Free Remember the Future by Bryant Delafosse

if you want to hit me again, do it, but you’re the one who’s going to have to explain it to your boss.”
    Rudy blinked and glanced at Maddy peeking out from behind Grant’s back.
    “Get in the car,” Grant repeated.
    Maddy stepped slowly around Rudy and eased herself back into the car.
    Breaking eye contact with Rudy, Grant himself returned to the backseat of the car and closed the door.
    Rudy took a long, deep breath.  He retrieved a stick of nicotine gum from his pocket and began to chew it double-time before slowly returning to the driver’s seat.  After a moment, he draped his arm over the back of the seat and looked Grant in the eye.
    “Just so you and me have an understanding here, Frederickson.  Torres told me to bring you around in one piece.”  Rudy made eye contact with Maddy, tipped her an ironic wink, then returned his eyes to Grant.  “The girl wasn’t even part of our discussion.  If I were you, I’d be more worried about her getting hurt than you.”
    Grant gave a single nod.  “Sounds like for once we’re on the same page.”
    The three sat in quiet understanding for a moment.  Finally, Rudy returned to the wheel and took the car back into the flow of traffic.
    Maddy glanced over at Grant. Giving him a shy smile, she laid back into her corner and shut her eyes.
    “I have been given a job and that's what I'm going to do,” Rudy said.
    “If it helps you sleep, just keep telling yourself that,” Grant murmured.
    “I gave you a choice once. You ignored me.”
    “What?  To run?  Only the guilty run. I paid my debt,” Grant told him.  “In every way that matters.”
    “Ain’t none of us innocent lambs here,” Rudy replied. “It was your wife bailing you out that put us here.”
    Maddy opened her eyes, giving Grant a fresh appraisal.
    Grant slid deeper into his seat.
    “Let’s just not to forget that little fact, Frederickson.”
    Grant turned his eyes to the window and sat in quiet retrospection.

17
    Maddy opened her eyes.  She straightened up and looked around the cab of the Toyota in confusion.  The car sat parked on the shoulder of a dark feeder road, a single stark street light shining down on them from above.
    “Where are we?” she whispered urgently to Grant.
    “He’s looking for his car,” he replied indifferently, still gazing out his window.
    “Thanks again, Mortie,” Rudy spoke into his cell.  “That’s two I owe you.”
    “GPS,” Grant told Maddy.  “That’s how he found us at the truck stop.”
    “So, why aren’t we back at the truck stop?” she wanted to know.
    Neither Rudy nor Grant responded to her logical question.
    It struck her all at once.  “Wait, you mean it was stolen?” Maddy asked, sitting up with interest.
    “These things happen when you leave the keys in the ignition,” Rudy growled.
    A subtle smile appeared on Grant’s lips.  “And it was a nice car too.  Smooth ride.  Clean interior.  Probably fetch a good price on the black market.”
    “Feel free to go back to sleep,” Rudy snapped, yanking open the Toyota’s glove compartment and flipping through the receipts and books in frustration.  “No maps?”
    “No maps,” Grant replied.  “I don’t need them.  Not in this city.”
    “Right, because Houston is arranged so logically.”  He leaned over the back of the seat and showed Grant an address written on the palm of his hand.
    Grant gave him a patronizing look.  “I thought you wanted me asleep.”
    Rudy gave him a silent glare in response.
    Sighing, Grant looked down at the address.  “Yeah, I know the area.  It’s industrial.  Follow the south loop east feeder.”
    As Rudy nodded and headed out, Maddy cast a look at Grant, who continued to stare blankly out his window.
    “Once I get my car back, I figure we’ll have one car too many,” Rudy commented, glancing back.  “Maybe you and your friend there can come to some sort of arrangement before someone gets hurt.”
    Grant looked over at