56

"You're what?"

"Boo. My name is Boo now."

Jody's hair was frazzled, a yard wide both from running her hands through it and from being down a humid tunnel for a couple of days.

She sat. Boo and Puck were standing.

"Okay," she said, exasperated. "What are you going to do?"

"I ... I don't know," Boo said. "I'm going where Wolfy is going. I -- I'm sorry, Jody. It's just -- it isn't going to work out."

Jody just stood. "So we're kaput, and you're changing your name to Boo and hanging around with him?"

Boo hesitated, and Puck, wearing sunglasses, mentioned in a quiet voice that they didn't have that much time.

"I'm sorry, Jody," Boo said. "We're going to a shooting range. After that, we're going to the animal shelter for a couple hours, and after that, we're going to Switzerland!"

"Switzerland? You're going to Switzerland?" she said with a shrill edge. In a softer voice she added, "I sound like a parrot."

"Yes! Switzerland!" said Boo, excited. "Isn't that exciting?"

Jody nodded numb. She started to walk back towards the showroom.

"Jody," Boo said. "I think there's a second exit around here you can use. Didn't you say there was?"

"Tchh," Jody said. "It doesn't really matter." She walked and her footsteps echoed in silence.

"Jody?"

"What?"

"I worked with you on the, you know, the job?"

Jody paused. "You have my cel. Or, I have your cel. I'll leave you a message when I get home and tell you who to call so you can get paid."

"Okay," Boo said.

Jody walked. She got smaller and smaller until she was just a light dot in a dark tunnel. Then she was gone.

"Well, that's that," Boo said.

Puck nodded. He waited to see what Boo would say.

I hope we can get going, he thought.

"So," he said slowly. "Did you still want to go to the firing range?"

"Mm hm." Boo said. From where she was standing, in front of Puck and to the right, she reached back with both her hands to find both of his, and pulled them around her. She sighed.

"I'm ready," she said. "Let's go."

Puck flipped a switch by the counter space in his kitchen. A wall lifted, with a silent hum, revealing a ladder.

"So," Boo said. "It was here all along."

"I don't tell anyone about this one. That tribunal who hired you? They probably had a whole other exit in mind. There are several."

They both climbed the ladder. It was pretty small, and Boo felt aware of the height, without actually being afraid of falling.

"Just don't look down and you'll be okay," Puck said. They climbed the metal rungs until the ladder ended at a manhole cover. Puck picked up a metal rod from a shelf next to the ladder. He fished it into one of the small holes in the manhole cover, grunted, pushed, and the manhole cover began to move aside.

"Now be careful," he said. "We're coming up into city traffic."

Puck poked his head out, judging the distance of passing cars by the loudness of the noise. He hoisted himself on to the street.

"It's safe now," he said. "Hurry!"

"Are you sure?" said Boo.

"They've got a red light! Come on!"

Boo fished her way out of the manhole and on to the street. They walked quickly to a sidewalk. Puck gestured his car, an orange Camry. They got in. Puck started the car and began to drive.

"This is a nice car," Boo said.

"I'm glad you like it," Puck said. "It's not that old, I've only had it a couple of years."

Boo fiddled with the hole where the seatbelt receded and rolled up into the chassis.

"Switzerland, huh? What's going on in Switzerland?"

"It's a bunch of Loyd people," Puck said. "The Loyd faithful. We get together a few times a year. The Society in each country sends a delegate. We like to do it in Switzerland because I have a friend there who's an ex-politician, and he puts us up."

Boo nodded. They reached the firing range and Puck parked the Camry. Boo heard some kind of persistent hum at the edges of her field of vision. "Your car, it reminds me of, um, cabin pressure."

"Oh," Puck nodded. "It's got kind of an odd hiss, doesn't it. It has some special air filtration system." They got out of the car and went inside.

A man with a white beard and a flannel cap sat behind a ledge at an open window.

"Hi, Mudd," Puck said.

"Howdy," said Mudd. Boo noticed the hiss had followed her inside -- it was nothing to do with Puck's car after all.

"This is Boo," Puck said into the window.

"Pleased to meet you, Boo," said Mudd.

"It's her first time, Can you rack us up?"

Mudd nodded. They followed him into a room with targets.

"Are you okay?" Puck asked Boo.

"I'm okay," Boo said. "Let's shoot some guns."

Mudd brought out a silver platter with Bilsom Viking earmuffs.

"The silver platter is a nice touch," Boo said.

Puck unceremoniously took a shot. He hit the target between the "3" and the "2". Boo said something he couldn't hear. Puck lifted one of his earmuffs.

"What?"

"I said, do you like coming here?"

Puck shrugged. "It's something to do."

"Something to do? Wouldn't you rather be in your kitchen or something?"

"Yes," Puck said. "I would. But we're here to shoot, so let's shoot."