Page 50 of Her Keeper
“You put a tracking device on her phone?” Joseph asked, shocked.
“Not a tracking device. An app,” I clarified. “And I have one on the phone of every person who works for me. How else am I going to know that they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing?”
Joseph whistled softly. “Why do I think you took special pleasure in putting it on Penny’s, though?”
“Fuck you. I’ve got her. They’re on the Belt Parkway.”
“That’s a big fucking range. Got anything more for me than that?”
Asshole. “At Dyker Beach. Christ, they’re driving fast.”
“That’s Sloane for you. She must be trying to outrun them. Bet she drives that car even better than you do.”
“Fuck you. There’s a road that runs parallel right there. If we’re fast, we’ll be able to cut in behind them at one of the on-ramps.”
Joseph didn’t answer. He slammed down on the accelerator and sped toward where our girls were running for their lives, his eyes on the road and his knuckles white with the grip he had on the steering wheel.
I put every ounce of my own energy into trying to come up with a plan for when we found them. The chances of us being able to barrel right into the chase were slim, but if we could get onto the Parkway close to where they were, we could either slow down and wait for them to catch up with us or drive like demons and catch up to them.
Once we did that, we’d have to figure out what to do with the guys chasing them.
23
MICHAEL
We managed to turn onto the parkway ten minutes after they’d passed our location, according to the app, and Joseph skidded through the turn to chase after them.
The problem now was that the girls were in a faster car than ours. I didn’t have a damn clue how the guys chasing them were managing to keep up—I’d drive with Sloane when she was in a hurry—but it was going to be a chore for us to catch them.
Joseph was a good driver, but he couldn’t hold a candle to Sloane’s skills behind the wheel.
Still, he was making a go of it. He wove in and out of the traffic, notching 90 and then 100 and blowing through any traffic lights we came across. I ducked and wove with the car, doing my best to use my own inertia to help it stay on the road, and didn’t talk.
In my experience, Joseph drove better if he didn’t have to also think about replying to whatever someone else had said, and right now I needed him to drive better than he’d ever driven in his entire life.
I was working really, really hard not to think about the fact that Penny was in danger and I wasn’t there to protect her. I hated that I’d had to leave her alone this morning, though I’d known it was necessary. I’d thought, though, that she would be safe at the house. No one knew about that house and it should have been secure. Plus she had Sloane and Brooks there to take care of her.
And instead, someone had found them and was now chasing them toward the city.
I wanted to know how that had happened. But not until I knew whether my girl was safe.
“How far ahead of us are they?” Joseph asked suddenly.
I glanced down at the app and waited the fifteen years it took for it to update their location. “Not far,” I told him. “Maybe four or five blocks, if I’m guessing.”
I looked up and saw his mouth twist. “Then I can see them.”
I turned forward and stared at the road ahead of us, and a moment later I realized I could see them, too. Not in detail, but I could see two cars moving a whole lot faster than everyone else on the road. It actually looked like other cars were getting out of their way. Pulling over and letting them pass.
Smart.
“Catch them,” I ground out.
“You don’t have to tell me to do what I’m already doing, you know,” he replied.
But his foot came down even harder on the gas pedal and we shot forward, the cars in front of us parting like they were the fucking Red Sea. I slid my gun out of my holster and checked to make sure it was loaded, then held my hand out for Joseph’s.
“You think I’m going to give you my gun?” he snorted. “Get the one out of the glove compartment.”
