CHAPTER FOURTEEN Extreme Dysfunction

“COME ON!” OFFICER LOPEZ SHOUTED at Officer Whipple, and before the rest of us could say anything, they’d bolted back to the police cruiser and squealed out after Max, sirens blaring.

I turned and looked at my friends, Veronica, and Xavier. “Uh… I think we just lost our ride.”

“No! Seriously?” Bess cried, lifting her hands in frustration. “After all that? We’re going to miss the climax?”

Xavier put his head in his hands. “Nooooo,” he moaned. “Even though Max betrayed me… that’s still my brother! What if he does something stupid, like threaten the police?”

Veronica whipped her head toward him. “You think he would do that?”

Xavier nodded, groaning. “I don’t know what he’s capable of. He’s obviously had some kind of mental break, V. And even after all he’s done, he’s still my little brother, and I would never forgive myself if something happened to him. Do we have to just wait here to find out if he survived the chase?”

I glanced at Bess and George. They looked as nervous as I was feeling. Max had done some terrible things, but he was heading into a dangerous confrontation, and Xavier didn’t deserve to lose his brother.

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Veronica announced, jumping to her feet. She looked down at Xavier. “Where are your car keys?”

“In the car,” Xavier replied, lifting his own cuffed wrists. “But, uh, slight problem…”

“Get up,” Veronica commanded, grabbing his elbow and lifting him from the bench. “You’re in the back seat. Nancy, I trust you to find Max, so you’re riding shotgun. Let’s go, there’s no time to lose!”

She led Xavier over to his rented Chevy and we all piled in. Veronica jumped into the driver’s seat. Bess and George helped Xavier sit down in the back. And I took shotgun. Pretty soon we were screeching out of the parking lot, following in the direction of the police and Max.

Within about thirty seconds, we’d caught up.

“He’s going farther into the desert,” George observed. “They turned in the opposite direction from the highway.”

Veronica nodded grimly. “Makes sense. Max lived in Vegas for a while after college. He probably knows exactly where he’s going.”

A groan sounded from the back seat. “I just hope he’s not planning something stupid,” Xavier moaned. “Babe, I can’t believe he would do this to you! I had no idea! He never even told me the business was in trouble!”

“I believe you,” Veronica said quickly. We were approaching an intersection. The police cruiser was still about twenty yards ahead of us, and Max’s SUV was maybe fifteen yards in front of them. Max sped through the stoplight as it turned from green to yellow. The cruiser just barely made it through before the light turned red.

“Go!” Bess cried. “We can’t lose them!”

Veronica had been shifting her foot to hit the brake, but at Bess’s words, she stepped heavily back onto the gas, and we barreled into the intersection. Cars on the cross street had just started to accelerate toward the intersection, and they jammed on their horns and abruptly stopped to avoid us.

Veronica hit the gas even harder, speeding to catch up to the cruiser.

“Oh my gosh,” she whispered. “I am normally, like, the most careful driver.”

“But this dude tried to kill you, cuz!” George reminded her.

Veronica nodded, focusing on the road. “That’s right,” she said. “I want Max to survive, but I still want to see them lead him away in handcuffs!”

We were on a small highway now, two lanes through the desert with a rocky median in between. Our three cars were going faster than any of the other cars, and soon we were alone, three cars following each other through the gathering darkness. The desert landscape blurred on the edges of the road. We went a mile on this highway, then two, then five.

“Where is he going?” Bess whined impatiently. “Like, are we going to be in California when this ends?”

“He’ll run out of gas before California,” George said. “I mean, I hope.”

The police seemed to be getting impatient too. Gradually they began drawing closer to the SUV Max was driving, as though trying to goad him into stopping. The lights were on and the siren was going full blast. I could barely hear anything else.

As we approached an exit, the cruiser suddenly advanced to the left of the SUV, and then began gradually shifting to the right.

“What are they doing?” Xavier cried. “They’re going to hit him!”

“But they know he doesn’t want to be hit,” I replied. “They’re trying to force him off at the exit. They probably think it will be harder for him to avoid them on a local street.”

Sure enough, the white SUV was pulling closer to the exit ramp. Veronica shifted into the right lane to follow.

But then, out of nowhere, Max slammed on the gas, pulling not onto the exit ramp—but off the road entirely, into the desert.

“Are you kidding me!” Veronica shrieked as the SUV maneuvered around some low cacti and a pile of rocks. “He has four-wheel drive, I don’t!”

But the cruiser was already pulling off the road to follow.

“I think this would violate the rental agreement,” Xavier said solemnly from the back seat.

“Really?” Veronica said.

“Ahhhh, forget it. Apparently, I’m broke anyway!” Xavier said after a moment. “What’s one more rental car penalty?”

“All right then!” Veronica pulled off the highway and carefully steered along after the cruiser. It was lucky that we were third in line and could follow a sort of “path” made by the other two cars through the sand. But it was still pretty freaky. The desert was dark, and it was hard to tell what we were driving over. The car thumped heavily over the uneven surface, and I grabbed the handle over the passenger door to hold on.

“Where is he taking us?” I asked after a few minutes of desert driving. “If he thought he was going to lose us off-roading, he’s clearly wrong. So what now?”

Up ahead, we suddenly saw the flashing red of brake lights.

“He’s stopping,” Veronica said. As the police cruiser slowed down, she did too. Soon all three vehicles were at a stop.

It was nearly completely dark. I had no idea where we were—until I spotted a small wooden sign and a parking lot.

FRICK CANYON PARK.

“Guys!” I hissed. “We’re at the park where the rehearsal dinner took place!”

Bess and George looked around.

“Oh gosh, you’re right!” George said. “That’s where the taco truck was, and—”

“Omigosh.” Veronica suddenly looked stricken. There was action up ahead, and as a door opened on the SUV, she threw the car into park, unclipped her seat belt, and vaulted out the door.

“Don’t forget me!” Xavier cried.

Abruptly, Veronica stopped, ran back, and opened the back door, then reached down to help Xavier to his feet. He was still handcuffed, making it hard to maneuver on his own.

I threw open my own door and jumped out. I could just make out a figure running out of the SUV… and toward the steep cliff Xavier and Veronica had BASE jumped off.

That jump had nearly killed Xavier. That jump was far too steep for anyone to survive with no protective equipment.

My heart beat faster. Could Max be that desperate?

I fell into step behind Veronica, my feet thudding along the sand as I raced to the edge of the cliff.

Officers Lopez and Whipple were just ahead of us. As we ran, Officer Whipple spun around and aimed his flashlight at us. “What are you doing here?” he demanded, sounding furious.

“We wanted to make sure Max didn’t do anything rash,” I yelled. “We hoped he would listen to his big brother!”

Officer Whipple swung his flashlight toward Max again, illuminating a very strange scene.

Max was standing with his back to the cliff, frantically… getting dressed? Yes, I realized as I drew closer. Max was pulling on a bright white wingsuit, similar to the ones Xavier and Veronica had worn for their jump after the rehearsal dinner.

He shoved his arm into the last sleeve and yanked the collar to his neck.

What is he planning?!

Officer Lopez already had her gun trained on him. “Don’t do this, Max,” she warned in a low voice.

“Xavier,” Max said, ignoring the officer. His voice was strained and weary sounding. “I have something I need to tell you.”

Xavier moved forward. He was bringing up the rear of our little procession, led by Veronica. “Uh, yeah, bro,” he said, shaking his head and lifting his cuffed wrists. “I’d say you have a few things you need to tell me.”

But Max went on as though he hadn’t heard. “Xavier, the Redd Zone is in major debt,” he said. “I’m sorry. I should have told you earlier. But we’re about to lose everything. We’re about to be bankrupt, man. I’ve made a lot of bad decisions.”

Xavier drew to a stop in front of me, staring at his brother. “I would say so,” he said. “But please, man, don’t do anything you’ll regret. Whatever happened, you’re still my brother.”

Max drew up to his full height, looking almost proud of himself as he looked straight at Xavier. “I had this idea. An idea I thought could get us out of trouble…”

“I know what your idea was,” Xavier said, shaking his head disbelievingly. “Kill Veronica? I can’t believe that thought even entered your mind! What did you think would happen to me? You know how much I love her.”

Max shrugged. “I do,” he said. “But… I guess I thought you’d get over it! Eventually, I mean. You take crazy risks all the time! You thrive on them! So I tried to make it look like an accident, so you would never know.”

Veronica let out a snort of disgust.

“You disabled her parachute at the rehearsal dinner,” I accused him, remembering how Max had been in charge of the “safety precautions” for all the extreme-sports stunts. “You thought she would die during the jump, and it would look like a tragic accident. But you didn’t anticipate her switching suits with Xavier.”

Max glanced over at me, nodding. “Oh,” he said. “Nancy. Hello. Yes, you’re right about that,” he agreed.

“I don’t believe this,” Veronica scoffed.

“So I made another plan,” Max continued. “I was going to bungle Veronica’s BASE jump off the roof-deck of the Soar. Xavier was unable to jump because of his injuries, but Veronica still would have done it, especially once I explained to her how important it was to show our followers on social media that we believe in the extreme-sports lifestyle. But then Veronica disappeared.” He frowned, turning to Veronica with a glare. “I suspected it when she headed off without her bridesmaids. I could only assume she got cold feet—maybe she’d gotten wind of my plan! And all I could see was our only chance to save the business running away.”

“A ‘chance to save the business’?” Veronica asked in disgust. “That’s what you saw?”

Xavier lifted his cuffed hands to his face, covering his eyes. “I don’t believe this, dude.”

Max sighed. “I had hired some local tough guys,” he said, “and they were waiting on standby, in case I had to make a speedy getaway. So when Veronica excused herself, supposedly to fix her veil, I texted them some quick instructions: instead of helping me escape, use the van to abduct Veronica.”

That was one thing I didn’t understand. “How did you find her?” I asked.

“Well,” Max said, turning to me with a pleased expression, “I knew she would need to come down in the elevator, of course. So I gave my men a description and had them wait on the restaurant floor, pressing the button and checking every elevator until they found her. Fortunately, her disguise was not that hard to see through.”

Bess let out a sigh. “What happened then?” she asked.

“Yeah, Veronica is still alive,” George pointed out. “And I thought your plan was to kill her. That’s what you saw running away, right? Your chance to kill her and make it look like an accident, bailing you out from all your terrible business decisions.”

Veronica nodded. “Right. What happened to your brilliant plan?”

Max glanced at her, then looked at Xavier, his eyes wide. “The only problem was,” he said, “when I saw how upset Xavier was about losing Veronica… I couldn’t do it.” He shook his head. “It was one thing to mess with the safety equipment, but I was quickly learning, I am not the type of person who could murder someone in cold blood—or even ask someone else to do it. I’ve been fighting my conscience since then. I asked my men to hold her in the motel. And just today, in fact, I had decided to set her free….”

Veronica let out a sharp laugh. “Sure you did.”

Max looked at her blankly. “But Xavier beat me to it,” he finished. “You reached him, and he came to rescue you. How romantic!”

Xavier let out a cold chuckle. “Romantic! Max, you don’t know what real love is. You love me, but you thought you could kill Veronica and we would just… be okay?”

Max looked sheepish. “You were never supposed to know. If things had gone as planned, you would have thought you lost your wife in a tragic accident.”

Xavier shook his head. “I can’t believe you.”

Max dropped his gaze to the ground. “I’m sorry. Our financial situation was getting worse and worse, and I was desperate. I didn’t want to lose everything we’d worked so hard for.”

“Why wouldn’t you tell me the business was in trouble?” Xavier demanded. “Especially when it was this bad?”

Max sighed, looking up at Xavier. “At first I didn’t want to worry you. I thought we could save it. You could always sell ice to a snowman, Xavier. I thought, if we just pushed really hard, used our social media following, acted like we were a success—”

“But dude,” Xavier cut in. “A quarter of a million? How could we ever dig out of that?”

Max shook his head again. “I think I didn’t want to admit that we couldn’t, even to myself. I had failed in my job. And I always looked up to you, Xavier. When we were little, you talked about starting a business with Arlo. When you asked me to go in with you instead, I was shocked—and I wanted so badly to show you I was the right choice.”

Veronica stared at him. “By killing his wife,” she said. “Wow. Is that what they teach you in business school?”

Max turned to her. “Veronica, I—”

Veronica lifted her hand. “Save it,” she said. “Call me irrational, but there is literally nothing you can say to me right now that would make me okay with your trying to kill me, Max. I mean, I guess it’s nice you changed your mind? But I don’t think we’ll be sharing any Thanksgiving dinners.”

“I just want to—” Max tried to go on, but Veronica shook her head.

“Rot in prison, you sociopath,” she said, then turned on her heel and began to walk away.

Max looked back at the ground.

“I think it’s time to come with us, Max,” Officer Whipple said. “Hands up. Let’s make this nice and easy.”

Max looked up at the officers, almost beseechingly.

But then… he started to laugh.

“Oh, great,” Officer Lopez muttered. “I knew it. He’s one of those mustache-twirling types.”

“The thing is,” Max said between giggles, “I can’t go to prison. I don’t have the constitution for it. That’s what this wingsuit is for. I’ve been carrying it in my rental car, just in case I needed to escape. I’ll be on my way now… en route, I called my colleagues to meet me with a car across the valley. From there we’ll head to Mexico.”

He gestured to the far distance.

“Are you out of your mind?!” Xavier shouted. “I’m the daredevil, and I couldn’t make it that far. You’ve never even done this before!”

Max looked at him for a moment, then shrugged sadly. “I find myself with very few options. Goodbye, Xavier.”

He lifted his arms in the air, opening the “wings” on the wingsuit. My heart was pounding in my throat. Don’t do it! Max was clearly a few tacos short of a combo platter, but this was his worst plan yet. He would surely die in the attempt. I thought Veronica was right about a lot of things: Max didn’t deserve our pity. He deserved punishment. But he didn’t deserve to die in a crumpled heap at the bottom of a desert canyon. I knew Xavier would never forgive himself for letting it happen.

He lifted one foot over the edge of the cliff….

“Stop!” I screamed, an idea suddenly occurring to me. “That’s the suit with the disabled parachute, the one you tried to give Veronica! Don’t jump! You’ll die!”

Max abruptly stopped and moved his head just slightly to turn back over his shoulder. For a few seconds, he stood there, no doubt debating whether what I’d claimed was possible. I had no idea whether it was or not. All I needed was a moment of hesitation.

And that was all it took. In that second, Officers Lopez and Whipple darted forward, tackling Max to the ground just inches away from a drop steep enough to kill all of them.

I hadn’t realized I’d stopped breathing, but when I started again, it felt amazing. Relief flooded through my body as the officers handcuffed Max and brought him back to his feet. I turned to my friends, thrilled that we’d just barely averted a tragedy. And Xavier wasn’t a bad guy! And he and Veronica might work it out!

“I knew you’d save the day, Nancy!” Bess moved over and hugged me, and George followed, piling onto her hug.

“Nice thinking there, Sherlock,” George agreed. “That’s why I hang out with you.”

When they pulled back, Xavier and Veronica were waiting. Xavier was still handcuffed while the police dealt with Max, but they both looked relieved.

“I can’t thank you enough,” Xavier said, “even if you did think I was a murderer there for a minute.”

I winced. “I mean, I still think my reasoning was sound?”

Veronica swatted at him. “It was! Seriously, thank you, Nancy. Thank you for getting the police here, for saving the day… and for very likely saving Max’s life.”

“Oh, it’s no problem,” I said, watching the officers lead a cuffed Max over to the police cruiser. “It’s kind of… what I’m here for.”