Slipping the Past (8 page)

“Stop, Nate. I’m trying to figure it out.”

“You’re not ditching me.”

Jocelyn groaned and rolled to a stop in front of the house. Nate turned away from it, intentionally keeping her from seeing what she needed to. “Nate, look at the house. I can’t see it.”

“No. We need to get out of here.”

“Nate.”

“No.”

“Damn it, Nate. Would you look at the house? I need to see.”

Nate snorted and stared at the pavement, refusing to give her what she wanted. She watched through his eyes as the wind caught the leaves and sent them whirling across the road’s surface in a spiral dance. She growled under her breath, but he continued to stare at the debris, not caring.

“Please.”

“If we keep doing this, he’s going to come out of our house and see us. Then we’re done.”

“I’m done. You’re not involved.”

“Says the woman who’s borrowing my eyes to sort-of make her escape—if she’d actually leave the neighborhood.” Nate huffed and glanced at the front door. “Happy?”

Jocelyn put the vehicle in gear and began to drive again.

The door opened and a tall reaper ducked from the entrance and onto the porch. The streetlights flickered and popped off, leaving only a set of red glowing eyes fixed on them like a laser sight.

“Oh, shit. You better get this thing going. If it’s not moving, he’ll suck the charge out of our ride—or hop in.”

“Eyes front, Nate!” Jocelyn slammed her foot to the floor. Her heart began to pound so hard it hurt.

He snapped his head around and stared at the street. “Get us the fuck out of here, Jocelyn. You stand still and he’ll have us.”

The reapers weren’t without weaknesses. They needed to be close to draw the energy, with the object sitting still. Their best chance for escape was to keep moving. The tires squealed and the aged transporter, an antique from 2015 and the best her mother could afford, shot forward.

“They can’t teleport inside a moving vehicle. Don’t stop.” Nate glanced in the rearview mirror to see the reaper standing in the street behind them. “Left. Go left.”

The tires screeched as they took a corner. Nate checked the mirror. The reaper teleported behind them and watched. She turned right, taking another side street. He teleported again, staying in the rearview mirror. He could follow them all night. Too bad they’d wasted most of the transporter’s charge circling the block.

“We have to get on the interstate. He can’t follow us that way,” Nate said.

“I don’t think that will stop him.” He’d never give up. Something about the reaper made the hair on her neck snap to attention. The Enforcer had come for her four hours early. He’d been anxious to get her soul and didn’t care if he broke the law to do it. Until midnight, she was still seventeen and untouchable, or she should have been. If he didn’t care about that, there was a good chance he wouldn’t care if she got hurt during the capture, or worse.

“We might be able to ditch him in traffic. Get to the interstate and we’ll take a side exit. There’s no way he can predict our next move. He can keep popping behind us on these side streets. The interstate won’t be as easy.”

“Fasten your safety harness and keep your eyes on the road.”

Nate complied and eyed the sign ahead. “Oh, shit. You can’t do that.”

“Just watch me.” Jocelyn shot down a one-way street the wrong way and onto an off-ramp.

Nate latched on to the arm rest, holding his breath as a transporter wailed at them and swerved. Only a crazy man would follow her wrong-way onto an interstate. Hell, she was crazy to do it. Bright lights beamed at them and another horn blasted. Jocelyn veered around the transporter and shifted into a higher gear. She moved to the shoulder and weaved around two more oncoming transporters.

“Hang on. I think I’ve lost him.”

Nate eyed the rearview mirror. Empty, except for taillights. Even though she couldn’t see him, it didn’t mean he wasn’t around. Jocelyn pushed the pedal to the floor and accelerated. There was nowhere to go but forward. With the concrete dividers between the two sections, she couldn’t get onto the correct side. They’d have to ride this out for a mile or two, until they hit the open road and she could get across the median.

“Eyes front.”

Nate pulled his attention from the mirror. She had seconds to register the reaper standing in front of them, backlit by the lights of a freighter truck.

“Jocelyn! Look out!”

“Oh, shit!” She downshifted and swerved, missing the reaper and truck. Instead, Jocelyn hit the divider doing at least eighty miles per hour according to the ancient gauge embedded in the dash. That was how fast, exactly? Her head smashed into the steering wheel before her restraints locked down and yanked her back.

Everything began to reel along in slow motion. Their transporter spun and flipped, spiraling through the air for several seconds before a hard impact and crunch. Metal screeched as the vehicle slid across the pavement on the driver’s side.

The smells of blood and smoke filled the wreck. “Nate?” She reached over and felt for him. Finding his shoulder, she gave it a gentle squeeze. He didn’t move. “Nate.” She had the vision of his final impact with the dash before things had gone dark. Was he dead?

Nate moaned. “Jocelyn?”

“Yeah.” Pain wrapped around her ribs where the harness had caught. She took a deep breath and coughed. They were both alive, but how badly hurt? Where was the reaper?

“Sis?” He opened his eyes, giving her a good look at the twisted metal surrounding them. They were lucky to be alive and as his gaze swept around the compartment, she had no doubt he was coming to the same conclusion.

“Thinking.”

“No time for that. We need to get out of here.” He reached for her restraint with an odd bend to his wrist. Most likely broken. “Come on.” He’d do whatever he had to, no matter how broken his body. She should have never involved him in her escape.

“You’re hurt.”

“I’ll live.” He looked away from his injury so she couldn’t examine it further.

Boots crunched on glass. Jocelyn’s stomach lurched. She twisted around and patted for anything she could use as a weapon. Pebble-sized pieces of shattered safety glass, an empty paper cup, and an old shirt that needed to be laundered. Not a weapon, unless body odor could be considered dangerous. Everywhere she searched there was nothing solid enough to put a dent in the head of the Enforcer.
Shit. Shit. Shit
.

“What have I here? A gift. You’ve gone and wrapped yourselves up so nice for me.”

“Stay the hell away from her,” Nate snapped back. “She’s got three more hours.” The Enforcer knew the law. They couldn’t touch her until she was eighteen, but this reaper wasn’t playing by the rules and Nate didn’t need to get between them.

“I have three hours left. You need a warrant,” she said.

The reaper laughed. “Nice. But it’s not you I’m interested in. Not right now.” The metal door screeched as he pried it off its hinges. “And you’re wrong. I don’t need a warrant if I catch you breaking the law, doll.”

“No,” Jocelyn groaned. “He’s done nothing.”

“Sorry, love. I can take one soul at a time. Yours can wait.” She watched from her brother’s wobbly vision as the reaper reached inside and grabbed Nate’s arm. “His, I’m afraid I can’t pass. It’s personal. Isn’t it, Nathanial Miller?”

Nate screamed the second he yanked. Bone crunched and Jocelyn cringed. Broken, and the bastard didn’t seem to care if he ripped it off when he pulled him from the wreck. “Stop. Stop. I’ll get out,” Nate begged.

“Stop hurting him, you bastard!”

“I like it better this way. Does it hurt?” The reaper pulled again, clearly enjoying the torture. “Much?”

“Fuck you,” Nate spat, antagonizing him further. “Don’t feel a thing now that my arm’s gone numb.”

“I’ll have to rectify that.” He twisted Nate’s arm and his bone cracked again. Screams echoed in the destroyed cabin.

“That’s right, take me, you sonofabitch.”

“Nate, don’t. He has no grounds.”

“Whatever I tell them will be grounds enough.”

The reaper released his arm and pressed his palm against Nate’s chest. “You have the right to remain silent.” Bright lights, a blaring horn, and the reaper’s head snapped up. “Fuck.” His eyes widened a second before the freighter clipped his shoulder and ripped him away. Jocelyn followed the taillights through her brother’s eyes. The truck dragged him over five hundred yards before he came free and rolled across the interstate into the concrete median. He didn’t move.

“Come on.” Jocelyn released her safety harness and wiggled through the smashed glass, to climb to her feet.

Nate worked at the buckle with his one good hand. It popped free and he dropped, hitting the glass and concrete on the driver’s side door. He crawled through the opening and staggered to stand.

“We need to get out of here,” Jocelyn said.

“Yes. Can you walk?”

“Can you?”

“I’ll manage.”

Her ribs throbbed and her back hurt. No telling the damage done. “Why do I hear hesitation in your voice?” She reached up and found his forehead. Her fingers came away sticky. “You’re bleeding.” There wasn’t much they could do about it now. They had to run. In the distance, sirens wailed. “You okay?”

“I told you, I’m fine.” Nate glanced down the road where the truck’s driver had climbed out and stood over the Enforcer.

“He’s crazy,” Jocelyn whispered and hugged her body. “Do you think he’s dead?”

“I hope so.” Nate snagged Jocelyn’s arm and pulled her down the embankment and toward freedom as emergency vehicles approached.

“Run.”

***

That high-speed chase was the reason he carried that scar, and obviously he’d not forgotten.

Jocelyn backed up, using the eyes of an elderly man in a wheelchair behind her. She had to keep bringing his eyes up to the reaper and off her naked ass. The old man clearly enjoyed the view. “Stop that.”

The reaper raised a brow and the corner of his mouth curled.

“Not you,” Jocelyn growled. “The old geezer.”

Ian tipped his head back and laughed. “It’s almost a shame to contain you. I can’t say that I blame him. You have a fine ass. I was looking, too. You know, lust is another energy I have a taste for. Care to go a round? There’s a bed in every room. I can send you off with a bang.”

“Glad someone finds this funny. Think I’ll take my chances with the pain.” Anyone else and she'd be tempted. If the Enforcers were one thing, they were hot. The fact that he also scared the shit out of her took away some of the effect, but not all. He could be charming, but it was deceptive. Playing with Ian was like engaging in a game of Twister with a cobra.

“Who said you wouldn’t feel pain if I fucked you?” His eyes darkened and he shoved the staff into the holster on his back. “On second thought, I’ll do this the old-fashioned way. Barehanded. We can go back to my place.”

“Lovely.”

The humor fled his face. “Jocelyn Miller. I have a warrant for your arrest.”

“Yup, a warrant. Okay, got that. Tell me something I don’t know.”

“You made the top of the list. The biggest head price. How’s it feel to be on top?”

“Do I get to make an acceptance speech?” Jocelyn took more steps back, passing the old man, switching her ride to a dumbstruck candy striper.

He grinned. “Okay, I’ll play. What would you say?”

“Duck.”

“Duck?” The reaper gave her a puzzled look and then his eyes widened a second too late.

Nate laid the Louisville Slugger against the back of Ian’s head, dropping him to a heap on the floor. “I knew this would come in useful. Glad I kept it.” Nate kicked Ian. “That’s payback, asshole.”

“It’s about time.”

“I know.” Nate grinned. “I’ve been wanting to serve him a healthy dose of what I just gave him since he twisted my arm in that wreck.”

“That’s not what I was talking about. We need to get out of here. Now.”

“Kind of figured that out. It’s why I’m here.” He glanced down at the unconscious reaper and gave him one more kick in the ribs for good measure. “You sure know how to pick them.”

Jocelyn grabbed Nate’s hand and tugged him toward the elevators. “Ian’s got a friend.” The elevator doors dinged and slid open.

“Shit,” Nate said.

“Yeah, I know. He’s a young one…can’t teleport, but he’s a strapping buck and a mean bastard. Plus, he’s a little pissed about his jacket.”

“No, I mean ‘shit there’s another on the elevator and he isn’t young.’” Nate swung her around, placing her behind him. “Do I even want to know what you did to the other guy’s jacket?”

“Probably not.”

“What is this, a reaper convention?” Nate stepped back, forcing her to retreat.

“Didn’t you hear the news? I made the top of the list,” Jocelyn said, borrowing Nate’s eyes. “Nope. Not the same one. That sucks.”

“Sucks. Uh, yeah. Looks like it’s open season.”

“Surrender the woman. You’re of no concern,” said a squat reaper built like a tree trunk. This one appeared to be all business.

Nate pushed her back. “I’ve got a problem with that.”

“You’ll have a bigger problem if you get between me and my capture.”

Nate swung the bat. The reaper jumped back.

“Get out of my way, boy.”

He swung again. “Boy? Get any closer and I’ll serve a homer down your throat.”

“You haven’t got the balls.”

Nate arced the bat, changing direction, and swung upward. The bat connected with a soft thud between the man’s thighs. “I call that my grand slam special.” The reaper squealed and dropped to his knees, followed by a face-plant into the floor.

Nate grabbed Jocelyn’s hand and they took off running. Away from the crying reaper, past the unconscious Ian, and back toward the first reaper. The day just kept getting better with each tick of the clock. God, could it get worse?

Then the power snapped off.

“There’s a big one at our twelve o’clock. I saw him before they cut the lights,” Nate whispered. “Stay here. I’ll draw him away.”

“I don’t like you using yourself as bait.”

“You’re my sister and it’s my job to protect you. Besides, it’s too late. I don’t think Ian will forget what I did.” Nate dropped her hand and pushed her into a room. “It’s only a small distraction. Use it to get your ass out of here. I’ll meet up with you at the hotel.” Nate slipped away.