Page 13 of Hidden Dane
He leaned forward and dragged in deep breaths—not from exertion, but fear for Emily. Now what?
“Do you know?” Brady asked, taking his glasses off to wipe his forehead.
Henry flagged down a taxi for them. Uriel said, “A map.”
As they climbed inside, Uriel let his friend read the paper he still possessed, not that it explained anything.
Brady handed it back. “Interesting. It says the key is the necklace.”
Henry gave coordinates and the license plate of the limo to the driver.
Air returned to his lungs and he wasn’t numb. Saving Emily sent adrenaline through him as he told Brady, “That Emily has.”
As the taxi sped toward the limo, Brady asked, “Are we rescuing her or the necklace?”
Always Emily, not that he’d say that. Henry coaxed the driver to go faster by promising extra cash.
Soon the limo was in front of them. Uriel’s muscles tingled with anticipation. “Emily. This is all my fault.”
Brady fixed his glasses, took out his phone and started typing in the numbers he’d seen on the slip of paper—a cool fact about his friend was that Brady had a photographic memory. “I see. I’ll start searching these coordinates and get you the information we’ll need.”
Uriel already knew they’d head to his father’s bank, eventually.
The taxi driver pulled beside the limo and Uriel rolled down his window. Without realizing that she was in danger, Emily glanced beside her and noticed him with a smile.
When she saw how he waved frantically at her, she rolled down her window too. He said, “Emily!”
Then the limo driver pressed on the gas. She pulled on her door but the driver had locked it. With a fast glance in front of her and then toward him, she threw the box to him as she began to climb out the window. The limo swerved and she fell back inside, on her seat. His heart beat wildly unsure how he’d catch her—but he would if she tried again. He’d caught the box. She screamed out, “Dane. I… you.”
The wind and the speeding tires drowned out whatever she said. He opened his door and said, “What?”
“I… you,” she said again as she struggled to her feet, her head out the window. The wind screamed between them.
Squealing tires and road traffic made her voice disappear.
“I can’t hear you.” She climbed onto her seat again and managed to get a leg out as he said, “Jump.”
Perhaps this wasn’t the best plan. She clutched the necklace around her throat and her eyes widened as she asked, “Now?”
“Yes.” He held out his hands. If he could reach her, he could hold her.
Something clicked in the air as they sped toward the train station. Henry tugged him down and said, “Get back here!”
A millisecond later, black smoke burned his eyes. What sounded like an engine exploded, and metal shrieked as the limo blew up, vehicle pieces showering from the air.
He screamed, “Emily!”
He coughed when his lungs filled with smoke. The blackness made his eyes water.
Henry’s hand tightened on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”
Emily deserved way more than me. Uriel had nothing else. The world was black without her.
As the smoke dissipated, he saw fragments of the limo.
Somehow she was gone and he had no way to get her back from the dead.
Chapter 5
