Bryn Morrow by Mike Cooley

compartment and rummaged through it, looking for his handgun. It wasn’t there. He couldn’t remember where he had left it.  

    “Hey, Simon. What a coincidence,” said Jason when they reached each other. He kept his hands in the pockets of his jacket, stopping a few feet away.
    Simon looked at him curiously. “Ah, yes. One of the people at that bar in Corwin. What was your name again?”
    “Jason.”
    “Good to see you.” Simon brushed past Jason and kept walking. He was still wearing the red T-shirt, leather jacket, and blue jeans that he’d had on at Brinkman’s.  
    Jason turned around. “Hold on a second. I was asking around about that girl you were looking for, and it seems she left town. Word is she’s heading for Chicago.”
    Simon turned, his face expressionless. His hands were at his sides and he seemed calm. “You came all this way to lie to me?”
    Jason took two quick steps toward Simon and unleashed a lightning fast left hook. Simon reached up, caught his hand, and broke it. Jason screamed in pain. His bones cracked under the pressure of Simon’s grip.  

    Tommy shoved his truck into gear, pounded on the gas, and spun it around in a one-eighty.   The tires smoked, and an acrid smell rose in a cloud around him. Simon and Jason were directly in front of him, but forty feet away. Simon’s back was to him, and Jason’s eyes were wide with pain. Simon was holding Jason’s left fist with his right.  
    Simon grabbed Jason with both hands and threw him into the air. He spun once, flying over the road, and then crashed into the ground, landing hard on his left leg, which collapsed with a loud crack.
    “Fucker!” yelled Tommy, jamming his foot to the floor. The truck shot forward onto the sidewalk and gained speed. Jason was groaning and lying on the ground on the other side of Lake Drive. Tommy gritted his teeth and held onto the wheel tightly.  
    Simon turned around and stood still. His arms hung at his side, and he grinned like the devil. His brown eyes were serene.  
    Tommy accelerated. The V8 under the hood roared with power. The distance closed quickly, and he braced for impact.  
    The truck lurched to a stop when he hit Simon, and Tommy’s head cracked the inside of the windshield. The engine died in a grinding sound of gears and metal. The horn on his truck blared continuously while blood ran down his face. Tommy slumped over the wheel and didn’t move.  

    “Tommy!” Jason yelled, clutching his leg with his good hand. The bones in his right hand felt like they’d been crushed. He pulled his cell out of his pocket and dialed 911. He had the cold sweats; his breath was coming in rapid bursts. The trees above his head were swirling around in the night sky.  
    He watched Simon smile and walked around Tommy’s truck, heading west toward Celeste’s house. The front of Tommy’s truck was caved in where it had bent around Simon, and the engine had been shoved partway into the cab. There were shards of glass, plastic, and metal radiating away from the point of impact like a cone of destruction. Steam rose from the cracked radiator.
    Jason tried to push himself to his feet so he could help Tommy. His vision stuttered with flashes of light, and then he blacked out. The last thing he heard was sirens.

Chapter 22

    “Celeste? This is Deb. Tommy and Jason got hurt bad, and they’re in the hospital in Corwin.”
    “Oh my God! What happened?” Celeste slipped her shoes on with one hand while holding her cell phone in the other. The clock on the living room wall said it was midnight. She had been relaxing and leafing through journal entries about her dreams, looking for any sign that she had seen other latents.    
    “Tommy’s in a coma.” Debra was crying. “Can you come?”
    “I’m on my way.” She flipped her phone shut, grabbed her keys, and ran for the door.  
    Corwin was twenty miles away, and Fairlight Hospital was on the west edge of town. It was a straight shot down