Nolan had already turned and started walking away. “You ready to go?” he asked, angling toward the door.
I slipped my hand into the pocket of the heavy winter parka that Gobi had tossed me back at Erich’s and felt the small rectangular shape vibrating inside. After sneaking out the cell phone that I hadn’t known was there, I flipped it on and glanced at the three-word message on the screen.
men’s room now
I dropped the phone back in my pocket. “I gotta hit the bathroom before we go.”
Nolan gave me a distrustful glance. “It’s cold and dark out there, kid. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Don’t worry.” On the way past the bar, I brushed past Swierczynski, who’d been sitting there with a thick mug of coffee, to the heavy wooden door marked HERREN. In the background I heard Nolan’s voice continuing to warn me not to be stupid.
I swung the door open. The men’s room was freezing cold, and right away I saw why. The window was wide open and Gobi was standing in front of me with a thick slab of wood in her hands. For a second all I could do was stare at her in shock.
“You are late.”
“Gobi, how-”
She pushed past me and jammed the wooden beam against the door, wedging it into the tiles and blocking it shut from the inside.
“Crawl through window.”
“What happened to the-”
“No talking.” She boosted me through the open window and out into the darkness, where I fell straight down into a pile of flattened cardboard boxes and bags of trash. A cat squalled and took off running. Gobi, having crawled through and dropped down after me, took my hand and yanked me up onto my feet. As we ran around to the front of the restaurant, I heard voices from inside, Nolan and the bartender and good old Swierczy, shouting, coughing, hammering on the door. There was an ice machine pushed in front of the main entrance, blocking it shut, and thick smoke oozing from the slight gap, but the door wasn’t opening any farther than that.
I looked up at the roof.
“You blocked the chimney?”
“Watch out.” She pointed at the unconscious body of the driver sprawled on the ground next to the Peugeot, then opened the driver’s-side door. “You can still drive stick, yes?”
I got in and started the engine.