J.R. exited the Best Buy parking lot using the lot's stop light. Waiting for the light took an extra sixty seconds, but it was impossible to make a left onto Washington without the benefit of a green light. Even at noon, traffic was heavy. He had to stop for the traffic signal at Shadeland, then got caught again at a red light at Arlington. And then again at Emerson. As the SHO traversed the intersection at Washington and Emerson, Feral looked left out the window and saw that a train was on the tracks paralleling English Avenue, just a few blocks south of Emerson. The train was headed west, same as the group's SHO.
J.R. gunned it down to Oriental and hooked a right turn, heading north on Oriental. The side street was clogged with on-street parking and dumpy houses. Now and then the SHO passed by a home with plywood over the front windows. Even in the winter, the yards on this street were unkept. Dingy days-old snow ringed cheap plastic toys left in yards. A pair of teenage boys sat on the concrete front steps of a house with a broken second-story window. They watched the SHO roll down the street and stop at a stop sign.
Eventually, after several maddening stops signs, the Taurus wound its way north to East Michigan. The crenellated red brick buildings of Arsenal Tech High School and a large expanse of green soccer field greeted the SHO where Oriental came out at East Michigan. Once traffic cleared, J.R. turned left. This area had been gentrified; a row of Victorian homes with gingerbread trim stood proudly on the south side of East Michigan. Unlike a mere two blocks south on Oriental, there were no boarded-up windows here. The SHO entered the flow of traffic and soon crossed Pogue's Run. The road went down a hill and curved left. Downtown Indy loomed close at hand, just beyond the Interstate dividing East Indy from a landscape of high-rise buildings.
East Michigan was a one-way street with three lanes. J.R. chose the far left lane. The railroad tracks were near, he could see them as soon as the SHO rolled down the small hill after Arsenal Tech and swept through the curve of the road. There was no white Hummer H3. Hell, there weren't even any other cars by the tracks. The SHO was the first in a line of traffic on westbound East Michigan. Thanks to his finely honed driving skills and the SHO's tight turn radius, J.R. spotted a narrow alley just ahead on the left and whipped the sedan into the alley. When the flow of traffic cleared and J.R. was satisfied no cops were around, he used East Michigan to put the SHO arse-end in the alley with the vehicle's nose pointing toward Michigan Street.
A check of the clock on the dashboard showed the time to be 12:26. Four minutes to spare.
