Page 74 of Demitri

Mia fumbles with the watch Joker gave her, sending him whatever information she can. She then sits up straight, checking her seatbelt, and grabs the door handle. She was concentrating so much she didn’t realize I’d already increased our speed by fifteen MPH.

“What’s your speed?” she asks. Okay, maybe she did realize.

“Fifty-eight and climbing.”

“Can you keep that up on the mountain, Demitri?”

“If anything can, it’s a Shelby.”

I hit the gas and feel the vibrations of the engine in my seat. The sound loud and powerful. The way she handles the curves is like nothing else I’ve ever driven. Foreign sports cars are one of the specialties of the garage, but this baby? She’s a dream to drive. The purr from under the hood is almost erotic.

“Demitri, they sped up,” Mia tells me, watching through the mirrors.

“I’ll keep you safe.”

We finally make it through the curves of the mountain to the straight pass that will take us to Rock Hill. I continue to increase my speed, hoping we can continue to avoid any cops that might be out, and weave my way through traffic.

I downshift the gear and hit the brakes so I can make a turn, and immediately shift and hit the gas again once we’ve made it. I do this a few more times until I’m sure we’ve lost them. I canhear Mia breathing hard in the passenger seat, turning her body to look out the small window in the back.

She finally sighs. “I think we’ve lost them. Time to hide this badass car.”

I make a few more turns, hitting a button on my phone as we slide into the lot of the garage, the door already opening.

“You don’t think they’ll come straight here?” she asks, an edge of panic in her voice.

“They’ll never see us,” I assure her, pulling into the bay and hitting the button on my phone to lower the bay door again. “Can’t see in from the windows.”

“Oh, that’s nifty to have.”

“Plan for everything. Hope it never comes in handy.”

I put the car in park and turn off the engine. The vibrations still rattle through my body even in the silence.

“Wow. That was something.”

We sit there in the quiet, both of us jumping when my phone rings.

“Joker,” I answer and put it on speaker. “I’m with Mia. She can hear you, too.”

“Good. It was both of them, Andrey and Sasha. Grabbed the plates off a camera on the mountain.”

“Of course it was. That was quick.”

“Our friend went right to them.”

“How did they know where we were? To follow us?” Mia asks.

“I don’t know,” he admits. “But we need to do some more digging. Where are you now?”

“At the garage,” I answer.

“Does it have what you need for a little while?”

“Yeah. We’ll be fine.”

“What about work? I have a business to run.” Mia’s stubborn streak is showing.

“Brodie’s going to have to cover things, Mia,” Joker breaks the news to her.

---