Thomas Amo - An Apple for Zoë - Book One ~ The Forsaken

James and Summers climbed into his car and began to drive back to the station.

"Under normal circumstances, I would have fought this every step of the way. But actually I'm relieved to let someone else take the lead. So you said you need me to go to Julie's home, haven't the police already searched it?"

"When your name came up and I discovered you were a detective I knew I was going to have to interview you. So I had the place secured and no one else has been allowed to do a search without me present. Getting you to search it with me was imperative," said Summers as she rolled down the window letting the cool breeze billow through her hair.

"Why?" asked James.

"If I miss anything, any detail, I'm sure you will catch it. No one knows Julie better than you do, Tom."

"Don't be so sure, I haven't seen her in over 13 years and we were only together for five."

"But you were in love with her. And that never goes away."

James sighed as he stopped at the red light. His face was showing a slight agitation at the agent's confidence in his dedication to a faded love.

"You act as if by my going there with you I'm going to find some secret message she left for me to help solve her murder."

"I'm counting on it," said Summers when suddenly her face was sprayed with hundreds of beads of broken glass. The small diamond-shaped shards flew across from the driver's side window pelting her chest, arms and face. James gripped the steering wheel tightly as he tried to control the car while it spun in a half circle. The passenger side slammed into a parked car on the side of the road. Dazed, Summers, looked across at James who was shaking the bits of glass from his hair when she saw the grill of Hummer H2 coming directly at his side of the car.

"Tom LOOK OUT!" she screamed as the grill smashed into his door, sending more glass her way. The chrome grill looked like the teeth of a giant sized predator. The driver's side door began to buckle from its hinge. The heat from the roaring engine felt like a blast of angry, hot breath. James tried to gather his wits as he heard Summers screaming, but it sounded foreign to him. It was then he realized it wasn't Summers at all but the driver of H2. Looking to his left James saw two women glaring down at him with sinister smiles. Both girls were spattered with blood, cuts and bruises. The driver was wearing a black tank top. A wisp of brunette hair covered her right eye. For a moment he could have swore she winked at him as she gritted her teeth and gripped her own steering wheel. The passenger was dressed in a white shirt that that was sprayed with blood and exposed a bare left shoulder. Looking at the two of them, James would have believed he was suffering from double vision. Had it not been for the different colored shirts and hairstyles the two girls were wearing, he would not be able to tell them apart.

The driver screamed at him and then turned to the passenger and screamed at her. James couldn't understand what was being said, but whatever it was he knew he was in serious trouble as the girl in white raised an automatic weapon from her lap and pointed it directly at him. The girl in black revved the engine of the H2 and it lurched forward pushing his car into the parked car again, locking it into place.

"GET DOWN TOM!" screamed Summers as she fired a series of shots from her gun. The gunfire was earsplitting as James moved out of the way. The shots passed through the now non-existent drivers side window and cracked the windshield of the H2.

"GO!" commanded Summers. James didn't wait. He slammed his foot on the accelerator. White smoke and shrieks of metal screamed as he tried to free his car. A sudden barrage of loud pops echoed as a succession of holes began to appear in the hood of his car. Summers raised herself through her window and took aim at the females opposite of her in the H2. She fired another several shots, which caused the H2 to back up enough for James to get free. Summers locked eyes with the two girls.

"Oh Jesus, Devonia and Tarista Baranova," she said as she recognized the sisters.

Tarista raised her feet up and kicked them into the cracked windshield forcing it to split and bend. Summers knew she only had seconds before the shooting would resume. Summers ducked back down inside and reloaded her automatic. The sudden sound of machine gun fire erupted blasting glass in all directions from the hood of the Hummer.

"Call for backup!" shouted James.

Summers reached for the radio and saw it had been shot up in the initial volley of bullets from Tarista's M-4 assault rifle. It was useless.

"It's no good Tom, get us out of here before they hit us again."

James pressed his foot all the way to the floor, causing the car to screech as metal ground against metal causing sparks to fly between them and the parked car. Within moments they were free and driving. James was heavily disoriented and completely uncertain of which direction he was driving.

"What the hell just happened?" shouted James.

"Give me your gun and drive!" commanded Summers as she looked out the back window. She saw the H2 spin its wheels and start to give chase. She knew the Crown Victoria was no match for the Hummer. The only hope they had would be to either out drive or out run them.

"Whatever you do Tom, don't stop!"

Summers slid the bolt on her automatic and leaned out her window again taking two quick shots at the H2. Devonia accelerated the Hummer and quickly caught up with the Crown Victoria. Her black leather boots glistened as she gunned the foot pedal causing it to ram the Crown Victoria each time she pressed down. This gave James and Summers the feeling they were being kicked. James pushed the Crown Victoria hard as he watched the Hummer fill the review mirror. Dodging the on coming traffic, James was forced to slam on his breaks. This gave Devonia the chance she needed to catch James and Summers. He looked into the rearview mirror again and cringed seeing the Hummer approaching fast.

"Ashton, get back inside!" shouted James as he punched the gas again and swerved the Crown Victoria around the right side of the car that had been blocking his escape. Devonia drove the Hummer across the lanes of traffic knocking the smaller cars out of her path as if they were toys on a kitchen floor. Now she had the Hummer directly along side of the Crown Victoria. She slammed the H2 against the side of the Crown Victoria. James and Summers felt the bucking of the attack. The only thing he could do at this point was to try and fight back with his own car. James swerved the car into the side of the Hummer. Both cars bucked and sparked in the middle of downtown traffic. Tarista looked down at James with her M-4 pointed directly at him and slowly licked her lips suggestively.

James knew there was no way he could win this fight. It was only a matter of time before the Hummer crushed them or Tarista shot him dead. He had to think fast. Looking ahead, he realized the car was approaching Leavenworth from Green. This was his chance. James slammed on the breaks and then took a hard left onto Leavenworth darting behind the Hummer and drove north trying to put as much distance between himself and their attackers as possible. Devonia slid the H2 on Leavenworth putting the black and chrome behemoth up on two wheels.

"Come on you bitch—flip!" cheered James hoping the chase would end as abruptly as it started. His grin faded as he watched the H2 land hard back on all four wheels. James then had to focus on his own stretch of road. He pushed the engine bringing the speed up to 75 as he cut in and out of traffic shooting past the intersections of Union and then Filbert.

"They just turned left back at Filbert," said Summers as she watched intently through the back window.

"I've got three choices here, stay on Leavenworth, take a right on Greenwich or left at Lombard," said James.