Page 91 of Bite Marks & Broken Hearts

More silence from Felix, though he was muttering numbers under his breath, a habit he had when he was checking and rechecking his work.

But every second felt like an eternity, another moment of Flynn slipping further from my reach. The image of his face, twisted in pain as he collapsed, burned behind my eyes. He could be dead already. The thought sent a wave of nausea through me that had nothing to do with my gnawing hunger.

A muffled whoop of triumph burst through my phone speaker. “Right, walk south. Two hundred metres down the road,” Felix directed.

I darted forward. Blood continued to drip from my arm, though the wound was knitting itself closed, albeit slowly.

“You’re looking for Mercedes-Benz EQS. Midnight blue. Chrome trim. Latest model with the enhanced autopilot and quantum encryption. Enough computing power to launch a space mission.”

I spotted it gleaming under a streetlight—a sleek predator of a machine, the sort that people with more money than sense buy.

“I’ve unlocked it for you.” Felix’s voice carried a distinct note of pride. “The owner’s some tech CEO who really should’ve updated his car’s firmware. Left himself wide open to a remote override through the entertainment system. I redirected the authentication protocols through a ghost networkI set up—”

“English, please.”

“Right. Sorry. Car’s yours. Keys are virtual. Just get in and press the start button.”

I slid into the sleek leather driver’s seat. The dashboard lit up with a soft blue glow.

“The GPS is already programmed to track your phone’s location,” Felix continued. “And I’ve looped the CCTV feeds along every possible route for a mile radius so far. No one can see you.”

“Good work.” I pressed the start button, and the engine purred to life.

“I’m sure this isexactlywhat my mother had in mind when she paid for my masters in cybersecurity and digital forensics,” Felix muttered.

The steering wheel creaked under my grip as I fought to keep my hands steady. Every inch of me screamed to move faster, to tear through the streets until I found Flynn. The wound in my arm had closed, but the memory of his pain-filled face haunted me.

“Boss!” Priya’s voice crackled through the car’s speakers. “I’ve got footage from outside the bakery. Two deadwalkers loaded Flynn into a white Transit van. They’re heading south.”

“Scan the numberplate. Now!” I slammed my foot on the accelerator, the Mercedes’s electric engine whining as we shot forward.

“On it,” Felix replied. Then, “Got it! Cloned plates. Running them through the system.” More typing. “Right, follow the A23. Peacock and I are tracking them through the CCTV network. I’ve triple-checked the feeds.”

“Turn left onto Whitecross Road,” Priya directed.

I yanked the wheel, tyres squealing. A notification flashed on the dashboard as Felix tried to engage the autopilot.

“Stop that,” I growled, swerving around a taxi. “I’m driving.”

“The AI would be safer—”

“No.”

There was no way in hell I was obeying the highway code right now. The speedometer crept past ninety as I weaved through traffic, ignoring red lights and blaring horns. South London blurred past in streaks of neon and shadow.

“Right at the next junction,” Felix called. “They passed through here nine minutes ago.”

I cut across three lanes, barely missing a bus. The car’s suspension groaned as we bounced over a speed bump at full throttle.

“Noctule, the van’s heading out of the city,” Priya announced. “Last sighting shows them taking the A23 towards Brighton.”

The buildings thinned out as we reached the edges of London, streetlights giving way to darkness. My fingers tightened on the wheel as we hit open road, the countryside swallowing us in black.

“Still tracking them,” Felix assured me. “They’re keeping to the main road.”

“Yes. We’re going to get him back. Don’t worry.” Priya’s soothing voice did nothing to calm me.

The engine whined as I pushed it harder. As soon as I reached the dual carriageway, the digital speedometer climbed past a hundred and twenty. Every second felt like an eternity, another chance for them to hurt Flynn.

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