Oh good! Tony thought. It was as easy as that. The beast rolled over and exposed its belly. He found himself shaking his head. It couldn't be that easy to bring Freddy down, could it? 'Course then again, Tony wasn't a hot Asian chick in the back seat. It made him shut up for the next few seconds.

"So, you're from Nova Scotia?" Lucy asked Tony, wanting to chat.

"Huh?"

"Nova Scotia? Your plates said that."

"Uh, yeah. You?"

"Nah. Visited there lots though. Nice place. I especially liked Bridgewater. Beautiful town. Nice and quiet, y'know. I could raise a family there."

"That so? Where you from then?" Tony slowed the Mustang's speed ever so slightly. He didn't want to rush while speaking with Lucy.

"Everywhere and nowhere. My Dad was a salesman, so we got to move around a bit. We lived in the States for a while, too. Know Appleton?"

"No," Tony shrugged.

"Well, you'll check the map next time, won't you?" she smiled at him. "You'll win a prize if you do."

The rear-view mirror displayed the little "oh really" jig Tony's eyebrows did.

"That's a nice town, too, but if I had a choice, I'd still go with Bridgewater, especially in late September. The nights there are soooooo comfortable. Summer's cooling off, but it's still warm enough to sleep outside. We had a boat there, too, when I was a little girl. Nothing fancy, just a big fat speed boat to scoot across the water on."

"Anyone with a boat must be doing well for themselves. What did your Dad sell?" Tony asked.

"Industrial equipment. The big stuff they use in mines or whatever. He only needed to make a couple of sales a year, and he'd be set. It was pretty international, too. Got to travel a lot. Even went to Germany once. And j.a.pan. That was freaky."

"Wow," Tony muttered and meant it. Who would have guessed it from a hitchhiker on the side of the road. "You speak any j.a.panese?"

"Yes, I can," she said merrily.

"Let's hear some."

"Nani o iimasu ka?"

"Whaaaa?" Tony said, impressed. "What's that mean?"

"Essentially, I asked, 'What do you want me to say? Sorry. I'm not too creative at times, especially on nights like these. All the creative juices are frozen."

That was his opening. "So what happened out here? You break down or something?"

"Don't own a car, so I guess it's 'or something.' It's a little private, and I really don't feel right talking to you about it, seeing as we just met. Sorry. You okay with that?" she ended on an apologetic note that made Tony burn with self-hate for even asking such a question. He immediately forgot all of his other questions.

"Hey, no trouble," he huffed out. "Sorry for asking. Just a little strange to see something like you-someone like you on the shoulder of the road. But never mind. None of my business."

Highway reflectors nailed into three foot high road posts flashed by marking a wall of snow.

"It's been a strange couple of days," she said in a sad, reflective tone. Tony could understand that, especially when he had f.u.c.k-head Freddy as a co-pilot. And speaking of the man who was quickly becoming a legend of absolute f.u.c.ked-upped-ness in Tony's mind, Freddy turned around violently and fixed Lucy with the most serious of looks.

A moment pa.s.sed before Lucy asked, "Did I say something?"

Freddy screwed up his mouth in annoyance as if another person's child was challenging him, and he was powerless to slap it.

"Did I?" Lucy asked again, and this time there was authority. Perhaps it was always there, but Tony was too charmed by her to notice.

Freddy's face slackened. "No," he said and turned back, slumping in his seat.

Two for two! Holy s.h.i.t! Tony really liked this chick!

"I mean," Lucy said quietly over the hum of the car, "if there is a problem, I can get out. There'll be other cars coming along."

"You're fine," Tony jumped in. He'd f.u.c.king push Fred out the pa.s.senger window before he would let Lucy out. "Just fine."

"You're not fine to me," Freddy said ominously.

"Yeah, well, f.u.c.k you Fred!" the words left Tony so fast they might have just have been pressurized. Ever since the morning at the apartment, the roadside Irving restaurant and in his own car, Fred had be scaring the s.h.i.t out of him and paralyzing him with whatever black magic s.h.i.t he possessed, and the words 'tired of it' did not encapsulate the river of emotion flowing through him at that precise moment. Being able to tell Freddy to f.u.c.k off and not feeling fear was like kicking free of the cement shoes dragging him to the extreme depths of Halifax Harbour and surfacing into sunlight. And that was what Freddy had-some sort of j.i.z.zed up power that induced fright. Perhaps it was a gas or something? Or he was a hypnotist? Whatever the h.e.l.l it was, it wasn't working for the t.w.a.t now, and it felt so good to unload those words on Fred, to sling them in his face for invoking whatever evil mojo he had working for him.

The effect was astounding. Fred appeared as if he had just been slapped. Hard. It reminded Tony of Tim back in the apartment and how he had a leash for Freddy-the same leash that Lucy was slipping around his neck right now. Around his b.a.l.l.s, too and truth be told, Tony hoped Lucy gave him one or two good yanks just to keep him in line.

"I'll talk to you later," Freddy vowed in a spite filled voice like a brother talking down to a smaller sister that had just squealed on him.

"Like f.u.c.k you will," Tony looked at him for as long as he dared while driving. He gave him "la look" he used on people that truly p.i.s.sed him off.

"Sounds like a fight," Lucy observed from the backseat darkness. The sound of her voice swept aside the whoop a.s.s intent swelling up inside Tony like a broom to dust. "And I hope you don't. I hate fighting. Really."

Outside the car, it began to snow. Great free floating flakes smacked into the windshield and splayed themselves across as much surface s.p.a.ce as possible. Tony flicked on the wipers. They groaned on the first pa.s.s. He didn't want Lucy to be p.i.s.sed at him. "You caught me at a bad time. This a.s.shole p.r.i.c.k has been riding me most of the day and night, and I haven't been able to... to... say s.h.i.t to him!"

"Why is that?"

"Why don't you just stay out of this?" Fred snapped at her. "Just sit in the dark and shut the f.u.c.k up!"

"You shut the f.u.c.k up!" Tony snarled at him. Then to Lucy, "I'll say this much for you. f.u.c.king Giggles over there hasn't said that much all G.o.dd.a.m.n day. Like he's super p.i.s.sed at something and just f.u.c.king waiting to unload on the poor b.a.s.t.a.r.d that just looks at him the wrong way."

"Oh, I don't like guys like that," Lucy drew in air.

"I'm warning you," Freddy spat out. "Just shut the f.u.c.k up. You're in the car now, so just shut up and take the ride. If you can't-"

"Hey."

Tony's right hand left the wheel and clamped down on Freddy's throat, fingers gouging into the flesh around his tender Adam's apple. Freddy's eyes bugged, and he pressed his chin down, his hands going for Tony's wrists. Tony slammed the brakes on, halting the car in a long shuddering skid that threw their frames against their seat belts. The sound of ice-slick highway and winter-rubber trying to ignite and failing filled Tony's ears. He twisted and pulled Freddy towards him. Eye to eye, a feeling of utter viciousness fell over the man, and he peered into Freddy's pain filled face.

"I've had enough of you," Tony hissed into his pa.s.senger's face. There was no fear in him at all now, and the knowing of it filled him with a power that smashed up against his senses like a tsunami. There was a second explosion of rage, and Tony welcomed it as it scorched and melted whatever shackles Freddy had on him. He had the digit by the throat for gawd's sake! He felt the rage rising up as fiery black as nuclear smoke, and as he did, something inside him was putting the suffocating foam to it, trying to fight it back, contain it. And part of him welcomed that, too. Tony had felt that rage before. He was potentially murderous when he did. And it always frightened him just how easy it was to flow.

The car stopped moving.

"You got a choice," Tony pulled a gagging Freddy in close. He stared the man straight in the eye and for the first time all day, did not flinch. "Get the f.u.c.k out of my car. You get out, and I won't break your arms. Think about that. You'll need them if you want to flag down the next ride. Be pretty f.u.c.kin' silly if you have two snapped arms. And it's winter out there, but I don't give two s.h.i.ts to Tuesday about breakin' anything of yours. So you get out all peaceful and s.h.i.t, and you can keep your arms. Use them all you want. See if you can wave some poor b.a.s.t.a.r.d down. Bless them with your company."

Freddy stared him back, positively livid. Tony could see it plain as paint, and he knew then that he would probably have to snap something in order to subdue his captive. He would not give it a second thought if he had to, and he brought up a very large fist to signal his intent.

"Gonna try for teeth too, are ya?" Tony spoke, his fist parallel with his cheek and thrumming ever so slightly in the air.

"You..." Freddy croaked through his pinched throat as his eyes rolled in the direction of the back seat, "did... this."

"I did this?" Lucy stated calmly, watching with a very doubtful gaze. "He's the one that's got you by the throat."

"G.o.dd.a.m.n fortunate I didn't grab him by the b.a.l.l.s," Tony breathed. "But I figured I'd go for the bigger target, y'know."

"You... need... me," Freddy wheezed out.

"You get the f.u.c.k out of this car. Right now," and with that, Tony released the man, shoving him against the pa.s.senger door. "And I don't need you. I still have the cash your buddy Tim gave me. You can be sure I'll be tellin' him of all the s.h.i.t that's gone on since you've been with me, just so there're no secrets between us. Now, get out. Get."

Looking like a demon poised to re-establish its dominance over its host, Freddy's form tensed up, and he bared some very white teeth. He felt his throat and ma.s.saged it briefly, and then decided it was best not to say anything. A smart move, Tony figured. If he had, Tony would have smacked the living s.h.i.t out of him right then and there. He was barely keeping his whoop a.s.s in check.

Shaking with suppressed fury, Freddy reached up and unlocked the door. "You'll see me, again."

"Five," Tony started.

A frown creased Freddy's face. He was getting a five count?

"Four."

Shaking with anger, Freddy got out of his seatbelt and flung it back. Metal clipped off gla.s.s.

"Three, and if you cracked my window, I'll do a such f.u.c.kin' river dance on your flat a.s.s you'll feel as if you're squeezing tooth paste every time you take a s.h.i.t."

Freddy opened the door and got out. The rush of winter wind took some of the heat out of Tony, but he still wanted to be free of this p.r.i.c.k. He was trying really hard not to get out and go after him. Not with Lucy in the car.

"And don't you slam that door either," Tony jabbed two fingers in Freddy's direction as if lasers would shoot out from them. "Don't even think about it."

Freddy obviously did think about it; however, in the end, he did not slam the door. He took one last furious look at Lucy and closed the door. Beyond the gla.s.s, he straightened up against the cut of the wind. Only his midsection was visible to those within the car.

Tony took his foot off the gas.

"f.u.c.k you, too," he muttered and gunned the gas. They shot into the void of a very cold night, tail lights illuminating red snakes swirling on the asphalt.

Freddy watched the twin afterburners fading into the freezing night. He watched until the lights winked out, as if they had never existed at all. He stood there on the black surface of a frozen highway, in absolute darkness, and thought briefly that there probably wasn't anything darker than a winter's night. A shivering wind came up, flinging glacial chips into his face. It howled in his ears, trying to freeze his nerves as well as flesh and wanted nothing better than to see this piece of meat go mad with the desperation of being left alone in the middle of nowhere, at night.

Freddy inhaled deeply, h.o.a.rked and spat in its face. Frighten him? Take your best f.u.c.king shot, he thought savagely. He bared teeth, and dusted off the snow that had already gathered on his toque. He took the first step into the mouth of the building wind, marching right down its freezing throat. He meant to follow the highway as best as he could to wherever.

And d.a.m.n if he didn't hate walking.

Chapter 20.

No more than five minutes after leaving Freddy behind, Tony decided to speak. "You can sit up front here now, y'know. If you want, that is."

Back there in the darkness, two eyes flickered at him. "No, thank you," she said simply, her voice sounding like m.u.f.fled Christmas bells.

Suit yourself, he thought, but was glad of it. He wanted time to purge Fred's reek from his personal s.p.a.ce. To have the pa.s.senger side filled again so soon would not be wise.

"Wow," Lucy finally said in mild awe. "I suppose he had that coming? I mean, for you to just dump him like that. At night too. Out there. It's pretty cold out there."

"He had it coming," Tony a.s.sured her.

"What did he do?"

Tony tried to focus on the road. He squinted. He didn't want to answer the question.

"Anthony?"

"What?"

"What did he do?"

A tired smile spread across his face. The kind of smile that happens after a crisis has pa.s.sed. Freddy's supernatural a.s.s was gone. And this one in the back was more than a welcomed replacement.

"It's really not my business, but considering you did just leave the man on the side of the highway, it would make this pa.s.senger feel a little better. Actually," she paused for a moment and looked up at the ceiling, "a lot better. If you explained it to me. If it's not, you know, not too touchy."

This one was not about to leave him alone. Tony sighed and checked his speed. What the h.e.l.l, he figured. "He... scared me."

Lucy allowed herself a moment to digest this. "He scared you?"

"Yeah."

"Threatened you?"

Tony glanced out his side window. "No. Well, yeah. A little."

"Did he have a gun or something?"

"It's hard to explain."

"No gun, 'eh?" Lucy nodded, and then decided to let the matter go. "We still going to Vancouver?"

Good question. "Yeah."

"I haven't decided yet if I want to head out that way with you or not," she said.

"Ok, fine. You think about that then," Tony said right back. He wanted a little bit of silence for the next few minutes regardless of how utterly delightful he thought her voice sounded. Christmas morning bells. There was a sentimental merriness in her voice. A note of innocent excitement. It actually made Tony consider turning around and picking Freddy up. He decided against it. If Lucy had anything to say, he figured she had already said it, and that was great. She didn't know about Fred or that f.u.c.ked up talent of his to make a person s.h.i.t themselves without even looking at them. Tony still wasn't sure how he managed any of it, himself, but he knew this: he felt better and stronger the further he drove away from freak boy Freddy. h.e.l.l, he might even be able to eat something at the next roadside Irving if he could find one that was still open. He wasn't certain of the hours they kept outside of Nova Scotia.

"How long you guys been riding together?" Lucy decided to start again.