23
Josh accelerated to sixty miles per hour on Kingsway, double the speed limit.
The lights of the car chasing them remained about a block behind.
He needed to hold that lead or, if they had their guns, the shooting might begin.
“Kate, I need to focus on what’s ahead. Will you keep an eye on them and tell me if they’re closing on us.”
She reached for her seatbelt buckle.
“Don’t take it off!” he yelled.
“I’m just loosening it.” She tugged on her seatbelt, then swiveled in her seat. “They’re a little closer.”
Josh was crazy to be driving nearly sixty miles per hour on this city street. But whoever was driving the sedan must be a madman.
The light ahead of them turned red. “Hold on, Kate.” He hit the brakes and scanned the side street.
One vehicle had nearly reached the intersection. Josh gunned the engine and shot through the intersection a second before the vehicle arrived.
“He’s in trouble. They’re sliding,” Kate said between heavy breaths.
The sound of screeching tires reached them.
Josh pushed the pedal to the floorboard to capitalize on the situation behind them.
“He missed the car entering the intersection.”
“Do you remember how far it is to the freeway from here, Kate?”
“We’ve gone a mile, so it’s about two and a half miles.”
“Great! Feel free to pray, Kate. I would appreciate it if—”
“Pray. Yeah. I’ll do that. Because…”
He waited.
“Kate, you can’t leave me in suspense like that. Because why.”
“I think were both in suspense, right now. And it’s going to get worse. They’ve closed to within half a block.”
“Now I know he’s a madman.”
“I could tell you he was mad the minute he flew out the door of the motel.”
“Crazy, Kate.”
“I am not.”
“He is.” Josh accelerated again, throwing Kate back in her seat.
“Oh, him. Yeah, he has to be crazy to keep up this pace.”
Josh encountered a car ahead of them. He passed it on the right.
The driver hit his horn.
“I thought Canadians were polite. Didn’t honk.”
“But they know that you’re an impolite American. Just be glad it’s nearly 1:00 AM, and you don’t have to dodge any—”
“Truck!” Josh swerved, straightened the wheel, and hit the brakes. “Blasted truck!”
The big semi’s air brakes hissed and its air horn blew a long disapproving note.
“I guess there are trucks out at 1:00 AM. Josh…they’re closer now.”
“Yeah. The truck stole most of my lead.”
“One of them is leaning out the passenger side.”
“Get down, Kate, until I say you can come up.”
“No. I’ve got to—”
He shoved Kate’s head down to the seat with one strong motion of his right hand.
“Stop it! That hurt!”
A loud crack sounded.
Shards of safety glass sprayed the back of Josh’s head. Holes in his back window and windshield told him the bullet came through the space occupied by Kate’s head a second before.
She remained down, her head hugging Josh’s leg. “I’m sorry, Josh.”
“Please stay down, Kate. They’re right behind us, and the lady is hanging out the window with a handgun. At least it’s not an automatic.”
He pulled the steering wheel side to side, sliding Kate back and forth in the seat.
“What are you doing?”
“Making it harder to hit us.”
“It must be working. She hasn’t shot again.”
Two more loud pops sounded. Apparently these shots missed his car.
“Good job. I’m coming up now so I can—”
“No, you’re not!” He pinned her head to his leg with his right arm.
“Josh, I’ll duck when she aims.”
“You’re not coming up here. She keeps the gun trained on us all the time…or tries to. You’re staying down!”
He needed to get out of firing range. “Hang on, Kate.”
“To what? Your leg?”
“Just hang on.” He yanked the wheel hard right, tires screaming as they slid onto a side street.
The big sedan overshot the turn. It was braking to a stop when he lost sight of it. It would backup and follow them.
“What did you just do?” Kate sat up in the seat.
He let her remain sitting. “I’m trying to lose them before we hit the freeway. It’s only a short way ahead.” He cut left through an alleyway and gunned the engine, smashing a plastic garbage can. It flew over the top of his car. Apparently, it was empty.
Josh braked to a stop and cut the lights and engine. “Feel free to pray again, Kate. You know, pray that they’ll go by and won’t see us. Never mind. They just did.”
“Did what?”
“Went by.”
“So, what now?”
“We play hide and sneak.”
“You mean hide and seek?”
“No.” He hit the ignition and rolled out of alleyway without the headlights on and without using the brakes. Josh turned left, heading back to Kingsway.
He accelerated on the side street and slid onto Kingsway avoiding the brake pedal and praying there wasn’t a car coming.
But one car was coming. About three blocks down the side street he saw the now familiar headlights of the sedan grow larger in his rearview mirror as the vehicle flew toward Kingsway.
“They know what I’m up to, Kate. I guess we just head for Highway 1 and lead them on a high-speed chase to the border.”
“Do it, Josh. You’ve done great. Even if I was a little…ungrateful.”
Was that a smile on Kate’s face? She thought he had done something well? Something that might have come from crazy Kate’s repertoire of risky escapes.
“You saved my life, Josh.” She squeezed his shoulder. “There’s the on ramp. Let’s see what top-end looks like for your car.”
“There’s a limiter on the engine. Top end is 115 miles per hour.”
“What if you need to go faster?”
“The drive shaft flies apart and pieces of it penetrate the passenger compartment.”
“A hundred and fifteen sounds fine to me.”
“I thought it would.”
Several blocks behind them, the sedan skidded around the corner and onto Kingsway as Josh accelerated up the on ramp. The needle on his tach moved toward the red line at seven thousand RPM.