Page 26 of Peaceful Chaos

"I'll meet you there. Better get going."

Two black Aston Martins sit side by side. "This? I get to drive this?" Shane asks. He rubs the hood of the car lovingly. "Jen, I'm sorry, but I'm leaving you for her."

Jen rolls her eyes. "Just get in the car, dumbass."

We split up. Ford, Lucien, Raven, and I get into one car. Shane, Ted, Jen, and Amber get in the other one. Lucien holds out his hand and I place the keys in his palm. I might be better with computers, but Lucien is the master behind the wheel.

"Buckle up," Lucien advises as he pushes the button for the ignition. We peel out of the parking lot with Shane close behind.

* * *

The sun sits lowon the horizon, the light bouncing off the glass of the surrounding buildings causing traffic to slow down to a crawl. Lucien looks over his shoulder to the cars creeping up behind us. He looks over at Ford. "How good of a driver is Shane?"

"Pretty damn good. He used to street race."

"Well, we're about to see if he's still got skills," Lucien says. "Call Ted and tell him there's a car that's been three cars behind us since we left the gym. We need to lose them so they don't follow us to wherever the hell the GPS is taking us."

While Ford calls Ted's phone, I dial the number Javier gave me and listen to it ring over and over. "Jackson, I just left you, is something wrong already?"

"Are you having someone follow us?"

"No, I figured five large men, three of which are trained to kill, could handle themselves. Not to mention three women who are trained in hand to hand combat. Why would I put a detail on you when I'm the only one who knows for sure where you're going?"

"Put him on speaker," Lucien demands. He looks over his shoulder again and changes lanes swiftly. To Ford he says, "Tell Shane to move in front of me and then drop the pedal down."

Javier yells on the other end of the phone. "Jackson, Sin! I'm not having you tailed. As far as I know Agent Marks isn't either. Lose them if you can."

"You heard the man," Ford says. "Lose them."

"Here goes nothing." The car groans as Lucien shifts gears. There's a gap in the traffic, and he moves into the space. I look behind us and see the dark sedan trying to keep pace.

Lucien grips the steering wheel tight. "Do you see Shane?"

Ford looks ahead. "Three cars in front of us."

"I need him to move faster," Lucien urges.

He checks his mirrors and continues weaving in and out of traffic. Horns blare behind us as he cuts off one car after another. The sedan swerves trying to catch up to us. It's boxed in on either side, but it keeps trying to force its way through.

"Ted says there's an exit in a mile. They're going to take it at the last second," Ford relays.

"Got it," Luce says. "Hold on to something, we're about to fly."

Brake lights and headlights blend together into ribbons of white, red, and yellow. Traffic stalls up ahead, less than a quarter mile from the exit. Lucien jerks the wheel and moves onto the shoulder. The tires fishtail as he hits loose gravel and debris, but he manages to force the car back under control. The action startles other drivers, and several pull over to the side of the road causing a massive traffic jam.

The sedan is blocked behind several cars. Lucien takes the opportunity to take the exit. The car purrs as he takes the turn around the exit. We merge into traffic and catch up to Shane several cars ahead. The GPS tries to take us to the next exit, but that will just loop us back around to the same stretch of road the sedan is currently blocked on.

After a few miles, the navigation directs us off the exit for a two lane highway. Lucien checks the mirrors again. "I don't see any suspicious cars behind us. I think we lost the sedan."

I look out the back window. Nothing seems out of place. Just the usual oblivious drivers taking the same drive home they do every day. "We're clear. Take the exit."

Even without a tail we continue to speed. The road curves around the foothills, and just as Ford said, Shane handles them like a master.

Ford takes a second to look at the directions on the screen. "This doesn't make sense. If we follow these directions we're going to run directly into the mountain."

The sky turns completely black, and stars that aren't visible in the city pierce through the night sky. No other vehicles are on the road, and both our cars slow down to a more reasonable speed. Still, we all take turns looking out the window to see if we're being followed.

We reach the base of the mountain after another hour on the highway. The computerized voice directs us to keep going straight. "This doesn't make any sense, we're running out of road," Lucien observes.

Slowing down even more, we find ourselves in front of a gate carved right into the rock. The gate must read a sensor on the car because it slides back as we get closer to it. Both cars pull through, then the gate shuts behind us automatically. Lights click on, revealing a tunnel through the mountain. It's a narrow passage with rough walls glittering with moisture trickling along the crags in the rocks. After about a quarter of a mile we reach another gate. This one is shorter than the other one but still slides open when the cars approach.

We pull out of the tunnel into a clearing. All sides are enclosed by high cliffs. There are several buildings inside, so we pull in front of the largest one at the heart of the complex. Shane pulls alongside us, and we all get out of the cars.

"At least we'll have more room here," Lucien states. He looks around. "What is this place?"

A man wearing an all black uniform steps out from the door of the building. "We all ask that question the first time we see it. Welcome to Mt. Chaos. It's a dormant volcano, repurposed for our training camp."

The womp of helicopter blades cuts through the silence of this remote compound. There's a helipad to the right of the building where a sleek, black chopper makes its descent. "There's the boss now," the man says as Javier climbs out of the passenger side.

Ted whistles. "That's one way to make an entrance."

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