12. Odell
TWELVE
ODELL
“Are we supposed to be sneaking out?” My panicked voice was louder than I’d intended. But I was panting, having a heavy shopping bag over each shoulder, though Hunter carried three times as many as I did.
The old depilated fire escape squeaked with every step. The city council were failing in their duty allowing this decrepit piece of metal be the escape route in the event of a fire.
“We were,” Hunter whisper-hissed, “but if any of Draven’s guys are nearby, we will have alerted them.”
He said we, so he was including himself, but he might have been being polite and used we instead of me . It was probably me.
Hunter scanned the alley where the older model sedan was parked, missing one hubcap and with a dent in the driver’s door I hadn’t noticed earlier.
“I forgot it was such a damned antique,” Hunter’s exasperated voice bounced off the abandoned buildings on either side of the alley.
“Now who’s talking at the top of their voice?” What a pair!
Hunter gave me a shame-faced look and mouthed, “Sorry.” He retrieved the keys from his pocket and opened the trunk. I made a face at the dirt and oil-stained rags, and we shoved the bags in the back seat which was a smidgen cleaner and also contained two bags of clothes.
“From my brother.”
Piling into the car, Hunter yanked the old seat belt across his chest and put the key in the ignition.
“What the fuck?”
I stifled a laugh, or tried to, but it escaped as a choking sound. “What are you doing? It was only a couple of hours ago he’d done bunny hops down the road. “How could you forget it’s a stick shift.”
“I can do this.”
Gods, not again. Fuck, this was a farce more than an intrepid escape. The car jerked forward and stalled.
“How hard can it be? I did it earlier.” Hunter jiggled the stick but froze and glanced over his shoulder. Goosebumps crawled over my skin, though I couldn’t see or hear anything.
Until I did. Footsteps.
It might’ve been someone going to work and taking a shortcut through the alley. On either side there were old factories, long since silent, but there was a busy thoroughfare at the other end.
The footfalls were followed by growls. Maybe a wild animal had escaped from the zoo. What was the protocol when faced with a bear or a tiger? Did we run or stand our ground and out-stare them?
“Fuck!” That one word coming from Hunter suggested we were in deep trouble.
He was the kidnapper, the guy who’d saved me and steered me through life since this morning. And there’d been so much life. But Hunter wasn’t qualified to do one job and that was drive this old car. And I could.
How had my life come down to me driving a getaway car? Adrenaline surged through my veins as I screamed at him to get in the passenger seat. My one thought was getting us out of the damned alley in one piece.
“I don’t know how to do this.” Shoving the car in reverse, I pressed my foot on the accelerator, the first time I’d experienced any real power in almost twenty-four hours. Something thunked behind me, and a quick glance in the rearview mirror revealed shadowy shapes.
“There were four of them. Now only three! Shit, maybe you can do this! Go!” He said something under his breath that sounded like, “Their reflexes were slower than I’d expect. Odd!”
Odd? What was downright fucking weird was that I was driving away from bad guys, hoping to escape with my life.
Putting the car in first gear, we lurched forward. In my haste I’d taken my foot off the clutch too soon. Fuck, I was almost as bad at driving this as Hunter. But we didn’t stall, and with my hands gripping the wheel and foot pressed to the floor, I maneuvered along the alley.
There was a sharp crack, and my gaze leaped to the mirror. Guns! Those people wanted us dead, or just me. Or Hunter.
“Duck!” Hunter put a hand behind my head and bent it forward as something zinged past my ear.
We were going to die in this grim, stinky alley and no one would be able to identify me because my body was unrecognizable.
“I can’t see. I’m driving blind.” I shrugged off his hand and pushed myself into a position so I was just peering over the steering wheel. We’d probably crash anyway, but I had to give us a chance of staying alive. I gauged that at about one percent.
Maybe this was a dream and if I pinched myself hard, I‘d wake up. Or I could crash into the wall and when I opened my eyes, I’d be in my bed in the tiny room at home. Better not try just in case this was real.
Hunter glanced over his shoulder. “We haven’t lost them.”
“You were supposed to keep me safe!” My screeching voice filled the old car as it groaned. I was lashing out at Hunter because I was terrified, my life streaming in front of me, similar to an old-style film reel. “Putting the mark on my hand was a safety measure, you said.”
“How was I to know Draven was a psychopath?”
We shared a glance. “Of course he is,” we yelled in unison.
A glimpse in the mirror told me those men, clad head to toe in black, were running after us. How did they hope to catch us on foot? But they were speedy, faster than any world-record-holding sprinter.
But I had other problems. We were close to the end of the alley and traffic was backed up on the road ahead.
“Turn right.” Hunter was leaning around in his seat, staring behind us.
“I can’t. I’m not a damned stunt driver, and this isn’t a gods-damn movie set.”
“Just do it. I can’t protect you and take on three guys.” He fumbled at his side and pulled out a weapon from the holster. A gun. He had that freaking gun. Next he leaned over the back seat into a bag of clothes and rummaged around before pulling out another one.
“I can drive a stick shift, but I’ve never fired one of those in my life.” My throat hurt from all the screaming as I concentrated on getting us away from those men and wondering who they were.
My ears hurt as Hunter leaned out the window and fired. “One down. Maybe two.”
The universe was looking out for us as the cars moved forward, and perhaps seeing me careening along the alley had the driver of the car at the end of the T junction hesitate and pause, staying where they were.
I swung around the corner, scraping the curb, and the ear-splitting screech grated up my spine and goosebumps paraded over my skin. Weaving into small spaces between lanes, I left our pursuers in my dust.
“How was that!” I did it. “I got us away from the bad guys.” Shit! I could be a stunt driver. When this was over I’d consider a career change.
After removing one hand from the wheel, I held it up for a high five. Hunter’s palm on mine had my body tingling. But it was the adrenaline. Nothing more. I’d been in flight-or-flight mode .
“They’re in two black SUVs behind us.”
How was that possible? But luck was finally with us as we sailed past a green light, though the poor car complained with each yard. But as I squinted into the darkness, Hunter shouted, “I’m sorry.”
He owed me a thousand apologies, but now wasn’t the time. But he gripped the wheel and swung it hard to the right in front of traffic and toward yet another narrow side street. If they were smart, the bad guys would separate and block us in both directions and we’d have run through our nine lives.
My poor heart couldn’t take much more stress and neither could the car, but we both held it together as I plowed ahead. We were still alive as we met another busy road. I burned rubber across two lanes of traffic, causing a multi-car pile-up as I turned left.
“Dear gods, what if those people are hurt?”
“Maybe, but if so, their injuries are minor. They were barely crawling along before you skidded in front of them.”
I hoped he was right because that was pretty cool what I did. My mind couldn’t cope with guilt piled on top of everything else.
“Where are they?” I wiped sweat from my brow and was suddenly conscious of how my knuckles hurt as if I had arthritis. But it was likely from holding the wheel so tightly.
“Can’t see them, but don’t get too excited. They won’t give up easily.”
Hunter knew the city better than I did, and he directed me off the main thoroughfares, down small streets, into residential neighborhoods, and we circled around more than once before taking a road out of town.
As we zoomed along, one mile after another, the headlights swallowing up the darkness, I tried to hope that those remaining guys were far behind, telling Draven they’d lost us.
“How did they know where we were?” The tension in the back of my neck sent shooting pains down my spine and in the opposite direction into my head.
“There are eyes and ears everywhere. Draven and his cronies could pay off someone who works near the club.”
“That’s what I’d do if I was him.”
Hunter shot me a glance. “Odell, listen to you.”
“Huh?” I twisted my head toward him as we sped down the road. “What did I say?”
“You must have gotten inside Draven’s head because that’s exactly what I’d do if I were him.” Of course, Hunter was mafia and understood how people like Draven thought.
But was it Draven’s thoughts I’d interpreted or Hunter’s? My breathing sped up, and there was a familiar squeezing in my chest. The car and the world outside were closing in on me.
Shit! Not now!