Escape (Chronicles of Hart) (21 page)

Ahead, the car with the GPS tag was honking its horn trying to get ahead in traffic. Jay had to catch up before the lanes split into two, it would be more difficult to block two lanes and force them into a standoff. He revved up scraping the side of the van as he passed it by. It toppled in a spiral downwards into the trees, the breaking glass barely registered above the honking and revving of engines. Oncoming cars swerved outwards as they passed, giving him room. He grinned manically gritting his teeth as he locked in on his target. He saw movement in the back of the GPS tagged car. She was in there for sure; this would be easier than he had hoped.

***

“Watch out,” Grace screamed as a transport entered the highways on-ramp, oblivious to the traffic confusion beside it. The truck slowly merged over as King swerved. The lanes split to two just in time. He could see the transport brush by, barely missing his mirror by an inch. Cars behind them were swerving to hit the next exit ramp, not willing to be involved in the car chase building up on the road. It left the highway nearly clear for their pursuer to catch up. King looked nervous as his buffer of cars slowly vanished, barely being replaced by one or two coming onto the on-ramp still between them. Tossing a phone over his shoulder he yelled back to Ethan urgently,

“Press three and hold it, ask for Platt. They will patch you through
.” Ethan picked up the phone and frantically pressed at the screen trying to get the button to work. Finally it clicked and began to ring. He covered one ear and pressed the phone up to the other.

Cars ahead were separating into the two lanes, disregarding the chaos behind them. King swerved again, propelling them a few more car lengths away from the pursuer behind them. He was glad for the unaware cars that had entered after the piles of cars had been tossed into the ditch. They still drove on oblivious to the psycho coming up behind them, and even gave King a hard time trying to pass them putting more space between his car and the crazed car torpedoing towards them.

“What’s the cars tag number?” Ethan asked loudly, phone pressed to his ear. King furrowed his brow as he searched frantically across the dash board while checking his mirrors for openings to plow into. The car swerved back to the second lane. “There isn’t one,” his voice was verging on hysterical. He looked back, catching his cool before Grace or Ethan could see him “There isn’t one,” he repeated with more patience, firmly gritting his teeth. It was then that King realized this was not one of their cars. The man in pursuit of them probably had the car tagged and if they were really lucky he
didn’t
have it rigged with explosives as well. King searched with one hand for anything under the seat as he continued to swerve thorough traffic. Peters would be proud of him for some of the manoeuvres he had pulled; when this was over he was challenging him to a race. King sat back up straight as he gave up on trying to find a bomb under his seat, either way he was dead if he didn’t get away from that car. He looked in the mirrors to see where it was. It was getting closer and ahead cars obstructed his way.

***

Peters was in a rage, sticking close behind King he radioed the other agents to hold up a blockade with him as the highway split to two lanes. Preventing the crazed car from catching up to King as he wove on ahead of them was essential. Platt was on the phone with Ethan, “That’s not a federal car.” he turned to Peters,

“Tell them to check for a tracker,” Peters answered as they were rear ended jolting them forward. He gritted his teeth and flashed a finger towards the back of the car. Not that it mattered, he knew they wouldn’t see it in the dark, but it made him feel slightly better and vented some of his rage.

“We’re going to have to switch them out of that car,” Platt answered after a muffled chat with Ethan on the other end,

“Gotta lose this guy first
,” Peters answered. Braking and pulling back, he looped around their target catching him on the line divider between himself and the other ford SUV. Together they closed in, metal scraped, sparks flew. The deep red Camero tried to shoot forward and was caught by the SUVs cramming in closer. Brake lights glowed from the back, as it slipped out from between them. Taking a page out of Peters’ book it whipped back, sending the two SUVs sailing towards one another.  They quickly pulled back into position. This guy was good.

Platt stayed on the phone while Peters searched his mirrors for the Camero. The night was dark and starting to cloud over, only the lights of the other cars lit up the road. Most of the cars were slowing down to pull over, smart enough to see the chase running up behind them. Peters frowned as less traffic left him less opportunity to block King from being caught and rammed off the road into a tree.

***

Jay fell back, pulling in behind a transport. He judged the far shoulder to be wide enough for the pass. Slipping up the far side of the transport, he whipped back in unannounced colliding with the two SUVs, pushing them into the oncoming lane of traffic over the median. Sparks flew up as they pushed back nearly sending Jay tumbling down the hill beside the soft shoulder. He pushed the car into a higher gear and shot forward ahead of them.

Finally gaining ground on his intended target he looked over to the closer SUV as he passed. He didn’t recognize the two suited agents in the front. That meant she was defiantly up front in his other car. He locked sight with the black Charger ahead, still weaving through the thinning traffic. Jay knew the car didn’t have as much power as his and as soon as the traffic cleared he could take them out easily. Getting rid of the two goons on his tail was another matter entirely. The SUVs were revving up behind him. The one in the left lane had pulled a gun out the passenger window. Jay alternated accelerating and coasting to disrupt their aim as gunfire pelted at the pavement, aimed for his tires. Jay twisted the wheel plowing into the front of the firing SUV. Its companion surprisingly shot up beside him, keeping him close to the guardrail. He was wedged in with nowhere to fallback. Jay smiled evilly.

DANGEROUS

King could see out the rear view that traffic was thinning out. Hitting the gas even harder, he barely noticed a difference in speed. They had reached maximum velocity. The dashboard lit red and was flashing to him, willing him to slow before the engine blew out. He pressed on, whipping around a startled truck. The swerving caused a small three wheeler it had stowed on the flatbed to roll onto the highway, crashing into a million pieces as it impacted with the asphalt. The commotion sent cars veering for the side of the road in a more panicked frenzy than before.

Grace was clutching the headrest with white knuckles staring out the back window, reiterating the movement of the cars behind her to alleviate some of the stress behind King’s racing eyes. Her face was pale and panicked. She still wore the filthy coat Chung had given to her it hung wet and large on her small frame. To a passing car she might look like an excited kid staring out the back window of her parent’s car on a family trip.

Ethan clutched the phone close to his ear.  Although still on the line with Platt, neither had spoken a word in minutes. Heavy breathing and gasps as the cars shook were the only transmissions passing through the receivers. Sweat clung to Ethan’s shallow face; giving him the look of a fevered addict, shaking in the seat staring into nothingness. He was lost in the panic and unable to function with any efficiency.

***

Platt sprung back to life as Peters announced: “Cut off ahead. Tell King to go right
.”

Putting the phone harder to his ear he yelled at the receiver, “Ethan, Ethan...” after waiting a moment for a response he continued on, “Tell King s
tay right, tell King stay right.’ Ahead he could see King switching lanes for the cut off.  They would be safe for a while, at least long enough to ditch the tracked car, if Peters and his backup man could keep the Camero veering into the left that is.

Peters held the wheel firm, matching the pattern of acceleration and coasting. The car appeared like a bucking bronco trailing down the highway within a cage of SUVs trying to maneuver its way out and off to snatch its prey.

The cut off was fast approaching and the Camero was veering towards Peters, trying to cut across into the right lane. It sped forward shooting out of the SUV’s primitive cage like a horse starting a race. Peters stepped on the gas cutting him off. He clipped the side of the car, sending it on an awkward turn as it pulled back into position between him and the guardrail. Pieces of his mirror rained backwards across his windshield, twinkling like rubies in the red lights of the bumper ahead of them. Peters squinted through the glittering shower turning his head to catch sight of the car that was now lingering in his gaping blind spot.

The car swerved again, trying to catch peters off guard. He held fast sending a swirl of sparks into the night air. The side mirror shattered sending a crack right across the front windshield of the fancy car as it went flying back onto the rear SUV. The road was splitting and with one last veer, the Camero shot forward making a break for the separating lane. Peters didn’t miss a beat, punching forward and slamming it in the back right of the bumper he sent it spinning backwards until it was facing him dead on. Peters looked into the driver’s eyes for a split second before the impact sent him back over the median and rolling into oncoming traffic. Shattered glass and debris rained down behind them as they slowed to the side of the road. Flipping on a set of integrated red and blues they backed up along the shoulder until they made it to the cut off they had passed. Peters and Platt remained still for an extra moment, making sure the car was done rolling on the other side of the guardrail. Smoke wafted in a snakelike trail from the engine of the crumpled car, a tire rolled lazily down the shoulder. Traffic continued to move slowly past the scene. With everyone wanting a look at the wreckage, but no one was willing to stop and help the stranger in the dark of night. The two vehicles switched over to the right exit that King had taken and drove on to meet him.

***

King had pulled to the side of the road a few miles into the cut off. Cars were starting to resume their pace now that the swerving cars had disappeared taking the chase with them onto the other ramp. The late night air was cool and the clouds had cleared leaving the heavens visible above. King stood at the trunk of the car, letting Ethan and Grace stand further onto the shoulder sheltered from oncoming cars by the burnt out Charger. They watched with anticipation and looked ready to pounce at a moment’s notice. Grace’s eyes darted between the line of trees and the road. She looked ready to take off into the trees again if things went south. Welts lined the doors of the car where they had scraped against passing vehicles. King stretched out, cautious with his neck as he reached a hand up to massage his shoulders while he waited, curious of how he was going to feel in the morning when all of his muscles finally tensed back up. The night was still asides from the zoom of the passing cars.

King could hear the impact of the cars hitting across the highway beyond the thin tree filled median that separated them from the other roadway where they had split. Scraping metal and splashing debris hitting the pavement made more loud noises. With a final loud crunch, the road returned to a normal highway filled with the sounds of speeding cars. A transport passed whipping wind into his face. It sounded like the chase was finally over. He watched in the distance as the flashing blue and red of the mangled SUVs reached them from around a bend. Pulling to the side, Platt called from a broken window. “Hop in.”

King chuckled, unable to wrench the back door open he lifted Grace up into the backseat through the broken window allowing Ethan to follow before climbing in himself. They sped off into the night, feeling like action heroes.

***

Hart watched his phone curiously as the first blip disappeared and the second pulled to the side of the road five miles from the old Evans estate and stopped. Why on Earth would they be taking Grace that direction unless they were chasing another car with her in it? That pile of rot wasn’t even on his manifesto. None of his men knew where the Evans’s’ lived anymore. Hart thought for a moment; unless it wasn’t his men driving. Grace was retrieving the files. He knew that house should have burned to the ground years ago. He turned to the closest security guard. “Pull your car around front
,” he ordered stiffly, “we’re going for a drive.” the guard nodded and took off for the parking lot at a jog.

Hart sneered, these thugs were so dependable and at the same time so disposable and useless. Back in the day he only needed one go to man, one man who would get the job done or die trying. Now everyone was so familiar with outsourcing it was hard to find good help. Hart pondered for a moment while he waited. Grace was beyond hope at this point. The FBI had had their hooks in her for too long. She had become disposable and he was keenly aware that this was going to be his responsibility. After years of keeping her safe and locked away he was finally going to have to kill his daughter to keep his secrets safe. If his business partners found her first they would surely have less mercy than he. They had just as much hanging in the balance and even if she were to perish now, it had to be with the files readily taken back. Before agents had an opportunity to get their grimy little hands on all of his contacts. Hart scowled even more wrinkling his aging face in a contorted manner. He was verging on fury and just as he was about to snap the neck of the technician beside him, the car pulled around the bend into sight.