Eleri could tell her head would hurt later. She was starting to feel the throb from the intensity with which she’d smacked the headrest in the large van. She’d then been snapped forward, thrown into the yank of the seatbelt, and slammed backward again.
“I'm trying to decide what—” she was hollering to Donovan when they got smacked again.
She didn’t feel pain. Not yet.
“Get down, Neriah!” She yelled it, unable to turn and give the instruction cleanly or carefully. By being in the middle of the van, Neriah was the most protected. That had been the plan. However, the middle seat had no headrests and Neriah was in danger of getting serious whiplash, especially if they took another hit. The last thing they needed was somebody disabled by an accident.
As her eyes scanned the streets for available escape routes, Eleri realized they were going to have a fight on their hands. She watched the other cars and saw that the traffic was wholly unconcerned with the collision that happened in their midst and the two fleeing cars. She was not in the US anymore. “Donovan, where can I go?”
Punching the gas pedal, she sped up. The traffic on the street was heavy enough that she was in danger of hurting someone else to keep her small crew from being hit again. Eleri didn’t like that option.
Speeding in short bursts, she wove through cars and gave bikes the widest berth she could, though it wasn’t enough to make her comfortable. There was nothing safe in this, and no one else was paying any attention.
The black SUV behind them was a cliché, but a very dangerous one.
Donovan had pulled up a map service and, in her peripheral vision, she could see him scrolling through the city streets, looking for the best option. Though she knew he was doing his best, and that running them into a blind alley didn’t help anyone, she wished he’d hurry the hell up.
Her hands clenched the steering wheel as she crested a hill, hoping she’d get some kind of sign to take a turn—any turn—so she could get away before the SUV came up behind them and spotted them again. But she had to stay on this street and give Donovan a chance to find them a workable path.
Just as she clenched the wheel to keep from just taking one of the side streets, he hollered at her. “Left. Here!”
They were almost past the turn where he was pointing. But she cranked the wheel and probably took the van up on two tires as it squealed around the slightly-sharper-than-ninety-degree turn.
Honks followed her as she threaded her way down the alley, not ready to believe she’d lost the SUV.
No. It hadn’t been that easy. She watched as the large, black vehicle filled her rear view mirror and she took a moment to notice the insanely tinted windows. It could be a self-driving car for all she knew, and it was too close to get more valuable information.
“Neriah, turn your head slightly, hold on, and get me their license plate as soon as you can see it!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
She hadn’t been ready to be “ma’am”ed, but she’d take it.
The vehicle was getting close enough to make a third hit. Shit. “Next turn?”
Donovan didn't disappoint. “Take the third right.” He talked her through. “Not this. Not this. Here.” He was trying not to point too obviously for the turns, just in case anyone in the back could see him. Eleri certainly wasn't using her turn signals.
They were now on back streets, threading their way between pretty pink- and cream-colored houses. This was what she had wanted. Here, the cars were parked too closely.
“Turn here.” Donovan gave her the next turn onto an even tighter street.
Yes. The van truly didn't fit, but she would make it work. Eleri was thinking that very thing as she knocked the mirror off of one of the cars parked along the side. It was the only way to get through, and she hated to destroy property, but she did it anyway.
As big as the van was, the SUV was wider, probably intended to be intimidating. It was impractical as a chase car, and Eleri was taking advantage of their poor choice. The SUV did not fit between the cars. They might have been willing to smash the parked cars to get through, but there was a high probability they would get stuck.
Eleri watched in her rear view mirror as they stopped, threw the SUV into reverse, and squealed backward.
There! She'd managed to effectively lose her tail. Still, they weren't done; that was just the first step. “Next turn, Donovan?”
“Straight through the intersection.” His eyes were darting to the side roads and back to the map, but never to her. She was doing her job, and he his. Hopefully, Neriah had gotten that plate number.
“Straight?” she confirmed, because it was easier said than done. Cross traffic was heavy enough that she was afraid the black SUV would get around the side streets and pull across in front of them. They could effectively block her, forcing her to reverse out of their predicament. Not a pleasant thought. Even if she got across, if these guys—whoever they were—caught sight of them darting across the street, the chase would be back on.
While she watched for a break in the traffic, she was planning an escape route for every contingency. As soon as a space was big enough that she wouldn’t get honked at, she took it. She couldn’t afford the attention of bleating horns now that the SUV no longer had her in sight. She was suddenly grateful for every hour she’d endured of tactical driving.
Her mother hadn’t driven a car in years. She just had one of the staff drive her wherever she wanted to go. She’d never even encouraged her daughter to learn to drive at all. If her mother could see her now, she’d swoon and pass out. For a girl who grew up in Louisiana’s Lower Ninth Ward, her mother had gone remarkably tender. Eleri had certainly not inherited that quality.
She smashed the gas pedal and dodged her way through two different directions of traffic, holding her breath the whole time. Once in the alley, she didn’t exhale. She just followed Donovan’s instructions.
“Second left, two blocks. . .” He waited until she’d taken the turn. “Right, then an immediate left. Here!”
She pulled into a parking lot where she had no permit. The street she’d just ducked off was a smaller alleyway that hadn’t even borne a street sign. The city clearly did not expect the tourists to make it back here.
“Get out,” she commanded as she caught the eye of a lone man sitting on an upturned bin in the corner. He stood up to walk over to them, but she looked away. She had more important things to worry about than a parking permit. The van was too obvious; they had to abandon it.
“Grab everything.” Already out the door, she was at the back of the vehicle, struggling to wrench open the doors, which had crumpled slightly when they were hit. She tugged them wide and handed the luggage out to Donovan.
“We're going on foot?” Neriah asked. Her tone was confused, but she took the bag Eleri shoved at her.
“Only until we can drop the bags.”
Donovan didn't question anything, but it seemed Neriah questioned everything. “We can't leave the bags.”
Eleri had already grabbed two and was hightailing it around the corner, knowing Donovan would shut the van doors behind her and likely offer cash to the man who was inquiring about the van. It didn’t matter if he recognized them or the van. It only mattered that it was off the street and would be hard to find.
She turned to Neriah. “We can leave the bags, and we will if we have to. We won’t leave the people. Got me?” When she received a sharp nod and a straightened spine in response, she continued. “My plan is to ditch the bags and pick them up later. In my best case, we don’t lose any of this.”
“Okay!”
There, she thought, this was the young woman who’d survived almost two weeks on her own being chased by this same shadowy corporation.
Eleri was peeking around corners and darting onward, now knowing Neriah would stay close behind, even if it was because she really had no other choice. Eleri hit the end of the first alleyway and tipped her head beyond the edge of the building.
Sure enough, there was a large, black SUV coming down the main street toward her. Snapping her head sharply, she ducked backward into the alley and nearly smacked into Neriah.
Donovan was right behind her, a bag in each hand, his head tipped slightly as if he could sniff out the SUV’s route. He was telling Neriah, “. . . If you want to stay safe, you follow Eleri.”
Bless him, she thought. Though she figured Neriah had already gotten that message, it was good to hear it again. No other command or questions would be entertained until they were out of danger.
Keeping an eye on the black SUV as it slowed down, Eleri noticed the driver seemed to be making a decision which way to turn. She watched as the big car hooked a left on the next major street. With a nod, Eleri led her small crew up the sidewalk, away from where the SUV had gone.
Walking up the main streets with their luggage in hand was almost as obvious as being in the large white van. But that was her only choice besides abandoning the bags, and she wasn't ready to make that sacrifice. If they dropped the bags here in the open, they would be lost. As she’d told Neriah, she was trying to preserve them.
The three of them trudged up the hill in the heat and humidity, trying to look as normal as possible. Eleri was grateful that Neriah managed to look like a local in her cut-off jeans shorts and loose t-shirt. She helped normalize the two agents, who didn’t look quite like feds, but didn’t blend as well as Neriah did.
“Here,” Eleri called as she spotted a street-side stand and decided it was worth a stop. Grabbing two hats, she placed one on her own head and one on Neriah’s. Donovan was paying for them even before she finished choosing and they were back on the sidewalk again, still trudging up the hill.
The street was relatively steep, and the bags in her hands were not light, but she didn't stop. In fact, she picked up the pace and expected Neriah and Donovan to keep up. At last, Eleri saw what she was looking for.