Ghost of a Chance

Chapter 11

Dominic found a well-lit gas station with an attached eatery and pulled in.  He noted the sign THE KITCHEN NEVER CLOSES on the front, blaring out to all passing motorists.  After stopping his BMW next to a gas pump, he shut the car off and stepped out.  He studied the pump instructions for a few moments.  Since gas pumps had been computerized, they had become more interesting to Dominic; he knew a dozen ways to hack them, with and without a credit card.  This time, however, he simply swiped his card through the reader.  He harbored no illusions he could drive from Washington across northern Virginia, through West Virginia into Pennsylvania, all the way to Amosville, without leaving an easily-followed trail.  Even at the convenience store, he counted at least seven cameras on the outside the building, and knew each pump also had a dedicated camera.  Whoever makes them must be as rich as Midas, he thought.  The passenger side window slid down.  Steve Skelton, his partner, leaned out.

“Hey, are you going in?”  

Dominic shook his head.

“Well, I need to use the little boys' room in the worst way.”  

“I would imagine they have one.”

“Don't you need to go?”  

Dominic did not take his dark eyes from the flashing numbers on the pump.  “No.”

Steven exited the car and stretched.  “That's not normal, you know.  You have to keep hydrated.”

Dominic watched the numbers race upward.  “I appreciate your concern.  I'll just pick us up some coffee.  It'll help us stay awake, and hydrated.”

Steven walked a few steps and stopped.  “Care if I get something to eat?  It's your car and all.”

“Suit yourself.”  

“You want anything?”

“No thanks, Steven.  I'm just getting coffee.  How do you take yours?”

Steven stretched.  “Cappuccino, if they've got it.”

Dominic squeezed the pump handle a few more times to round the numbers off, removed it from the car, and replaced it.  When he had been a child, he loved the smell of gasoline; the rich, sweet, heavy lead intoxicated.  He smiled at the memory.  The unleaded did not have the same smell.

After Dominic topped off the tank, he went in, purchased the coffee, and decided not to wait for Steven.  He sat down in the car for a few minutes until Steven returned to the vehicle.  Dominic handed a cup across the gearshift to him.

“Thanks.  What do I owe you?”  Steven sipped the hot brew.  “Hey, it's good.”  

“Don't worry about it.  You get the next one.”   Dominic started the engine.

Steven opened a pair of plastic-wrapped chocolate cakes and shook one out.  “These looked good, too.  Want one?”

“No.”  Dominic shifted into first gear, and pulled out into traffic, and then flicked into second.

“Where are we, anyway?”

Dominic indicated the rear-view mirror.  “That was Berkeley Springs.”

“West Virginia?”

“Yes.  So about another ninety minutes.”

Steven glanced at his luminous watch.  “About 1:30 in the morning when we get there, then.”  

“Yes.”  Dominic nodded.  The turnaround from the posting of the video was less than twenty-four hours.  Not bad, he thought.  

Steven finished his cupcakes and sipped his coffee.  “This is pretty good.  Not as good as at Starbucks or somewhere, but it's not bad.”  He sipped again.