Chapter 25 Tuesdays #2
I grumbled under my breath and pressed the button to close the windows.
“Got eyes?” Darren asked into the phone. I couldn’t hear a thing the other person on the line was saying, but I imagined it was probably Scott.
My gaze couldn’t stop flying back to the rearview mirror to see if the car was still behind us. My hands gripped the steering wheel harder than they should, worried I might have to make some precise evasive maneuvers very soon.
Once Darren hung up the phone, he sighed heavily as he removed his seat belt and turned his body to reach behind our seats.
“What are you doing?” I asked as my eyes jumped back and forth between him, the road, and our tail. From what I could tell, he pushed a switch somewhere that opened up some kind of hidden compartment, revealing a shit ton of guns, knives, and explosives.
I rolled my eyes. Of course Darren would have an entire arsenal in his own car.
“Princess,” he called gently as he pulled out a very large Desert Eagle from the hidden compartment. “You have my permission to very carefully go nuts.”
With my heart now pulsing with adrenaline, I pressed the paddles to shift the car into sixth gear and surged forward like a damn rocket.
“Holy fuck,” I whispered to myself, glancing at Darren to make sure he didn’t hear that. This car was stupid fast.
Switching lanes, I zipped by several cars to get ahead, the SUV behind us getting smaller by the second. I swore the faster I drove the faster my heart beat, the adrenaline in my veins making it difficult to keep my breathing even.
“When they start shooting at us,” Darren began, his voice way too casual as he pulled the slide back to ensure a bullet slid into the chamber, “it will be very loud, so try not to panic and stay focused on the road. Remember that the car is bulletproof. Among other things.”
Wait, when?
Among other things?
“Then why are you pulling out the guns?” I asked as I maneuvered between vehicles.
Darren gave me that quick shark-like grin of his and winked. “Because their cars aren’t.”
Cool. My first time driving in years and it comes with a car chase and a shoot-out. Just the kind of outing I was hoping for.
“Listen to me carefully, Jaden,” Darren said calmly as he shifted in his seat. “You’re going to get off at the fifth exit and then make a right, and another immediate right. It’ll take you down a long private road. Do not stop until I tell you to. Understand?”
It was difficult trying to focus on not killing us while I drove almost a hundred miles an hour between cars and listened to the instructions he was giving me. But I nodded anyway.
“Big girl words, princess,” he growled.
“Yes. Fifth exit. Right, and another right. No stopping.”
Fuck, I hope I said that right.
“Good girl,” he praised, then rolled down his passenger window.
Keeping my eyes glued to the road was nearly impossible once Darren turned his body and stuck his arm out the window, resting it flush with the car.
And then the shooting started.
Darren fired three shots at the SUV that was gaining on us, only for its two front tires to blow out, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle and crash into the median.
“Holy shit!” I gasped as I watched the SUV crash and flip onto its side.
“Focus on the road in front of you, Jaden!” Darren roared as he pulled his arm back into the car.
With my stomach flipping in on itself, I darted my eyes back to the road, noticing we only passed the first exit. Four more to go.
Just when I thought we were in the clear, several engines roaring in the distance behind us caught my ears. Glancing up into the rearview mirror, I could see two black sporty-looking vehicles closing in on us.
“There’s more!”
“There’s always fucking more,” Darren grumbled.
Realizing I was about to get trapped between two cars, I veered off into the shoulder to pass them before whipping us back into the main lanes.
“Jesus Christ, Jaden, watch the mirrors!”
“Hey, hey! I am no longer responsible for anything that happens to this car!”
Glancing back to the rearview mirror, I watched as the headlights of the closest car advanced. Darren aimed his gun out the window again, firing off one shot before I had to quickly veer around a damn bus, causing us to jerk in our seats.
He sighed in annoyance. “If you’re going to swerve like that, can you at least try to keep it straight?” he growled before firing two more shots.
“Hey! I’m doing the best I can!”
“Well, do better!” he snapped as he continued to fire.
And then the sharp sound of gunfire pummeled into the back of the car, forcing Darren to pull his arm back inside. The noise generated from the bullets that rained down on the poor Ferrari was deafening, shaking me down to my very bones.
“Jaden, move!” Darren shouted.
“I’m trying!”
Too often, I had to slam on my brakes to avoid a collision with another car, which gave our tails all the opportunity they needed to catch up. Veering around another car, I slammed my foot down on the gas pedal, switching lanes just as one of the tails nearly rammed us off the road.
But my quick maneuver forced me to cut off the car behind us, causing them to overcorrect and lose control, striking the car next to it. The screeching sounds of tires sliding over pavement and crunching metal followed us, a massive pileup of cars slamming into each other and taking up two lanes.
“Oh fuck,” I whispered to myself, my gut twisting with regret.
“Nice work,” Darren applauded as he quickly glanced down at his phone, the wreckage seeming to slow our tails down significantly.
I cringed at his praise. “God, I hope no one died in that.”
“What did I tell you about where your focus needs to be?”
I huffed out a frustrated breath as I swerved between more cars, but slammed on my brakes again as we came around a corner with all lanes occupied.
“Shit,” I muttered to myself as I swerved between a very narrow opening between the cars, horns honking as I passed through.
But the pause allowed enough time for both of the remaining tails to catch up, each one now flanking either side of the Ferrari.
Their windows then rolled down to reveal some heavy-duty machinery.
Fuck!
“Move!”
“I can’t!”
I cringed internally as an infinite series of sonic booms ate away at the car, completely shattering the windows. Darren groaned, mumbling curses under his breath as sparks flew by his window.
“Fuck this,” I muttered.
Slamming on the brakes, I yanked the wheel to the right, putting us behind one of the tails, allowing Darren just enough clearance to pop two more rounds into their rear tires.
Pulling away, we made it to the exit at the perfect time, giving us the opportunity to witness the one car skid and roll to a stop onto the shoulder. The other one continued down the freeway.
I breathed a sigh of relief when we exited the freeway and turned onto the private road that Darren had indicated. But my relief was short-lived when I noticed he hadn’t yet lowered his gun as he peered at the side view mirror.
“What, more?” I asked, wondering if I had missed another car behind us.
“I told you, there’s always fucking more,” he growled before quickly checking his phone.
And he was right. Another set of headlights appeared in my rearview mirror, and they were quickly becoming brighter.
Rolling down the window, Darren fired off several more shots before they returned fire with their own automatic weapons, completely destroying the back windshield. The sound of the bullets hitting the car made me flinch with way too much anxiety.
Darren groaned aloud. “You just had to pick the goddamn Ferrari, didn’t you?” he scolded as he reached back behind us for another loaded magazine.
“Oh, cry me a fucking river!” I retorted. “We’re being shot at right now.”
Darren scoffed, a chuckle lingering behind as he released the empty mag from his gun. “Welcome to my Tuesdays,” he replied with a laugh.
“Yeah, well your Tuesdays suck,” I snapped, cursing his name as I sped down the narrow pathway. “I just wanted one quiet night of driving, but nooo, you have to be you.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” He paused in his seat, actually sounding offended as more bullets pummeled into the back of the car.
“It means you attract bullshit everywhere you go. I can’t enjoy anything nice around you!”
“Oh, cry me a fucking river,” he mocked in return, his voice muffled by the sound of the bullets.
“You could have stayed home where it was safe, but no, you had to be you and whine about it until you got your way.” He shook his head as he pushed the loaded magazine in and pulled the slide back.
“That’s the last time I let you win at anything. ”
A long, dramatic gasp escaped my throat, my jaw dropping in utter disbelief at his words. “You take that back! I won that challenge fair and square when I dodged your arm.”
Darren’s shoulders shook as he actually started to laugh. “Sure, you did, princess,” he replied dismissively, typing something on his phone as a spray of bullets took out my side view mirror.
“I did, dammit!” I insisted, refusing to diminish my win as he rolled his eyes.
“Oh, stop it. You know damn well I would have caught your ass way sooner if I hadn’t slowed down to give you the chance at your new little ‘strategy’ that you were so excited to try.”
I scowled as he continued to type away on his phone.
“It’s not my problem your poor strategy of underestimating me caused you to lose. Clearly, mine worked.”
“Shut up and listen,” he snapped, his tone gaining in ferocity. “There will be two vehicles at the end of the road. You’re going to stop behind them and get into whatever one I put you in. They will take you back to the estate. Got it?”
I frowned in confusion. “Are you not coming with me?”
“No. I want this last one alive.”
I pitied the passengers already.
Turning a corner, I could see red brake lights far off in the distance, but the sound of the off-and-on gunfire behind us was starting to steal away my confidence in getting us there. The SUV behind us was still several yards away, but it was close enough to easily catch up to a parked car.
“Slow down before you pass them!”
Downshifting, I decelerated and slowed the car before quickly putting it back in neutral and killing the engine.
I barely had time to remove my seat belt before Darren hauled me out of the driver’s seat and onto his lap.
He then opened the passenger car door and pulled some kind of latch that released the door from its hinges.
Pulling me from the car, Darren was just astonishing in that moment as he lifted the heavy door to let it hang behind his back, affectively shielding us from the oncoming bullets. Keeping low, he expertly maneuvered me to the first vehicle, the back seat door wide open for me.
The second I was inside, Darren shut the door behind me and turned back to the oncoming vehicle, his makeshift shield now at his front. The driver sped off instantly, leaving Darren behind in the dust to fend for himself.
The exchange happened so quickly, I didn’t even have time to process what I had just experienced. Car chase. Shoot-out. Adrenaline rush.
Holy fuck, adrenaline rush.
“Are you hurt at all, Mrs. Davis?” the driver suddenly asked.
It took my brain a few seconds to process something other than what I could still see from the back of the window. There were still plenty of gunshots to be heard in the background.
“Huh?”
“He asked if you were hurt,” the front passenger answered.
Turning to address him, I found myself looking at some very familiar faces. The driver and his companion in the passenger seat were identical twins, the very same twins who chased me down in Darren’s Ducati the night I had escaped from his estate.
“No, I’m fine. Thanks.”
“Good, ’cause we’re not medics,” the passenger replied, drawing a chuckle from his twin brother.
Seeing the opportunity dangling, I snatched it. “If you’re not medics, then what are you?” I remembered how they drove the night they chased me—like a couple of professional stunt drivers. They couldn’t be just regular guards.
Both men snickered. “You can think of us as…special delivery drivers.” I detected a hint of an accent from both of them. New York, maybe? Or Boston?
“Delivery drivers, eh? The same delivery drivers who chased me down the night I stole Darren’s Ducati?”
They both snickered like teenagers.
“Oh, yeah! Now, that was a fun night,” the driver commented. “When you flew through both of our cars the way you did? Brilliant.”
“Yes, very impressive.”
I frowned. Darren’s staff didn’t typically praise me for my recklessness. These two were weird.
“Thanks, I guess?”
“We hadn’t had that much fun in a long time. You really had us going for a bit. Everybody else just crashes within the first few minutes, so thanks for the prolonged entertainment.”
My frown deepened. Was chasing people down part of their jobs?
“You’re welcome?”
“We should seriously do it again sometime,” the passenger said enthusiastically. “I bet you’ve got some new moves under your belt by now.”
I arched a brow. Clive and Owen would absolutely lose their shit over these two.
Where the hell did Darren find these people?