Right. MJ decided it was time to go. Quickly, and with all the strength he could muster, he leaned over and punched Kinsey in the face. Without waiting to see the effect, he threw open the door and jumped out of the mustang. His feet barely even touched the warm pavement before he was sprinting down the road into the darkness.

The passenger door was kicked open so hard it screeched against the quarter panel. MJ heard the scream of rage behind him and he ran even faster. His hand was stinging, but it went unnoticed as he ran for his very life.

They had left Mac’s. The signal from the tracker showed they were on the move. Jared slowed the patrol car until he was driving more normally. Cathy must have closed up. She and Mike were off somewhere, in the desert. They would return in a few hours to her trailer, but until then, he didn’t know where they were. Apparently, neither did the carjacker. They were driving around in the desert looking for them.

Jared turned off on a small dirt road that led into the open wasteland. A thin layer of dust hung around the road, lit by his headlights. They had just passed this way. He was picking up the slowly moving signal about four miles ahead of him. Jared drove slowly. He had to be very careful not to injure the young hostage when he ambushed them.

He frowned. Jared had done violence when it was absolutely necessary, but he had never taken a human life directly. He knew he would probably have to be ready to, or this man would kill him, and probably Michael Junior as well. He inhaled deeply. He could not fail.

MJ darted off the road and onto the sand. The uneven terrain slowed him down, but he hoped it would make him harder to find. He only hoped he wouldn’t step on a snake, or break a leg in some washout he could barely see. But he feared such misfortune less than the man behind him, and he pushed himself onward, leaping over or jogging around scrub and rocks.

He saw his shadow sweep out in from of him, and heard the screech of tires to his right. Kinsey had caught up to him in no time with the car. "Should’ve taken the keys." He muttered to himself. He squatted panting behind an old Joshua tree, hoping to remain unseen.

A door slammed, and he heard footsteps running through the scrub toward him. MJ ran, but his legs felt weak, and he had already spent most of his strength.

He scrambled down through a dry washout, and as he climbed up the crumbling side, Kinsey came out of the darkness and hit him in the cheek with the pistol. Screaming, MJ lost his feet and went down, seeing bright stars dancing behind his eyes.

Through his pain, he heard blistering profanities as Kinsey began to kick him furiously, but he didn’t know if he was uttering them, or his captor.

Jared eased forward. He held the revolver out in front of him as he duck-walked as quietly as he could. As he reached the rear bumper of the yellow mustang, he listened for them. After a few moments, he heard a murmur from inside the car. What were they talking about? He came around the passenger side, as low as possible, and in the starlight, he lifted his head far enough to see through the open passenger window.

Less than two feet away, Mike and Cathy sat, heads together, speaking softly. As the realization hit him, Jared had to stifle a cry of dismay. He lay down on all fours, and crawled through the dust until he was behind the car again. He lay there for a moment until his heartbeat returned to normal. He had come very close to doing the carjacker’s work for him.