Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 91461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“In a black hole,” Dylan answered.
Once we lost them, which was easy—thankfully they weren’t from Chicago—I made my way up from the depths and continued toward Oak Lawn, which was where the drop-off was. It was so quiet in the car, that when the woman said thank you, I jolted a bit.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured.
“It’s not you, it’s me,” I teased her, and it was good to hear her laugh even with all the cuts and bruises on her face.
Of course, because I’m not that lucky, on the way back to have breakfast, an unidentified SUV flashed lights at us and told us to pull over. Because there was nothing on it, no markings, just like before, I didn’t stop. Aja used my phone and called Sam, because we weren’t anywhere near anyplace we could ditch them.
“I just got home,” he grumbled, as he’d been working late. “Where are you?”
“Hi, Sam,” Aja greeted him. “How are you?”
I turned and looked at her, and Dylan smacked her in the arm from the back seat.
“Oww, what?”
“This is not time for pleasantries,” Dylan snarled at her. “We’re being chased.”
“What’d she say?” Sam asked.
I cleared my throat. “So someone, and I’m not sure who, chased us earlier, but we were near Wacker, and so I—”
“I’m sorry, what?”
Sam Kage could really get his voice to carry, even over a phone line, when he needed to.
“We were transporting others at the time and couldn’t stop,” I answered.
“Absolutely could not stop,” Aja seconded.
“There was no goddamn way,” Dylan agreed.
“And you lost whoever was chasing you underground but now find yourself chased by someone else?”
“That’s correct,” Aja praised him.
“I need you all to drive down to my office, now, and I will meet you there.”
“You know, the sound of these sirens really do sort of fade into the background after a bit, don’t they,” Aja observed.
“I think Aja was made for a life of crime,” Dylan commented. “Also, may I say, you have yet to run a red light, even with people chasing you. It’s impressive.”
“Thank you,” I said to Dylan, about to turn my head and smile at her but then thinking better of it.
“If you just got home, how are you going to meet us downtown?”
“Because I’m going with lights and sirens,” he growled at me. “And in the meantime, Ian and Eli are there at the office, so just get there, all right!”
“Sam, it’ll be okay,” I soothed him. “We—”
“I don’t think you remotely understand how crazy it is out here,” Sam barked at me. “You need to be more concerned about yourself and your friends!”
“Sam,” Aja said gently, “you know I understand risks more than—”
“I know you’ve had challenges I can’t begin to understand all your life,” Sam agreed. “But at the moment, you’re placing yourself in even more danger. And I know it’s for a great reason, but if you were being chased by real cops and not wannabe ones, you could be run off the road and everything else.”
“Sam—”
“Your husband is going to have an aneurysm,” he told her.
“Perhaps we might not mention this to—oh!” Aja gasped.
“What oh? Why oh?”
“We got cut off,” Dylan explained to Sam, “but Jory took a turn down an alley and—holy shit, that guy’s not gonna move.”
“Take a left,” Aja ordered. “I know where we are.”
After nearly taking out several trash cans, I did as directed and took the turn, which put us in a parking lot shared by three different apartment buildings.
“Sam, you would be impressed with Jory’s driving.”
“No, I would not!”
“But really, in a minivan, outmaneuvering not one but two SUVs now, it’s pretty good,” Dylan assured me. “Keep it up.”
“Why aren’t any of you freaking out?” Sam nearly yelled.
“Well, we had a much closer call up in Parkridge that time,” Aja told him. “There were a lot of guys chasing us.”
“And we were all running,” Dylan chimed in. “And two of those guys had guns.”
“But everyone knows you can’t actually hit a moving target,” Aja said with conviction. “That only happens in the movies.”
There was silence.
“Did we lose him?” Dylan asked.
“No,” I whispered. “He’s thinking about what you just said.”
“Oh…crap,” Aja moaned, realization hitting her.
“You’ll be lucky if any of you ever leave the house alone again. Ever!”
“Sam, I know you worry, but really, nothing has ever—”
“No, no,” I rushed out. “Don’t do that. He has a hundred different scenarios in his head.”
“Cross this street and go into the parking structure,” Dylan told me. “There’s another way out, but not everyone knows.”
With now two unmarked SUVs following us, when I turned in, went up three floors fast, parked, and we all got down, I was really surprised when the two vehicles blew by us.
Sitting up, we looked around.
“That was a total movie maneuver,” Dylan gasped, “I can’t believe that actually worked.”
“Now get us out,” Aja suggested. “But fly casual.”