Chapter Fourteen
"Breathe," screamed Lily. "In! One, two, three. Out! One, two, three. Are you with me? Breathe, Lexi. Breathe!"
"I'm breathing," I screamed back, the wheel securely under my hands. I gripped it so hard, my knuckles went white. Slapping my foot down and pressing the pedal to the metal, we shot forward as fast as Lily's little Mini could manage. Unfortunately, that was no match for the SUV bearing down on us. Somehow, I became vaguely aware of Maddox still shouting my name, his voice sounding from somewhere near our feet.
"Maddox!" I yelled, then to Lily, "Ask Maddox what to do!"
Lily grappled for the phone, pressing it against her ear then turning it the right way up. "We're okay," she screeched, "But the car rammed us. Uh, a big, black one. No, I can't see, it's got tinted windows. It's not yours? No shit! Yes, we're going faster!” In a calmer voice, she said, “Lex, he wants to speak to you."
My first thought was, "I'm driving," but considering we were now fifteen miles over the speed limit, and I'd just pulled through lanes without signaling, speaking on a phone while driving probably didn't even count as an offense anymore. I inclined my head and Lily pressed the phone against my ear.
Maddox's worried voice exclaimed, "Lexi? Thank God you're okay."
"For now! Adam, are they trying to kill us?"
"Ohmygodthey'retryingtokilluuuuus!" Lily screamed.
"Breathe!" I snapped, then concentrated on Maddox. "What do I do? There isn't a turnoff for miles and we're in a Mini being rammed by the equivalent of a tank."
"Keep going forward."
"Good thinking, Adam! Keep 'em coming." I could barely avoid the sarcasm in of my voice.
"You're going to have to anticipate their every move and outsmart them until I can get someone out to you."
"How am I supposed to do that?"
"You've got to put as much distance between you and them as possible. As soon as you see them start to turn, you've got to use that to your advantage..."
"Lexi... Lex... Uh..." Lily gestured frantically behind us as the SUV sped up, dodged past a car that had slid in front of them, into the inside lane, and jumped in right behind us. I swerved into the right lane, causing the car behind to honk at us, and put my foot down, jetting us forward as the SUV got stuck behind a slow moving truck. Lily put the phone back to my ear.
"What happened?"
"I lost them behind a truck. What now?" I asked Maddox.
"Put your foot down, Lexi. I'll have someone meet you at the next junction."
"Who..." Then Lily and I were both screaming again as something blasted through the rear window and lodged into the dashboard. The phone tumbled to the floor. We looked at each other in horror as it registered that whoever was following us wasn't content just to take us off the road. They were now shooting at us. Simultaneously, we both slunk lower in our seats until I could barely see over the steering wheel.
"A few minutes, Lily. That's how long we've got to the junction. Just a few minutes." I could only hope we would last that long.
"Lexi, I just want you to know that you're the best friend I ever had and I'm really sorry for ruining your purple dress."
"You're my best friend too. And I'm sorry for taking your yellow bag and never giving it back."
"It suits you better anyway." Lily sounded so horribly resigned that I risked taking my hand off the wheel to reach over and give her a little squeeze. "Get us out of here and you can keep it," she said.
"You got it." I would have sounded so much more confident if my words hadn't turned into a scream as I slammed on the brake with scant seconds to spare before the SUV tried to sideswipe us into the guardrail. Instead, sparks flew off their side. I pulled hard on the steering wheel, taking us into the next lane and sped past while Lily flipped them the finger.
"The turn's coming up." Lily pointed to the sign indicating how far before the road would split away.
I crossed my fingers on the wheel, hoping with every last bit of my body that Maddox had come through for us as we sailed past, the SUV increasingly gaining on us. My mirror glances were every ten seconds now as I tried to anticipate what they would do next. That was how I spied the motorcycle hurtling forth from nowhere. It came veering out from behind the SUV. The rider drew a gun, pointed, aimed and my heart stopped.
Then the SUV slowed, and wobbled slightly as it sped onto the side, clipped the guardrail, bouncing a bit before entering into a spin. We pulled away, the distance finally growing between us. The motorcycle, however, was gaining, but I saw the rider putting the gun away into some kind of sling over his shoulder and he... he signaled to us. Lily leaned forward, frowning.
"Hello, Nighthawk," she said; then to me, "I think we're supposed to follow."
"You sure?" I asked, blood rushing in my ears.
She shrugged. "He didn't shoot us. He shot them."
Good enough for me. The rider waved again before pulling in front of us, slowing down to the speed limit and forcing us to as well. We followed him as he pulled off into a gas station and drew to a stop in the parking bays off to one side. I pointed the Mini at the furthest bay, leaving the engine running, just in case we were duped and about to get an unwanted hole in our heads. We watched silently as the rider swung one leather-clad leg over the bike and strode purposefully towards us, sliding the zipper of his jacket down. By gosh, that was sexy. He reached for his helmet, pulled it off, and I realized I hadn't even taken a breath.
Solomon stopped, bent down and smiled, making a little winding motion with his hand. I hit the button and waited while the electric window unwound the full length. I returned my hand to the wheel, gripping it hard.
"Thank you so much," gushed Lily, leaning across me while Solomon’s eyes ran over me, assessing me for damage and finding none. "They tried to kill us!" She jabbed a finger at the hole, still smoking in the dashboard.
"Open the hood," he said and Lily leaned down a bit further, giving Solomon a marvelous view of her cleavage while she found the lever. I switched the engine off and leaned back against the seat, closing my eyes and taking a few deep breaths. We were safe. After rooting around under the hood for a moment, he slammed it shut, moving back to crouch next to my door. "You're in luck. The bullet didn't hit anything crucial so you're good to drive home. You okay to drive?" he asked me.
"I... I think so." My hands were still gripping the wheel so tightly that I had no idea if they were shaking or not. I wiggled my toes. My legs felt okay. I could probably hit the gas and brakes. “Yes.”
"I'll follow you back." He stood up and turned to move away.
"Solomon?" He turned, placing one hand on the roof as he stooped to look right at me, with darkened eyes. "Thanks," I said feebly, "for helping us."
He just nodded and strode off, the helmet sliding over his closely cropped hair as he swung astride the bike.
"Yummy yum yum," Lily breathed.
"Solomon is not yummy," I said. "Solomon transcends yum."
“He’s eye candy-on-a-stick.”
Privately, I agreed. Everything tasted better on a stick.
"I'm glad you told me,” Lily continued. “I had no idea your life had turned into Scary Shitsville. Plus, that would have been scary even without all the other facts."
"I'm glad I told you everything too. Shitsville was getting lonely."
"If you disappear, or turn up dead, I promise I won't rest until your murderer is caught and convicted."
"Um, thanks."
"No problem."
Maddox was waiting for us on the doorstep by the time I drove the beat-up Mini into Lily's parking space. Solomon pulled his motorcycle in behind us, kicking out the stand as he dismounted.
Lily paused with her hand on the door handle. "I gotta say, Lexi, this was not my favorite way to end the day."
"Sorry," I muttered, getting out. I slammed the door and the bumper fell off. “We still have Chinese though.”
“Is it possible to panic eat egg rolls?” Lily asked, opening th
e bag.
"Glad you're okay," said Adam, his face filled with concern as he approached us, ushering us inside. Lily dropped her bag inside the door of her apartment and followed us upstairs with the sack of food.
"Did you get the guys? The people who rammed us, shot at us and tried to bump us off the road?" Well, I tried not to let my slightly resentful tone make its way through, but failed miserably. It was there, loaded and angry. Four murders were bad enough, but I didn't want someone to find Lily's and my bodies, boosting the corpse count to six. I imagined my parents' heartbroken faces again, my coffin covered in white lilies—my vision becoming more solid the longer I thought about it—and the anger mounting a bit more. I breathed in and out through my nose, trying to calm down.
"No. They were gone by the time our team got to them," Maddox told us.
"Were they really going to kill us?" I asked.
"Yes, I think so." His spoke gently, despite the harsh reality of his words.
"You warned me."
"I did."
"They're going to keep trying, aren't they?" I huffed an annoyed sound.
"Probably."
"We'd better find out what the connection is between the fraud, Tanya Henderson and the Finklesteins then," I said.
Lily added, "She's your best hope of cracking this case."
"Dear Lord," said Solomon, behind her. I hadn't realized he followed us in, but Maddox just smiled in his gentle way and escorted all of us into my apartment.
Lily, who seemed to have recovered from our ordeal remarkably fast—though it could have had something to do with two handsome men in close proximity—fussed around us. She made drinks and raided my cookie jar while I sat down. Then I keeled forwards, my head in my hands, until I stopped feeling sick. My only other option was to curl up in fetal position and start bawling. Knowing how unproductive that would be, and the likelihood of Maddox drugging me again, I decided I might as well get to know my potential enemies better. I would freak out, privately, later.
Then I'd get a gun.
Armed and Fabulous (Lexi Graves Mysteries, 1) Page 20
