Page 28 of Last Resort

“I’ll get the driver,” Chance shouted, taking off in a sprint. “You get the other one.”

The driver ran back through the alley Chance had just driven through, trying to get back to the main street. Chance had to stop him before he did that. He forced speed from his legs, gaining on the smaller man. Finally he leaped, hitting the man in a flying tackle, taking them both down.

They both hit the ground hard, but for the first time since he noticed the sedan, Chance felt like he could breathe.

Finally.

He dragged the man back through the dark alley to the cars, glad when he didn’t put up much of a fight. Luke and Weston had gotten their perp too. From the light of the streetlamp Chance finally got a look at the pair.

Holy hell. They wereteenagers.

He looked over at Weston and Luke and realized they were thinking the same thing.

It had been damnedteenagersstalking Stella LeBlanc?

“How old are you?” Chance demanded.

“Seventeen.” The driver tipped his chin up defiantly, and Chance could see the rosy edges of his eyes.

“What’s your name?”

The kid rolled his eyes. “I’m Bert.” He hooked his thumb toward his friend. “This is Ernie.”

Chance’s jaw tightened, but he let it go. They would get IDs later. He looked closer at the boys’ red-rimmed eyes.

“Are you high?”

That didn’t make sense. How had a stoned kid managed to slip past so many layers of security over the past few weeks?

“Who wants to know?” Ernie asked with a smirk.

Chance crouched down beside them, ignoring the question. “Why were you following us?”

Bert scoffed. “We’re not telling you anything.”

“Fine.” Luke took a step closer. “We’ll call some friends of ours with the San Antonio PD and get you transferred to lockup. Harassment, speeding, DWI. You broke enough laws that they could take your license permanently. And seventeen is old enough to go to real jail for a couple of nights. Maybe you can make a few friends. I hear they like fresh meat.”

Both boys paled. “Look, we didn’t want to hurt anyone.”

“So why were you following Stella LeBlanc?” Weston asked.

“Who?” Bert asked. “We don’t know who we were following.”

Ernie shook his head, looking like he was about to pee his pants. “Yeah, someone paid us to follow your car and make sure you knew we were doing it. We didn’t think you’d get all psycho!”

Chance met eyes with Weston. This didn’t make sense. “Start over. What exactly did they pay you for?”

“Just to follow the car. They said you’d probably find us, so we should keep the chase going as long as we could.”

“Who?” Luke took a step forward, scaring the kids even more.

“I don’t know!” they both shouted.

Chance grabbed Bert by the collar. “Who hired you? A man? Woman? What did they look like?”

Bert started shaking. “A man. We were hanging out outside the convenience store, and he offered us five hundred dollars to mess with you guys when your car pulled out of the garage. He stayed in the dark. I didn’t see him.”

“Why would someone do that?” Weston asked. “He didn’t pay you to hurt or chase a woman who would be in the car?”

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