Page 23 of Night Justice

“Get in the car and go!”

Sloane kicked the door. “We don’t have time to hotwire it. What were you thinking?”

As if on cue, the lights flashed, and they could hear the sound of the lock. “Get in. I’m using the car’s keyless capability to start it.”

Sam sat behind the wheel, and the engine roared.

“Now, I’ll disable the lights. Go straight until you reach the edge of the trees, then turn right. Keep going until you see a small service road to your left. It will lead you back to the highway.”

Sam slammed the gas, and the sports car skidded before hitting the grass. There was no way to avoid tire tracks, so outrunning any pursuers was the best option.

Devin was correct, as usual, and Sam turned onto the small dirt road that was barely an improvement from the turf.

“Now, according to the satellite, there should be a bunch of trees as you approach the main road. I’m watching for incoming cars, just be ready to hit the gas hard when I tell you. We don’t want to end up in a chase with the cops. Do you copy?”

Sam slowed, and he could see the main road where two more police cars flew by. “Loud and clear. Waiting for your call, Dev.”

The low hum of the car filled the silence. It was unusual for Sloane to remain quiet in situations as they found themselves, but Sam guessed she understood they didn’t have the luxury of missing their window of escape.

“Now! Go!”

When he slammed the gas pedal, the car swung from left to right before the tires gripped the pavement and propelled them forward with force. Grateful for the responsive ride, Sam took a sharp turn to the left and never let off the gas. Flying down the road, the car was a thing of beauty until they blended into the flow of traffic.

“We’re out. Good work, Devin.”

“Yeah, well done me. Thanks for the extra strands of gray hairs, you motherfuckers. By the way, I’ve disabled the tracking system, so that will give us some time.”

Now that his brain wasn’t in evade and escape mode, Sam returned to the matter at hand. “Orla. Give me an update, Devin!”

“Hey! Shouting won’t make the search go any faster, dumbass!”

About to snarl and give him a piece of his mind, Sam was stopped by Sloane who put her hand on his forearm. The quick glance was a silent warning.

“Just give me a status, that’s all I ask.”

Devin mumbled on the other end of the line.“My program is scanning all accessible cameras in a one-mile radius around the theater. It’s taking time because I’ve initiated a secondary program to record the camera feeds for us, but erasing them for anybody else. That way, your escape will remain undetected, as will Orla’s. Now, I’m programming your GPS to return to base. Sending you to another part of the city to ditch the car will take too much time and computer resources. Follow the route I programmed. I’m controlling the cameras along the route. It will look like you’ve disappeared.”

The screen embedded into the dashboard switched to a display the road to take. Sam was irritated by the time it took, but he had to acknowledge Devin’s efficiency and thoroughness under the circumstances.

The return to base was quick, and Sam drove the luxury car smoothly into their underground parking lot, taking the spot the closest to their private shop. If the vehicle had to be dismantled, it would be more practical.

Sloane followed as Sam headed directly to the lair where he found Devin, his gaze riveted to the wall of screens surrounding him, like at the helm of a strange starship. Sloane ditched her high heels with a groan of pleasure and slid in beside him as he stood beside the hacker.

Devin didn’t move, instead typing a series of coding that reminded Sam of Sanskrit. “You got out in the nick of time. I have eyes on the theater, and the cops are everywhere. Far from what I could garner, there are four deaths. Nobody alive left on site. If there were wounded, they all vanished before the boys in blue arrived. Nonetheless, it’s one big cluster fuck.”

“What’s a clusterfuck?”

Sam cringed when he heard Lance’s voice behind them. He turned to look at his boss and wasn’t surprised to see his frown. “An incident at the Theater on the Lake. We went in undercover at a private party hosted by Maximon and the place came under attack.”

Lance’s eyes darkened as he wobbled to the command center, his wound clearly bothering him, but not diminishing the danger radiating off him. “What do you have on them?”

Sam shook his head. “Nothing yet. We were hoping to get more information on Mr. Black and Mr. White, the heads of Maximon, but the evening was interrupted.”

Devin brought up the theater’s inside camera on the main screen just as the squad started firing.

Sloane shook her head. “They arrived out of nowhere, using catering trucks as a decoy. Devin was monitoring all available cameras in the area, but there weren’t any outside to hack.”

“And that’s why you should’ve asked for back-up. Two or three of ours on the outside would’ve given you enough eyes to anticipate rather than react. But the better question is why you went as civilians? And was that decision linked to a certain journalist?”

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