Page 15 of Boxed In

Chapter 3

Olivia ducked low to make herself as small a target as possible. Her hands fused to the wheel, she screeched to a halt in front of the gate that Luke had opened.

“Get in!” she screamed.

Luke bent at the waist, running around the front of the car and through the door she’d thrown open.

She heard a man shout something in a language she didn’t understand—but she was pretty sure it wasn’t the language Luke had spoken after he’d awakened.

Her first thought was that it must be Arabic. Then she decided it had an Asian cadence. Or maybe Indian.

As Luke slammed the door closed, she was already lurching away, picking up speed as she cleared the door, then hurtling up the ramp to the street.

“They stopped shooting!” she shouted.

“The one from upstairs warned the shooter not to hit the box.”

“Our lucky break.”

“For now. They’ll kill us if they catch up.”

Olivia absorbed that with a grimace.

It was fully dark now, and she reached for the lever that turned on the headlights.

“Leave them off,” Luke shouted as she made a quick left turn, then sped to the end of the block.

She didn’t like driving in the dark with no lights, but she understood why it was a good idea. At least she didn’t have to worry about much traffic on the streets around the warehouses.

oOo

Before the silver car was up the ramp, Smith, Jones and Brown sprinted for their rental car, and jumped in. Jones was driving, and he headed for the garage door, trying to catch up with the fleeing car.

Although the door was already closing, he thought he could make it underneath before it was too late. But he had to slam on his brakes at the last minute when the gap became too small for their car to exit.

Smith cursed. “Get out,” he said to Brown. “Open it again. Hurry. We’ve got to catch up with them.”

Brown sprinted for the door opener and pressed the switch. As the door began to ascend again, he dashed back to the car. But by the time they emerged from the garage, the street was empty.

Smith cursed again.

“They can’t have gotten far,” Brown muttered.

Jones scanned the street. “I think they kept their lights off. Which way should I go?”

“If I’d been them, I would have turned right,” Smith said.

Jones nodded, then made a right turn, speeding down the darkened street, as all of them watched for the little silver car. But it seemed to have vanished.

After several minutes, Jones admitted defeat and began driving more slowly. He didn’t think they were going to find the couple right away. But they had to keep trying.

“Now what?” Brown asked.

“We must figure out where the man and the woman would go. Then kill them and take the box.”

“The woman was an office worker,” Smith said.

“Yes.”

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