Page 2 of Crossover
I had to bide my time, wait for the right moment. And it would come. These guys clearly hadn’t expected a chase, or they wouldn’t have chosen a slow-ass construction vehicle for their getaway. They couldn’t outrun me, not in that clunky piece of shit.
My vehicle was so close to their bumper that I could practically feel Ivy’s presence, could almost hear her ragged breathing over the roar of the engines. They jerked to the left, changing lanes in a pathetic attempt to shake me. I followed with ease, a predator stalking its prey. They tried a few more evasive maneuvers, but I couldn’t help the smirk tugging at the corner of my mouth.
You won’t get away from me, assholes.
Suddenly, a metallic clunk erupted, followed by a thin veil of smoke drifting up from my hood. The once-healthy groan of my engine sickened, turning into a high-pitched wheeze, punctuated by little firecracker pops.
No, no, no!This couldn’t be happening. Not now. Not when I was so close.
My gaze drifted to the hood, which was dented from the minor crash in Hunter’s driveway. I tried to compensate for its slow death, pressing harder down on the accelerator, but the engine mocked me, slowing instead of speeding.
Fuck!
The clunks accelerated like someone had left a metal wrench in the dryer, and the van pulled two car lengths away from me.
Then five.
Then fifteen.
I grabbed my cell phone and hit record, desperate to catch any identifying information, but deep down, I knew it would be too late by then. Ivy would be dead before I could track them down.
Unless…
Seth.
A long shot. He’d still be with Daniel at that safe house, and he had been critical about my not following through with Ivy’s assassination, but he had mad IT skills.
And with the van getting away, he was my only hope.
Seth answered on the first ring.
“Am I on speaker?” My voice cracked with emotion.
“No.” Seth’s tone was edgy, a noticeable shift from his calm, stoic demeanor during our meeting just a few minutes ago.
Something had changed since we reviewed the evidence suggesting Ivy’s innocence. Then, Seth had been skeptical about calling off the operation without further investigation, not wanting to jeopardize his chances for a promotion over a potential false alarm, but now, there was an undercurrent of unease in his voice, a hint of something troubling him that I couldn’t quite pinpoint.
“Seth, I need your help.”
“If anyone would know who to call to stop the?—”
“It’s too late to call it off,” I interrupted. “It’s happening in front of me. They’ve taken her in a van, and I’m in pursuit, but my car is dying. I need your help to track them and find out where they take her.”
More clunks, more smoke.
As silence hung between us, doubt crept into my mind. Had I misread the change in his tone? Perhaps he was just tired or preoccupied with tracking down Vosch, his top priority.
“Please,” I begged. “If you don’t track her down…”
If they end her, they’ll have to end me, too, because I’ll track every one of those fuckers down and kill them.
“I’m supposed to be with the operations team to prep for Nightshade,” Seth replied. Once again, his hesitation was less pronounced than during our last conversation, and now, something else had taken its place—an undefinable quality that nagged at the back of my mind.
The roar of an engine grew louder behind me, and a blur of red metal streaked past on my left, the car’s sleek form cutting through the air. As it sped by, my heart jumped into a free fall as I watched the distance between my car and theirs grow larger, the taillights seeming to mock me, glowing red in the distance like the fading embers of my hope.
“Please,” I repeated.
The sound of my voice was that of a man on his knees, his hands folded in front of him, with tears running down his face.