Page 53 of Beautiful Vengeance

She laced up her boots and picked up her bag. Shutting off and compartmentalizing her feelings wasn’t so easy where he was concerned. Every time she looked at him she remembered what it was like together, the way he touched her. Like magic. With him she never had to pretend, be someone else.

He straightened, duffel in one hand and cane in the other. Tall and strong. Proud. “Ready?”

“Yes—”

Trinity rushed into the room, her expression grave as she held her phone to her ear. “Understood. We’re moving now.” She ended the call just as Eden stepped into the room. “That was Megan. Some of Rahman’s people are on their way here.”

“What? How?” Kiyomi demanded.

“Probably CCTVs around his compound. We’ve got two minutes to vacate the premises.”

Kiyomi snatched the keys from the counter. At this point it didn’t matter how the enemy had found this place. “Let’s go.”

There wasn’t time to wipe down the place properly. Everyone grabbed their gear and hurried to the van. Kiyomi slid into the driver’s seat and had the engine running while the others piled in. Trinity got in beside her, Marcus and Eden in the back.

“Go,” Marcus said as he slid the side door shut after him.

Kiyomi hit the gas. “Where am I going?” she asked Trinity.

“Just head east for now.”

Kiyomi turned right and began to weave her way through the residential neighborhood. Trinity was checking the GPS on her phone. “Left at the light up ahead.”

She did as she was told, but a few hundred yards after she’d made the turn, in the rearview mirror she spotted a black SUV weaving erratically through traffic behind them. Whoever it was, was in a helluva hurry. “Someone’s coming up fast on our six,” she said, and ducked down a side street just in case.

Sure enough, the SUV skidded around the corner seconds later.

“Hang on,” Kiyomi said, and stepped on it. She veered left at the next street. The traffic was light, but a high-speed chase through an area like this was still dangerous. “Get me to a highway,” she told Trinity.

Marcus and Eden were both swiveled around in their seats, looking through the back windows. “He’s still back there,” Marcus said.

“I see him.” Searching for a place to lose them, Kiyomi was forced to slow to maneuver around other vehicles.

“Straight ahead three blocks, and then a hard right,” Trinity told her, eyes on her phone.

Kiyomi darted around a delivery truck, then slammed on the brake to avoid a head-on collision with a bus. Horns blasted as she yanked the wheel, narrowly missing both vehicles. Behind her, the SUV jumped onto the sidewalk to pass the snarled traffic.

“Two more blocks,” Trinity said.

Kiyomi saw the turn up ahead. “Get ready,” she told the others, then hit the brake and made a sharp right turn, accelerating as the back end of the van swung around. “Now where?” she said to Trinity.

“Right at the light, then first left. Highway’s right there.”

There was too much traffic backed up at the light. Kiyomi turned into an alley before the intersection. It was narrow, with only a few inches of clearance on either side of her mirrors.

When they were partway up it, the SUV tore around the corner. Sparks flew as it lost its mirrors on the walls of the first building, but it kept coming.

“Front passenger’s lowering the window,” Marcus said. “Rifle. He’s getting ready to fire.”

Kiyomi floored it. Up ahead she could see traffic passing the end of the alley. She couldn’t afford to slow down. Had to risk a collision and burst through the intersection. “Brace,” she snapped.

She shot the van out of the alley. Swerved to avoid the truck coming right at her, then darted between two other vehicles going the other way as she crossed the intersection. Tires screeched and horns shrieked. “Left?” she said to Trinity.

“Yes, then immediate right.”

Kiyomi made the left turn, caught sight of the SUV to the left as it sped past them up a different street. Losing sight of it sent a wave of cold through her gut. “You see it?” she asked the others.

“No,” Marcus said, looking around intently.

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