Chapter 44
“All right, we’ll be there soon.” Varen turned off her phone and tucked it in her front pocket. “The lawyer is waiting for us on the east side. He’s got his office there.”
Nala nodded.
“I have no idea how long this is going to take.”
Varen acknowledged the bodyguard on duty and backed her car out of its space.
Rain splashed on the windshield long before Varen was able to turn on the wipers.
Good thing no one else lives on this street.
Nala could hardly see the road in front of them. “You got the printouts?”
Nala motioned to the folder she carried in her arms. “Why would I be without it?”
“Making sure.” Varen changed gears before easing down the empty street. “We can’t be too careful at the moment.”
Speak for yourself. Ever since Nala realized how much danger her life was in, all she did was be careful.
Probably to the point of mayhem. Well, it was better than being dead anyway.
“I can’t wait to rub Ravenwood’s face in this shit.”
Nala grinned as they waited at the nearest light.
“I mean, this was totally obtained illegally, but the lawyer will know what to do… right?”
Varen shrugged. “That is certainly the hope.” She readjusted her mirrors before putting her foot on the gas pedal. “I’m going to this lawyer specifically because he has a lot of reasons to take someone like Ravenwood down. He also has experience with suing and standing up to corporate giants.”
Nala glanced in her mirror. Through the waves of rain crashing down upon them, she saw the glimmer of a black car pull out and follow them down the road.
Must be security. Wouldn’t be the first time they tailed them through Downtown.
Nala didn’t want to know how much Varen was paying these guys to be badass.
“What are we going to do when this is over?”
she asked, watching dreary buildings go by as Varen took the long way to the river.
At this time of day it was probably faster than taking the main thoroughfares, especially when it came to the bridges.
“I mean… I’m assuming we’ll still be together… right?”
The idea that this could possibly be over soon already felt absurd, but Nala had to hold on to some sort of hope.
Yet when she envisioned a future without Xan Ravenwood, she had a hard time imagining it without Varen either.
I don’t want to think about that. A month ago, before she realized how much she was falling for her, it would have been easier to go their separate ways.
Take her money. Maybe ask for some severance so she could move away from Portland and go somewhere cheaper.
Now? Varen was a woman she admired, respected, and…
adored. Gag! Nevertheless, Nala’s heart was beholden.
Even if she had been forthcoming with her affections, it still didn’t make her assume they would have a happy ever after when this was done.
Varen glanced at her. “If you wouldn’t mind. I’m not going to kick you out of my house.”
She said it so softly that Nala almost couldn’t hear her. Does that mean she loves me? Now was not the time to ask. Varen was the calmest she had been in a day, and Nala did not want to upset that. The last thing she wanted was to give her girlfriend a heart attack… especially since she was driving.
“Hey, Nala…” Varen’s eyes were locked on her rearview mirror. “If something happens to either one of us, I want you to know that I…”
She never had the chance to finish her thought. A bullet burst through the back window and right through the windshield.
Nala’s heart leaped in her throat; Varen swerved the car onto another street. Cracks exploded against the windshield, barring any ability to see the road ahead. Yet Varen craned her head enough to keep her eye on the ever-busying streets of Downtown Portland.
The car behind them gunned the gas and came dangerously close to rear-ending them.
“Holy…!”
Varen whipped the wheel to the left, throwing Nala against the window. Another bullet whizzed by, but thanks to Varen’s quick reflexes, this one grazed the mirror on Nala’s side.
When she got a close look at the reflection, she saw beyond herself. She saw Hawk in the nondescript car behind them.
“It’s her!” she shouted, the car whipping onto yet another street. Varen kept her head low as she stared at the road before her, the windshield wipers moving so quickly that it almost looked like they would fly off at any moment. “It’s that crazy-ass bitch!”
“I know!” Varen jammed her hand against the stick-shift and slammed her other hand on the horn. Some poor homeless woman with a cart full of clothes and tarps screamed before jumping out of the way, upturning her cart, and spilling her things all over Everett Street. “Fuck!”
The mishap caused Hawk to swerve to avoid crashing into the woman now running around in paranoid circles. More rain came down, obscuring the scene as Varen hurried to switch streets again.
They were lucky that these streets were relatively empty at this time of day. They were not lucky that a homicidal maniac was right on their tails—because here came Hawk again, a fucking fly that they couldn’t swat with a rolled-up newspaper no matter how much they tried.
“Ven!”
“I know!”
Adrenaline pumped in Nala’s veins. Her instincts told her to leap out of the car, to roll on the wet sidewalk, and take her chances with a homeless camp set up in a nearby park.
Yet the logical side of her brain said that was insane.
Yeah, sure, maybe Nala wouldn’t be trapped in this car, putting her life in Varen’s busy hands, but she would also be an easier target.
How could she outrun Hawk? She was probably fitter, faster than Nala. She also had a gun.
But if I jump out, she’ll probably come after me and leave Varen alone.
Nala only thought that because she would be the easier target.
Perhaps Varen was the bigger one, but Hawk probably didn’t care who she killed as long as she got one of them finally.
Not that there was much time to analyze this situation.
Nala was fucked, no matter how she approached it.
“Ah!” Nala’s bile lifted from her stomach and into her throat as a third bullet shot through the back window. She didn’t know where this one went. She didn’t have time to assess her body. Varen was gunning the gas and swerving around any traffic getting in her way.
The whole situation was surreal. Nala had seen plenty of car chases on TV, but to actually be in one?
To hear the inevitable sirens in the background?
To feel the rush of adrenaline in the most terrible way possible?
Tears of fear and anxiety wanted to burst from Nala, but she was in too much shock to process them.
Trapped in a car with no control over what happened, all she could do was bend over in her seat and cover her head with her hands, making her a much smaller target for any wayward bullets.
“Hold on!” Nala didn’t know what gear Varen shifted the car into, but shit was fast, woozy, and pumping blood as much as horsepower.
Tires crept onto narrow sidewalks. People out shopping or parking their cars screamed as they jumped out of the way.
Nala saw a horrible end no matter what happened.
Either they were shot or they crashed, like Desirée had.
Like Othello had. I think I would rather be shot in the head!
She had to trust Varen. She had to trust her ability to remember city geography as she sped across a bridge and entered another part of town. A flatter part of town.
Easier for Hawk to catch up. But also easier for them to get away.
Sirens echoed in the distance. Who was chasing whom?
Were they both being pursued by police? Was it Hawk being tailed?
Or… the worst scenario possible… did she have them in Ravenwood’s pocket, and they were chasing Nala and Varen?
Make my death swift, God. Nala didn’t pray much, but she did now, with her hands folded and lips muttering a hasty prayer.
“I can lose her!” Varen barely touched her brakes as she swerved around a corner, honking her horn every second as people jumped out of the way. She ran a red light, causing a spattering of people and cars to compensate.
Nala saw the horror before it arrived. A large intersection. A red light. No time to stop. And no time to wait for Hawk to catch up and smack them into oncoming traffic.
Varen would do that on her own.
Screams erupted from every direction. Varen cursed at the top of her lungs, whipping the steering wheel this way, holding herself back, and pointing in the other direction.
Nala remained curled up in her seat, belt far away from her throat in case it got any ideas about decapitating her.
Horns that did not belong to Varen’s car blew up.
Through every window - whether broken or not - Nala saw a riot of colors through the rain.
Cars. Trucks. People. Bags. Signs. Buildings.
This part of Portland was about to get a face-lift.
Luckily it did not come from Varen, who managed to maneuver her way through the red light without a scratch.
The same couldn’t be said for the cars behind them.
Nala would never forget that moment. When she looked in the side mirror, she saw three cars smack into one another, a flurry of pedestrians running away screaming, and enough smoke to be mistaken for another cloudy day.
Before she could find out if a fire erupted from the pileup, Varen turned down another road and swerved around cars until they were on the nearest bridge taking them into Washington.
It wasn’t until they were halfway across the Columbia that Varen finally slowed down, her eyes seldom leaving the rearview mirror. “I think we lost her in that crash,” she mumbled. “If it didn’t get her, it at least slowed her down.”
Even so, Nala found it difficult to calm down. Her heart continued to beat incessantly in her chest; her breath was caught in her throat like a whirlwind. Nala had come this close to death yet again, and she was the one about to explode in tears and vomit.
“We’ll have to dump the car,” Varen muttered. “Otherwise, they’ll know where we’re going. Plus, cops.”
Nala looked around. They were in Vancouver now, surrounded by cars with Washington plates and road signs shaped like a dead president’s head. “Where are we going?”