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Jess, “Change of plans. We’re doing takeout. And you’re going to come in through the side entrance.”
    “Something’s happened.”
    “Yeah, your picture is front and center on the evening news.”
    “Oh shit.”
    “It’s not a great picture, so you’re probably pretty safe for the moment. Hopefully no one at that truck stop, the Burger King, or your evangelist family, will put two and two together. But I’m going to run into a drugstore and pick up some hair color. Dark brown? Do you wear contacts?” She shook her head. “Okay, I’ll pick up some reading glasses that you can wear if you’re out in public. I’ll get the lowest magnification so you won’t trip over things. And some sunglasses. Every little change helps, I suppose. Of course, what do I know? It’s not like I’ve ever done this before. Chinese okay with you?”
    She nodded her head dumbly.
    It was weird. Jess’s life was on the line, and by association, so was mine, and yet, I was excited. I don’t know why, but I felt motivated about things again. I was actually getting into this!
     

Chapter 5
     
    We were sitting in the room an hour later, an array of Chinese food cartons spread out in front of us. I was hungry, but I noticed Jess just picking at her food. I suppose having the whole country on the lookout for you could affect your appetite.
    “Maybe I’ve watched too many movies,” I said between bites. “But it occurred to me that just about everything in this country is built around technology, so the safest thing we can do is avoid it as much as possible. Stay away from toll roads—toll booths have cameras—take the smaller roads. If we can get to Alaska without incident, my brother and I can keep you smuggled there until … well, until something.”
    “What do we do when we hit the Canadian border?” Jess asked.
    “Hadn’t thought of that. We’ll come up with something, I guess.” I changed subjects. “Any peep out of The Voice?”
    “Nothing,” she answered. “It’s not like it carries on conversations with me, but I’ve kind of gotten used to hearing it.”
    “So tell me more how it works. I know it told you to run. You said you think the parking sign was another message. How can you be sure? Does it ever talk in complete sentences? Is it male or female?”
    “Definitely male. The messages come in lots of different forms, which is why it’s so hard to explain. As I said, in the beginning it was more like intuition. It progressed into my dreams at night. I’d wake up knowing that somebody had just told me something. After a minute I’d usually remember it. Sometimes I’ll be in a public place and I’ll hear someone give me an instruction. I’ll quickly look around and realize that no one near me had said it. Sometimes it’s a little more emphatic, like it was in Washington, and sometimes I’ll just be reading a book or a magazine, or even a menu, and a sentence will pop out at me with some sort of instruction. When I look back down at the page, that sentence isn’t there anymore. How did I know about the parking sign, or using the restroom at the Burger King? I can’t really tell you. I think I’m just getting used to the communication in all its forms.”
    “Was the ‘run’ message typical of the kind you get?” I cut in.
    “No. As I said, that was much stronger. In fact, it was almost pleading, now that I reflect back. But usually it’s simple messages like, ‘Cross the street here’ or ‘Take the Metro right now.’ Usually not words, just images. Sometimes even an image with a word. Some—especially over the last week or so—have kept me hidden or even saved my life, but most of the messages over the last year have been pretty benign. I’m not even sure why many of them came. I mean, I know where to cross a street.”
    “Could it be that The Voice has been training you to listen to it?” I asked. “Maybe it knew that you had to get used to its presence before it could make any