Page 52 of Out of Control

“What are you doing?” Athena exclaimed, reaching over to grab my hand and stop me.

“I’m going to arrest him. He threatened you!” As I said the words, I realized that wasn't actually true. He hadn’t said anything at all, threatening or otherwise. He was just trying to rile us up. I darted my gaze back over to him.

“I’ll see you later, baby,” he taunted with a wink and blew another kiss. That clearlywasa threat, but not overtly enough that I could respond legally.

The little shit was confident, but we would catch him sooner or later, and all these little things, while circumstantial, would add up during trial once we got him there. It would all be worth it when considering enhancements to his charges when we did finally nail him.

I fought against every protective instinct in my body and released the door handle. I forced myself to ignore Lombardi and turn the key in the ignition, bringing the car to life. The second we had an opening I pulled onto the main road, speeding down the street. Lombardi’s car was facing the oppositedirection. If he had the intention of following us we had a very small window to lose him before he could circle the block.

“Put on your seat belt, baby, I need you to stay safe,” I warned Athena before taking a hard right turn, then another, jumping the curb a little the second time. She hurried to pull the belt across her lap.

“Is he behind us?” she asked, craning her neck to look. I had yet to even tap my brakes, swerving around cars in my attempt to put as much distance between us and Lombardi as possible.

“No,” I said confidently. I’d been cycling my eyes through all my mirrors and didn’t see that rust bucket. Yet. “No, he’s not, but we’re not stopping.” The speedometer continued to climb, approaching forty-five—a little fast for city streets, so I let my foot off the gas just a little.

“Good,” she said, leaning back in her seat. “You should put on your seat belt, too,” she chastised.

Fair point. “If we don’t see him in the next two minutes, I’ll pull over and buckle up like a good boy,” I teased. I was pleased to see her deep blush out of the corner of my eye. I knew she liked all thegood girlstuff in the moment, but it was encouraging to see her still reacting to it after the fury from the last several minutes. At least something of us survived the night.

I turned on my blinker as we approached an upcoming freeway entrance, really wanting to put some distance from the financial district.

But as we climbed the on ramp I could hear a little beep. The sound was muffled by the noise of the engine accelerating past fifty, but I felt a small bump at the same time, like we ranover something. I glanced in the rearview mirror, but didn’t see anything in the street.

“Did you feel that?” Athena asked. I nodded.

“Did you hear that?” I countered, noting her grim nod. “It would be just my luck to need a car repair in the middle of all this shit.”

But her lips thinned out even more instead of laughing at my stupid joke.

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that Leo Lombardi’s favorite movie is Speed.”

“The movie with the bomb on the bus?”

“The movie where the bomb on the bus gets activated after the bus reaches fifty miles per hour. How fast were you going? When that happened?”

“About fifty.” I confirmed, clearing my throat. “That might explain the beep, but not the bump. And do you honestly think he has the skills or smarts to make a bomb like that?”

She paused while I eyed an exit; I didn’t want to stay in one place long enough for anyone to find us. The Morellis weren’t being subtle anymore. I felt like we were approaching their endgame, but I really wanted to stop long enough to at least take a peak under the hood and see if anything looked wrong.

I tapped my brakes to slow down as I merged onto the offramp, but nothing happened. I pressed my foot against the brake pedal more aggressively, then put pedal to the metal but still nothing.Shit.

“Athena.” She met my eyes, the horror in my voice matching what I saw in her eyes. “The brakes are out.”

We were approaching a red light at the end of the ramp. A few cars waited for it to turn green, so I swerved onto the shoulder, speeding past them when I still couldn’t make the car slow. Athena screamed and held on to the handle above the window as I took the turn at double the speed limit, car hopping onto the sidewalk before finishing the turn in the far left lane.

There were too many cars around us, and I tried to keep one hand on the horn to warn other drivers, but then I’d need two hands to swerve and avoid hitting all the cars in the road. Athena unbuckled to scoot over, one hand gripping my thigh in a vice grip, the other pressing down on the horn so I could use two hands to maneuver.

I appreciated the thought, but I needed her safe. Another red light ahead meant I needed to hop up onto the sidewalk again, our speed too fast to avoid serious injuries if we were to rear-end another vehicle. The pedestrians screamed, jumping out of the way into store fronts. That was too dangerous as well. What if someone had mobility issues and couldn’t get out of the way in time? I couldn’t be responsible for killing someone.

I had to find a way to stop the car.

“Buckle your seat belt,” I warned Athena again, shifting her hand away from the horn, laying on it again myself.

I recognized where we were and knew what I had to do. I saw the sign and knew where I had to go. If I had to choose who would suffer from an inevitable car accident, the answer was easy. Me.

Fidelity, bravery, integrity.

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