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“Can it be fixed?” Sulli asks

I wipe sweat offhot “Anything can be fixed It just depends on the parts I need to fix it” I crank the engine and then ht over here” The valve spring windings are harder to see

She presses up to ht doard I observe the intake and exhaust valve operation opening and closing, and I check the spring windings

Fuck

“It’s bad,” she realizes off my scowl

“We can add broken springs to the list” I glower at the pushrods Fuck “And a bent pushrod” I expel a coarse breath “It’s restricting the ht now I reach into her and do a final carburetor assessment

I back up,in realization “I think she needs a new carburetor”

“So you can’t just clean it?”

I shakeShe already needs a new air intake boot It can’t be fixed out here, but if we get her to a shop, they ht have the parts we need”

Akara co that last bit “No service I can’t say how far away the nearest town is”

“Where are we?” I ask him while I lean back into the car and return the valves to their original spots

“Minnesota”

“Fuck,” Sulli ht that flickers out

Akara points his cellphone flashlight at Booger, helping s I pry off the tracker her parents placed on her car—and it’s dead Battery must’ve died, who knohen

“I can run down the road,” Sulli offers “Maybe I’ll find a town or gas station, or even cell service Then we can call a tow truck and get Booger to the nearest shop”

Myholes in her plan before Akara points them out

“We’d have to run with you, Sulli,” Akara re—we’re her bodyguards

“Then run with me”

“Thatthe Jeep on the side of the road, which we can’t do”

Her Jeep isn’t just any old car It belonged to Adae for the thing It’s famous It’s sentimental Akara and I knohat the Jeep means to Sulli—what it means to her dad—what it means to the Meadows family and the public