J Duncan - Deadworld

At the next intersection, a black SUV went sailing through, easily doing ninety to one hundred miles per hour. Right behind was a now very recognizable BMW motorcycle with a black-clad figure hunched low over its handlebars.

“There they are!” She was going to point but found herself slammed up against Nick when he turned across into oncoming traffic, sliding into the opposite shoulder. For a moment, Jackie figured Nick was going to lose it. They slid a good fifty feet sideways, churning up grass and gravel, before he got it back in line with the road, cutting across the opposing lanes again to join the chase. They were two blocks behind already. “God, somebody is going to get killed at this speed.”

“I imagine that’s his plan,” Nick said. “He’d lose us easily enough if he wanted to.”

“Can you give us a little fucking credit, please? We aren’t amateurs around here, you know.”

Nick gave her a sidelong look. “No, but you aren’t pros at chasing vampires either.”

“Look out!” She cringed as three cars piled into each other at the intersection Drake and Shelby had just passed through.

Nick geared down and turned down the street right before the accident. It was a residential street, and even at the late hour, Jackie could just see someone crossing a street while the Porsche came barreling through at eighty.

“Where’re you going?” she wondered as they cut out to a main street, now six blocks off of where they had been.

“Hitting the freeway on-ramp over here.”

“You think he’s getting on the freeway?”

“He was running out of road going the way he was, and the on-ramp there was six blocks away. I just hope I picked the right direction.”

“Hope? You better know what you’re doing, Nick.”

“Instinct,” he said. “He’s been messing with me long enough that I have a general sense of what he likes to do.”

“And you think he’s going to head toward downtown instead of away?”

He nodded, pulling them onto the on-ramp, building up speed. As they climbed up to the level of the freeway, the black Escalade went by, followed once again by Shelby. Nick was up to speed with them in a couple seconds, and just like that, they were right back on Drake.

Jackie shook her head. “Okay, that was good.”

Nick gave a little half shrug. “The kiss was better.”

Huh? It took a second to register what he had said, and then she felt heat rising to her cheeks. For the moment at least, Nick had gotten the last word in.

“Why would he be going downtown?” Jackie asked while she braced her feet against the floorboard and clung to the door handle to keep from flipping across into Nick’s lap. They were losing ground again on Shelby and Drake, who continued to pull corners at speeds defying physical laws. There had been four wrecks thus far, and more to come if the bastard was going to drive like that through the heart of Chicago’s downtown. Traffic there never really died down.

“No idea. We never detected him over here, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have some other place arranged to keep the girl.”

“We’ve got him tracked on air and ground now. He won’t be pulling a vanishing act this time,” Jackie said, but she didn’t sound sure even to herself. “Someone is going to get killed with this kind of chase. You should call off Shelby. Maybe that will slow him down.”

“She won’t listen to me. You want to tell her?” A bus slammed its brakes as the Escalade and BMW turned a corner in front of it. Sparks went up from the motorcycle as some part of it scraped the asphalt. The bus continued its skid, and Nick was forced to swerve around behind it.

“Goddamnit,” he said, barely muttering the words. He turned a one-eighty, facing the Porsche the other way, and sent it over the corner sidewalk, behind the light posts and in front of the doorway to a corner office building.

“Fuck! You’re going to kill someone!” Jackie yelled at him.

He slammed on the breaks a moment later, the car coming to a halt halfway down the block. “Don’t worry about my driving. I won’t hit anyone.”

Jackie noticed a second later why Nick had come to a stop. “Where did they go?”

She had no time to consider the options, however. The screeching sound of tires to their left answered the question. An alleyway in the middle of the block disappeared into blackness. The Porsche backed up to where they could see down the narrow street, and Jackie saw-just as Nick did-the looming specter of red eyes rushing at them from the darkness. He threw the car into reverse, gunning the engine, but the reaction came a split second too late as the Escalade bounced across the street and clipped the front of the Porsche, spinning it back around in the opposite direction. Nick swore under his breath and continued to back up, this time toward the escaping taillights of the SUV as it gunned off down the street once again.

When he spun the car back around, Jackie watched the Escalade turn the next corner without the pursuing motorcycle. On top, clinging to the luggage rack of the Escalade, was Shelby’s black, leather-clad form.

“Jesus. She’s on the fucking roof.” Jackie dialed up Gamble, but aerial recon had apparently already informed him. “I’m going to arrest her after this is done. She’s a damn civilian. She can’t do this shit.”

“If anyone has a chance to break up his plan right now, it’s her,” Nick said and gunned the Porsche back down the street after them.

The Escalade, two blocks ahead, turned short of the next intersection and disappeared from view. Nick slowed as he approached, and Jackie noticed that the last half of the block was comprised of a large multistoried parking structure. Above, a helicopter flew low overhead, and down at the intersection, four federal cars skidded to a halt to block passage.

Jackie keyed in to Gamble again. “Hostage team on standby?”

“They’re coming in,” he replied. “Fifteen minutes probably.”

“Shit, Gamble. That better be enough.”

“Let’s keep him busy then.”

Jackie hung up. “Could this be some kind of trap?”

“If you want out, say so right now,” Nick said quickly. “I’m going up there.”

“Go,” she replied before thinking about it. The three seconds of conversation could have just blown their chance.

The Porsche wheeled into the garage even as she said it, heading in and up the spiral ramp. Above, Jackie heard the sound of squealing tires. The Escalade was still going up. She clutched the door handle while Nick had the Porsche skidding its way up the levels. She wanted to get her gun out, but she was afraid to reach for it and lose her grip. After eight dizzying circles, Nick launched out onto the upper deck and brought the car to a sliding stop.

Halfway across the upper lot, the Escalade stood for a moment in the pale light of an overhead lamp. She noticed the back window had been knocked out. Where was Shelby? An instant later, two flashes went off inside the Escalade in quick succession. Jackie’s heart jumped a beat before she opened the door. Nick opened the glove box and pulled out a gun very similar to her own. He stepped out, crouching behind the protection of the front of the car. Jackie climbed over the driver seat and got out next to Nick, just in time to hear the tires screeching once again.

“Damnit!”

“Tires,” Nick said, taking aim with his pistol braced across the top of the hood. “Shoot for the tires.”

“There’s a little girl in there, you idiot.” She kicked at Nick, whose first shot went firing harmlessly off into the night sky. “What are…?” Her voice trailed off when she realized why Nick was shooting.

The Escalade did not turn around. It didn’t turn at all. It just kept going, accelerating until it hit the concrete barrier another fifty yards away at the far end of the lot. It had to be going forty by then, maybe more, but that small detail was lost on Jackie as she watched the concrete wall explode outward in a shower of rock and rebar.