Armed and Fabulous (Lexi Graves Mysteries) (45 page)

I broke.
"They probably are following us."

Lily spoke slowly, in the no
-
nonsense voice she usually reserved for people trying to creep past the bouncers to get into one of her clubs. "What really happened last night?"

"The dead guys are the men I saw getting rid of my boss'
body and now someone has offed them and Maddox
said
they might want to kill me." I sucked in a breath. Wow. Getting that off my chest felt so much better. "And I promised not to tell anyone!"

"Maddox wants to kill you? Cute Maddox who isn't your boyfriend?"

"No, he doesn't want to kill me, and yes, that Maddox.
Is there any other
?"

"Huh. What else haven't you told me?" To Lily's credit
,
she didn't say a word until I finished filling her in on the extra details from the ominous note to the creepy screensaver at work. "Holy crap," Lily said at last. "Someone is after you."

"So, you believe me?" Hell, I wouldn't have.

"And now you think this car is following us?"

I glanced in the mirror. Yep, the car was still behind us
,
and thanks to the traffic snarling up
again
, we were still far from home. "I'm sure," I replied. "It's been on our tail
for
a while."

"What are we going to do? What are they going to do?"

"It depends who they are."

"Maybe they're from Maddox. Maybe he's got someone watching over to make sure you're okay?"

"I guess."
But t
hey were
being kind of obvious about it
and I thought Maddox was more subtle than that.

"We need to call him." Lily reached round, careful not to look up and grabbed my jacket, pulling my cell from the pocket. She tapped in my pin number, ignoring me when I scowled, open
-
mouthed, at her. "You're not exactly discreet with the pin. It's also the same as both your credit cards."

"I'll change them on Monday."

"Do not change them to the same code as your laptop."

Drat. That
was
the first sequence I thought of.

"It's ringing." She listened, for a moment, then, "Hey, Adam Maddox? It's Lily, Lexi's friend. Yes, she's fine,
but we were just wondering...
A
rrrrgh!
" Lily didn't finish because right
t
hen
,
the
Mini
suddenly hurtled forward, the wheel sliding through my hands as the SUV rammed us from behind.
Instantly
,
we were both screaming and
Maddox was shouting, his voice
sounding
tinny through the phone's earpiece. My future flashed before my eyes: Serena screaming at me for ruining her baby's birth by dying; my parents' sad faces at my
imminent
funeral;
and
Lily in
the
hospital, injured
, because I couldn’t ever think of her as dead
.

Then the S
UV came at us again, ramming
for
a second time.

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 secure
ly
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 offen
s
e 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...
U
h..." Lily gestured frantically behin
d us as the SUV sped up, dodged
past a car that had slid in front of them
,
into the inside lane
,
and jump
ed
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.
I
nstead
,
sparks fl
ew
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 spli
t
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
inc
reasingl
y
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 motor
cycle
hurtling
forth from
nowhere
. It came
veering out from behind the SUV. The rider drew a gun, pointed, aimed and my heart st
o
pped.

Then the SUV slowed,
and
wobbl
ed
slightly as it sped onto the side, clipp
ed
the
guardrail
, bouncing
a bit
before entering into a spin
. We pulled away, the distance
finally
growing between us. The motorcycl
e, 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
, b
lood rush
ing
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
head
s
. 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 dash
board
.

"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 b
ack 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 gripp
ing
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, plac
ing
one hand on the roof a
s 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 slidi
ng 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.