Page 240 of Like Grim Death: Part One
Too far to have a showdown now.
I scan the trees, the forest lining the road. “We need to turn,” I speak quickly and quietly, but angle my head so my mouth is by Lucifer’s ear. The music is still loud, and I don’t want to turn it down because I think in some bizarre way, it helps my brother think. “All of us, and fast. No signals.” I know this should be a given, but when you’re paranoid, it’s easy to mess up.
Still, Sid will have seen the glow of the police lights, and so will Atlas and the guards.
If the guards are smart, if they’re trulywith us,they’ll keep going straight and lead the cops away from us for a short while. It might not be enough, but every second we can get will help.
Lucifer nods once. He doesn’t argue with me for once in our lives, his eyes jumping from the mirror to the road and back.
“Focus on the asphalt,” I whisper, holding my gun up, ready to shoot at these fucking cops if I have to. It might be messy, but if it’s me or my family, the choice is so fucking easy. “You want Sid to do the same. Focus on the turn. That’s what matters. Only the turn.”
I hear him swallow as the song changes.
“My Old Ways” by The Plot in You.
Neither of us turn it down.
I turn back, my arm over the back of his seat as I do, staring into the night. The blue glow is getting brighter, but they’re climbing up the hill we just went down. We could do it, if we go quickly.
My pulse thuds inside my temples. My chest feels tight. I flex my fingers against the leather of the back of Lucifer’s seat, trying not to see the BMW behind me, holding everyone who matters to me inside of it.
I won’t look.
I have to focus, just like I told Lucifer.
But he needs to fucking turn.
The panic builds. I know there’s got to be side roads he’s already missed, and we don’t have time to use GPS and dialing out on our cellphones is risky. Having them at all is a fucking risk right now but I’m not disposing of mine until I have to. I left the burner at home because it seemed like all bets were off at that point.
Turn, Lucifer. Fucking. Turn.
I clamp my teeth together to stop from saying it. I trust him, don’t I?I trust you. Make the fucking turn.
The blue glows brighter, swarming and growing from the fog dancing just above our heads, casting the light more intensely in the night.
Turn, goddammit.
I take a breath in through my nose. I’m about to dig a hole through his seat back and scream at him when I finally feel the car yank to the left, only to swerve dangerously to the right.
The pavement changes to dirt under his low-profile tires, but I don’t breathe just yet. The rear fishtails a little, the ride bumpy, my head nearly touches the headliner of his fucking car. I don’t care about any of that. I’m used to discomfort. My eyes are only glued to Sid’s car as I hold my breath, and just as her headlights swing behind us, she cuts them, driving in fucking darkness.
Behind her, Atlas does the same.
It’s nothing but night at our backs, and I know they’re having to use Lucifer’s lights to see. I close my eyes tight a second, my nervous system on pins and fucking needles as I bow my head, holding the side of the gun to my temple to catch my breath.
“They’re okay,” Lucifer whispers, his voice as comforting as he can probably make it. “They can see with my lights.”
I swallow the lump in my throat as we bump along the road. I don’t dare look ahead because I’m not sure I want to see where we’re headed to. But I slowly blink open my eyes and continue taking in what little I can see of Sid and Atlas’s vehicles.
Behind them there’s nothing.
The guards understood the fucking assignment.
If they live, they’ll need a raise and probably a hug or some shit. And for that matter, so will Tomas. He didn’t have to tell me any of this, but he just earned my trust in ways he probably can’t even imagine.
Lucifer doesn’t slow down, and neither does my sister or Atlas. We keep together, and after a moment, driving down a hill, I see it.
The blue lights.
