“We wouldn’t want the shit we do to not be epic,” I said.
“Hell no. Ordinary shit is just shit.”
“And if we’re lucky, when we get back the van will be gone?”
“I guess that would be a possibility,” Lula said. “It would be in God’s hands.”
I drove past Trotter’s house and after a couple of blocks, I glanced at Lula. “Do you know where we’re going to find your sandwich?”
“No,” she said. “Does it matter?”
I turned toward the center of town, stopped for a light, and Charlie Shine and the gray Range Rover drove by on the cross street.
“Did you see that?” Lula yelled. “It was him.”
By the time I could make a turn there were two cars between me and Shine.
“He’s up ahead, going into the drive-thru lane at Dreamy Creamery,” Lula said. “You can catch him at the drive-thru.”
“What the heck is Dreamy Creamery?”
“Ice cream. And they got ice cream cakes, too. And shakes. And inside it’s like an old-fashioned soda fountain.”
I circled around to the front of Dreamy Creamery and idled at the end of the drive-thru.
“Here’s the plan,” I said. “As soon as he moves forward, the car behind him is going to move up to the window. Then Shine will have the building on one side, a two-foot curb on the other side, the guy behind him, and me in front of him.”
“He got a sundae,” Lula said. “I saw the girl hand it to him. It’s ginormous. It’s not even noon yet and he got a big-ass sundae. You got to respect a man for that.”
“Here he comes,” I said, pulling into the drive-thru lane and stopping where the building began.
“Now!” I said to Lula. “We got him.”
Lula and I jumped out and ran at Shine. Lula was waving her gun and yelling like a crazy woman. I had cuffs and pepper spray.
There was a moment where surprise registered on Shine’s face, and then he hunkered down over the wheel and gunned the engine.
“Holy crap,” Lula said. “He’s gonna ram you. He’s going for ramming speed.”
I dove over the curb, Lula flattened herself against the wall of the building, and Shine roared past us. He crashed into my CR-V and pushed it out of the exit lane and into the parking lot. He paused for three seconds, and then he took off down the road. A black Mercedes sports car appeared out of nowhere and followed Shine.
“What the heck!” I said. “Sonofabitch!”
“No kidding,” Lula said. “He’s got a problem with that old Range Rover. The air bag didn’t inflate. I bet nobody paid attention to a recall notice.”
“He wrecked my car.”
“Yeah, we didn’t see that one coming. Do you think that was Gabriela following him?”
“Yes!”
“She gets around,” Lula said. “Do you think she’s after our bounty money?”
“Worse,” I said. “I think she’s after our fortune and glory.”
Customers were wandering out of Dreamy Creamery to see the wreck and take selfies.
“You should do something,” Lula said. “Get a tow truck out here or phone Uber. I need to use the restroom.”