to Daytime. Or at least she thought I had been. I