Josh pulled the car around to the west side of the building, his heart pounding as he waited for Caitlyn to emerge from the side door. Everything he’d feared going wrong had. And more. All because of a foolish decision he’d made. He slammed his hand against the steering wheel. Why had he agreed to do this?
“Caitlyn? Where are you?”
“Almost there.”
He could hear her heavy breathing as she ran through the building. He hated the helpless feeling raging inside him, but there was nothing he could do but wait until she got out.
He finally saw her emerge from the side door, and he leaned over to open her door. Seconds later he was racing toward the parking lot exit, unsure of where to go next.
“Are you okay?”
She blew out a sharp breath. “I will be, once my heart stops pounding.”
He agreed, but at the moment he didn’t care. He never should have let her do this. He knew all too well what these people were capable of doing. And now if they didn’t find a way out of here, they were going to be the next victims.
There were several other employees that were heading to their cars and leaving the property. That meant they’d have a better chance of getting out without being stopped. In the distance he could hear the sound of sirens as the fire department answered the call. He hoped there wasn’t a camera that had caught her pulling the alarm, but being accused of setting off a fire alarm seemed minuscule compared to what they were facing.
“I don’t know what happened.” Her chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath. “Bruce must have said something. That’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“Well, we’re not sticking around to find out.” He took a left and merged onto the four-lane road running parallel to the lab, ready to get as far away from there as possible.
“I have the downloaded files.” She opened up her clenched fist, revealing the drive. “I just . . . I just hope what we need is on it.”
He caught the doubt mixed with fear in her voice. Not that he blamed her. His heart was still racing after the close call. He stopped at a red light, then turned to her. “You’re still shaking.”
“What just happened was way too close,” she said. “I know it was a risk, and I know I chose to go in there, but if I’d gotten caught, if they figure out what I did . . .”
He looked closely at her. Her hands were trembling against her knees. He was glad she’d been able to download the files, but all he wanted to do at this point was to keep her safe. She’d reminded him, though, that keeping people he loved safe wasn’t always possible. And he still had no idea what to do to make sure nothing happened to her. He’d spent his entire career focused on keeping people safe. He’d failed Olivia. He couldn’t fail Caitlyn.
“Right now, I just want to get as far away from here as possible,” he said. “And hope we weren’t caught on camera. All we need now is the police looking for us.”
“Despite my juvenile record, my adult record is spotless. Not even a parking ticket.” She let out a soft chuckle. “So what is the penalty for stealing company files and setting off a fire alarm?”
“Let’s just say it wouldn’t look good on either of our records.” He couldn’t help but smile. At least she hadn’t completely lost her sense of humor. “Were you ever able to get a good look at the men?”
“No, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if we’re looking at the same men who showed up at Helen’s house, and then again in the tunnels.”
He glanced over at her and felt his heart surge. A part of him wanted to stop the car so he could pull her into his arms and tell her everything was going to be okay. He’d been impressed with how she’d handled the situation. Impressed she hadn’t let fear stop her.
“Josh . . . I think we’re being followed again. The silver BMW three cars back. It’s got to be the same men from the lab.”
Josh checked the rearview mirror. “I see it.”
His fingers gripped the steering wheel tighter. Funny how two days ago, he’d wanted to dismiss Caitlyn’s ideas as the work of an overactive imagination.
He glanced into the rearview mirror again. Traffic was light this far out of the city, and the other car was now two car lengths behind them. Whoever it was didn’t seem to be keeping their presence a secret. But why not?
“Josh . . . It looks like a roadblock ahead of us.”
“I see it.”
Two unmarked vehicles sat at the bottom of the long stretch of road, blocking the four lanes. Josh ran through the obvious solutions, immediately taking out the option of stopping. He had no idea who had set up the roadblock—whether it was an official police blockade, or if someone else was behind it. He wasn’t going to risk finding out. The other two options were to barrel through the barricade, or find a way around it. And since ramming through two cars head on didn’t seem viable, he was down to one option.
“Just trust me.”
He pumped on the brakes, praying he’d be able to reduce his speed quickly enough. He glanced at the speedometer. He needed to get his speed down as much as possible before he made the U-turn. He was still going way too fast.
“Hang on . . .”
He eased completely off the gas, spun the wheel, and the car skidded a full one hundred eighty degrees, barely missing the two cars blocking the road in the process. Once the car had made the U-turn, he pressed on the accelerator, giving it all the gas he could, then took off back up the road.
“They’re still behind us,” Caitlyn said. “At least two of them are following us.”
He took a sharp left off the main road, trying to put as much distance as possible between them.
The first shot shattered the left rear window. He pressed harder on the accelerator.
“Caitlyn . . . you okay?”
“Yeah . . . just get us out of here.”
“Stay down.”
More shots sounded, and a second bullet hit the rear window, but he’d managed to widen the gap between them. He had no idea where to go. He knew the majority of the officers in his precinct were clean, but all it would take was one or two involved in this. Or there was always the possibility they were being fed the wrong information. Which meant he couldn’t go in. And he needed options. He wound his way through a couple of neighborhoods, turning every few blocks and praying that he was throwing off whoever was after them, but he could still see them behind him.
Up ahead, the lights of a train crossing had started flashing. His mind grabbed onto another option. If he timed it right, he might have just found his way out of this.
He gunned the engine, trying once again to broaden the gap between them and the car following him.
He took a sharp right, across the tracks, as the train sped toward them. The crossing gate dropped down behind them. Seconds later, the train roared past, leaving their tail trapped on the other side of the tracks.
Caitlyn let out a sharp breath of air.
“You okay?” he asked.
“We’re alive. I guess at this point that’s all that matters.”
Neither of them said anything else as he kept driving, winding through the maze of neighborhoods, then hitting the highway north and putting as much distance as he could between them and their pursuers.
When he finally felt as if there was no way they could be found, he slowed down, found a quiet street, and parked next to the curb. He flipped on the overhead dome light, needing to assess what kind of damage had been done. The side and back windows had been blown out and the car had taken at least one other hit.
Caitlyn sat still beside him, staring straight ahead into the darkness. Her chest heaved with each breath, her lips pressed together, and her face had paled. He couldn’t blame her. The rush of adrenaline had yet to settle down in his own chest. They’d both come very close to losing this time around.
“Don’t move.” He pulled a shard of glass out of her hair and then checked her over, needing to make sure she wasn’t hurt worse than just a few scrapes where the glass had shattered.
“What are we supposed to do?” she asked. “They have to know what I did. And they’re not going to stop until they find me.”
“Let’s worry about that in a few minutes.” His frown deepened as he ran his hand down her left arm, looking for more glass. “You’re bleeding.”
She winced and pulled away. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. You need to take off your jacket. I need to see how serious this is.”
“Josh . . .”
He helped her pull off her jacket. He wasn’t sure what had happened, but they were looking at more than just a cut.
“Ouch.”
“Just a minute . . .”
“What is it?”
Realization shook him. “Caitlyn . . . you’ve been shot.”
“What?” She twisted her head so she could see the injury.
“It looks like the bullet grazed the soft tissue of your upper arm before embedding into the dashboard.”
She stared at the wound in disbelief. “If it had struck another few inches to the right . . .”
“Don’t even go there. I don’t believe in luck, but I do believe in miracles, and this was a miracle, Caitlyn.”
She winced again as he wiped blood from her arm, still trying to assess the damage the bullet had done. He grabbed a first-aid kit from the back seat. He needed to get her to a doctor, but first he needed to clean the wound, then get the bleeding stopped. He carefully used an alcohol pad from the kit, making sure there wasn’t any glass in the wound, then covered it with a piece of gauze.
“Ouch!” She pulled away from him again.
“I know it hurts, but I need you to be still. I’m going to try and get the bleeding to stop, then we’ll get you to a hospital. You’re going to need antibiotics and probably stitches.”
“How deep is it?”
“Not very.”
She caught his gaze. “Do you think it’s safe? The hospital will have to report what happened.”
“It’s going to have to be.”
“So does this mean when people ask for an interesting fact about me, I can tell them I’ve been shot?”
He grinned at her. “You’ll be the life of the party.”
A big tear slid down her cheek and he reached out and wiped it away. “Hey . . . do you trust me?”
She nodded. “I’m just so scared. Of what could have happened. Of what is going to happen . . .”
“We got out of there. We’re both alive and okay. And we’re going to put an end to this. I promise.”
“I don’t think you can promise that. They shot at us. Someone wants us dead . . . I’ve never been so scared in my life. They found us once. They’ll find us again.”
“I won’t let that happen.” He leaned into her as he held the gauze against her arm. Close enough for him to realize that his heart rate wasn’t accelerated just because of what they’d been through. He pulled her against him and let her lay her head on his chest. “I’m sorry. So sorry about all of this.”
“It’s not your fault. None of this is your fault. If anything, it’s my fault. I’m the one who convinced you to get involved. I just don’t know how to make this stop. When is it going to end?”
Her hair brushed against his face. He could feel her heart pounding next to his. He didn’t want to get anyone else involved, but without help he wasn’t sure they were going to be able to get out of this alive. He didn’t have any answers. Which scared him. Finding the truth was what he was good at. Evaluating a situation, then making a plan that went along with it. It wasn’t personal, it was his job. Why, then, did his heart feel so drawn to her?
He pulled back, then replaced the soaked gauze with a new one. “Can you hold this for a sec while I secure it?”
She nodded.
He grabbed the tape from the first-aid kit, then worked to secure the gauze. “Try to keep pressure on it. I know where a hospital is not too far from here. We’ll get you treated, then see what we can find on that drive.”
He put the supplies away, then started the engine. As much as he would prefer to simply disappear, she needed to see a doctor. “Things are going to look better in the morning,” he said as he pulled away from the curb.
“Is that your way of cheering me up? I’ve just been shot, which means I’m not really seeing the silver lining in all of this.”
“I know you’re scared. To be honest, I am too.”
“If we go to the hospital, the cops will get involved,” she said.
“Better the cops than the men who just tried to shoot you.”
Josh’s phone rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket. It was the burn phone Eddie had given him, which meant it was either him or Quinton.
He answered the call and put it on speaker. It was Quinton. “What have you got?”
“Sorry I took so long to get back to you. Where are you?”
Josh caught the concern in his partner’s voice. “Headed to the hospital. We were just ambushed outside the lab. Caitlyn was shot. The bullet just grazed her arm, but I’m taking her to the hospital to get cleaned up.”
“Wait a minute . . . she was shot? Is she okay?”
“I’ll be fine.” Caitlyn said. “It hurts, but Josh cleaned me up.”
“Do you need stitches?”
Caitlyn looked at Josh.
“I’m not sure, which is why we’re heading to the hospital.”
“That’s not your best move right now.”
Josh switched lanes. “What do you mean?”
“Unfortunately, we’ve got another problem.” There was a long pause on the line. “New evidence just came through the precinct. Evidence that would exonerate Rudolph Beckmann and Larry Nixon of your wife’s murder . . . and implicate you.”
Josh’s head felt as if it were about to burst. “What are you telling me, Quinton?”
There was another long pause on the line. “The DA has just requested a warrant for your arrest.”