Gena Showalter - Playing With Fire (tales of an extra ordinary girl)

“How much of a fight did John put up?” Rome asked as he steered down the winding roads.

Cody chuckled. He’d made Rome drive so he could keep his own hands free. The better to subdue us with. “I’ve never heard him so angry. How’d you find his place, anyway? He’s so guarded I doubt his wife knows where he lives.”

“I tracked him one day.” Rome ’s tone suggested his words were no big whoop, but I sensed his pride.

“That’ll teach him to make a jungle cat, eh?”

Dawn tinged the sky, lighting it up with pinks and purples. I yawned. I’d been without sleep for… what? I couldn’t remember. Seemed like forever. But then, these last few days hadn’t exactly been tame. And on the bright side, I was too tired to be scared of the approaching confrontation.

“Stop there.” Cody pointed.

Following the direction, Rome eased the car to a halt near a beautiful park. Flowers bloomed, a sea of yellows, reds and blues. There were two swing sets and a merry-go-round. Several slides.

No people.

I had a tingling sensation at the back of my neck, though, as if I was being watched. Probably John. I started to unbuckle.

“We’ve been spotted,” Rome suddenly said, “and not by John. See the two SUVs? Black? Tinted windows?”

Cody glanced out the passenger mirror. “Vincent. God, the man is a walking cliché.”

“He wants Belle just as bad as John does,” Rome said.

“Well, we can’t let him get near John. If John were hurt, PSI would be placed in major upheaval and Vincent could try to take over. Again.”

“Pussy,” Tanner mumbled, acting brave, as if he could defeat Vincent single-handedly. “No offense, Cat Man,” he added.

“Cut it out, Tanner.” Rome thrust one hand through his hair and gripped the steering wheel with the other. “Shit. Are you ready for another roller coaster ride, Belle?”

“Floor it,” I said, dread filling me from head to toe. And here I thought I’d be too tired to fear my fate. I glanced skyward. Thanks a lot for proving me wrong. To my way of thinking, this proved beyond a doubt God was actually a man.

IT WAS A CAR CHASE to end all car chases. Several times we almost crashed-into parked cars, moving vehicles, trees and buildings. The object didn’t matter; nothing was safe from our rampage. I was surprised the police weren’t involved yet. Maybe Vincent had convinced them to look the other way, as he had at the café. I just didn’t know. All I knew was that my stomach churned and was very close to heaving.

As we soared down the highway, a black SUV pulled alongside us. I gasped. “Uh, guys. Look to your left.”

“Can’t,” Cody said, chuckling. He hadn’t stopped laughing since the chase had begun. Either he was a danger junkie or completely insane. Maybe both. He leaned out the window, aimed the gun he’d taken from his ankle holster, and fired off a few shots. “We’ve got a tail on the right, too.”

“What?” I whipped around and gasped. Sure enough, another black SUV had closed in on our other side.

The sound of bullets-with which I was now intimately acquainted-erupted, followed by a loud thump, thump. I whimpered, okay. Like a little girl. I’m not ashamed, but I had to keep my fear to a minimum. I didn’t want ice in our car’s engine.

Logically, I knew I should cause a thunderstorm, shielding us from their view. I just didn’t have it in me. I couldn’t forget my fear, couldn’t force sadness to come. If I’d been offered a million dollars and a one-way ticket to heaven, I still wouldn’t have been able to make it rain.

“Everything’s going to be fine,” Rome said, suddenly hitting the brakes.

The momentum threw me forward, but my seat belt shoved me back again, saving my life. The SUVs sailed ahead of us. Cody fired as Rome jerked the wheel, steering us into oncoming traffic.

“Someone could have hit us from behind,” I squeaked out. Tremors raked me. “We could have died.”

“I checked before I stopped, baby, and there was no one behind us. Have a little faith.”

“Yeah, have a little faith,” Tanner said. Brave words, marred by his pale face and trembling hands.

One civilian car after another whizzed past us, honking and swerving to avoid hitting us as we traveled the wrong freaking way. I squeezed my eyelids tightly shut, desperate to drown out the sights. “How did Vincent find me?” There. Conversation. Now maybe I could pretend I was at home, with my dad, sipping hot chocolate and watching cartoons.

“I’m sure he had men all over town, and one of them spotted us and called in the others,” Rome said.

“I don’t want you to talk, Rome,” I said. “I want you to concentrate. Cody can answer me.”

“I’m sure he’s had men all over town,” Cody repeated with a chuckle. His damn chuckling! “Someone spotted our car, figured you were with us, and hello, B movie scene.”

“They’re gaining on us again,” Rome said, ruining the mirage I had going. “Use your goddamn powers, Cody, and let’s finish this.”

“If I do, I’ll cause a power outage in this area.”

“So?”

A pause, then, “Fine.” Cody leaned out the window again, stretching out his hands. Electricity sparked from nearby poles and lanced toward him in orange-gold streams. He gathered the crackling, flickering energy in his palms and hurled it at the SUVs. The surrounding streetlights, which were already muted upon the arrival of the dawn, darkened completely.

Crash!

The cars lit up like a Fourth of July fireworks display. One flipped, careening down the highway. At that point, I shut my eyes again and anchored my head between my knees. Deep breath in, deep breath out.

Finally, blessedly, we lost them and traveled back to the park where we’d originally arranged to meet John. When I called Rome and Cody stupid for going there, they laughed at me.

“Vincent won’t think we’re ‘stupid’ enough to return, so he won’t show up himself,” was the answer Rome gave me.

“Tanner, you okay?” I asked. “You’re so quiet.”

“Just wishing for babes,” he answered with a nervous smile.

Cody jerked a phone from his pocket and speed-dialed John. He informed him of our whereabouts and what had happened. When Cody hung up, he turned to Rome and said, “He’s on his way. And he’s bringing protection.”

Half an hour later, a car parked beside ours. Same make, same model. Four men exited. We did the same. Rome came up beside me and took my hand. There were kids on the swing set a short distance away, parents watching over them.

“You trust me?” Rome whispered.

“Yeah. Thanks for asking,” Tanner said drily. And not quietly.

“Yes,” I whispered back. I studied the man obviously in charge. He was the only one who didn’t look as if he’d just come off a beefcake calendar. He was about five-eight, with thinning gray hair, glasses and a slightly rotund belly. Yet he radiated power.

“Belle Jamison. Finally we meet,” he said to me.

“Yes.” Here he was in the flesh, one of the men who wanted to control me. He was somehow more menacing than the males around him, who were tall and muscled. One had red hair, one black and the other highlighted brown. They oozed strength and mysterious power as they surrounded the old man. The redhead was smoking, and that smoke wafted to me. I coughed, the ashes tickling my throat.

“Put that out,” Rome snapped. He wasn’t content to wait for the man to obey. He strode to him, plucked the butt from his mouth and tossed it on the ground, stomping it out.

Slowly my coughing subsided. John watched all of this with interest.

“Strong aversion to pollutants,” he said with interest. “Were you always like that?”