Page 63 of Phoenix Rising

“No.”

Reese slowed to let the car catch up and then floored it. The other vehicle kept pace.

“Damn it, I don’t know these roads,” Reese said as he took a curve on two wheels. “Hold on.”

They jolted forward when the car tagged their bumper. Reese fought the wheel to keep control, barely avoiding going over the edge. Audria had ridden with him in situations like this before and trusted him implicitly. He was calm under pressure, and his defensive driving skills were second to none. Suddenly, the lights behind them were gone.

“What happened?”

Audria twisted in her seat to peer out the back window. “I think Christian took care of him for us.”

#

Christian hated to leave the resort. It was the only link he had to Aja Blue LaLonde. She might be gone already, but now he would have no chance to run into her again.

He sighed. It was probably for the best. Aja Blue was a superstar. He was not. It wasn’t as if anything could happen between them, even if that kiss had rocked him to his core.

After checking for traffic, Christian pulled out and kept pace behind the other two vehicles. He spotted the tail on Reese and Audria almost instantly. It was a nondescript black sedan, four-door with no license plate. A sure giveaway. It shot away from the curb as soon as they passed, cutting in front of Christian. Good.

He let off the accelerator, staying back to monitor things. Even though it was getting late, traffic was heavy as they navigated the streets. The house BeBe had secured for them was outside city limits, in the hills. When the sedan floored it and tapped the bumper of Reese and Audria’s SUV on a curve, Christian stepped on the gas. He waited for the perfect moment and then expertly executed the Precision Immobilization Technique, or PIT maneuver, clipping the sedan and causing it to spin out and plow into a guardrail. The vehicle was older, so no airbag was deployed in the crash. The car was facing him, but he couldn’t see the driver. He wore a hood, and his head rested against the steering wheel. Maybe the hit had knocked him out.

Christian grabbed his weapon and slid out of the SUV. His gun was poised in front of him as he carefully approached. The driver lifted his head and shook it. When he spotted Christian, he hit the accelerator. Christian fired, shattering the windshield and causing the vehicle to swerve away from him and keep going.

He had a decision to make. Follow it or ensure Reese and Audria made it to the safe house. Talia and Hunter were with them, and they needed to catch the person responsible for the attacks and Paige Stockton’s possible disappearance.

Christian jumped into the driver’s seat, made a U-turn, and headed after the perp. The car was weaving erratically, and he wondered if he’d nicked the driver with a bullet. He hadn’t been aiming at the person since he wanted him alive to answer questions.

Before he could close the distance, the driver did the same thing to a car in front of him that Christian had earlier, but with much less finesse. The other car spun out of control and flipped, skidding across the pavement and coming to a stop right-side up in front of his SUV.

Christian looked up to see the car turn down a street. Odds were good that he wouldn’t be able to find it, and the occupants of the vehicle the man trashed might be injured. He called 9-1-1 and jumped out, rounding the pinging and popping car to the driver’s side.

The airbag was deflating, and the first thing he noticed when he opened the door was red hair. For a second, he thought it was Aja Blue, but it wasn’t. The girl looked to be about sixteen or seventeen. “Are you hurt?”

“I don’t know,” she wailed. Christian didn’t want to move her in case of spinal injuries, but she took the decision out of his hands when she unbuckled her belt and slid out of the car. He caught her before she hit the ground and eased her to the pavement. She was in shock, so it might take time before she felt any injuries.

“What’s your name?” Christian asked her.

“J-Jamie.” She blinked up at him. “Someone h-hit me.”

“I know, Jamie. I saw it happen.”

Tears flooded her eyes. “I wasn’t going that slow. I haven’t had my license long.”

Christian’s hand reached for his weapon as a man jogged to them. “I was down the street but saw the car that hit her. It was missing a windshield.”

Yeah, he knew that. He released his grip on his Sig Sauer. “Did you get a look at the driver?”

The man shook his head as sirens sounded in the distance. “He was wearing a hood.”

An ambulance was the first to arrive. While the paramedics checked Jamie out, Christian called Audria to tell her he’d been delayed.

“You took out our tail,” she said.

“Yeah, but he fled and crashed into another car before escaping. She’s a teen and pretty traumatized. I’ll have to stay here and tell the police what happened.”

“Ask for Detective Tara Beaumont,” Audria instructed him. “She’s keeping a file on our case.”

When the first police car arrived, Christian requested the officer contact the detective Audria named. After he put in the call, he asked what had caused the wreck.

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