Heaven, INC: Chapter 46: MICK AND THE SLOW-MOTION TAIL

SWEETWATER ROAD,
SOMEWHERE SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 54
12:39 P.M. PDT

MICK FOLLOWED THE ROLLS ROYCE from as far back as possible, but it wasn’t like he’d ever been trained on tailing a car without being seen, his experience was in being tailed. So, ‘as far back as possible’ soon become impossible when he fell behind an old woman tooling along in an ancient Oldsmobile Cutlass that took up the whole road and, because of oncoming traffic, couldn’t be maneuvered around.

“For godsake, if you would just get over three frigging feet I could pass!”

Then, when Mick finally did pass, he drove like a crazy-man for about a mile before, whap, he hit more traffic and finally flipped on the radio.

“— down here on Sweetwater Road, Jeanie, where a crime-scene investigation’s in progress.

Traffic’s wayyyy backed up so if your listeners are thinking about using Sweetwater Road, a word to the wise: turn around.”

Just one of those days, you know?

Mick hit a preset and got Bobby Falcône crap. Hit another and another and got the same Bobby-and-the-Boy Scout bullshit before finding Led Zeppelin on 109.9. Mick listening to Ramble On and thinking if he’d turned the radio on a minute before, maybe he coulda hung a U-turn. Now, he was stuck against oncoming traffic on the two-lane road that made it impossible to do anything but sit and stew.

What a fucking day.