Page 60 of Lavender and Lightning

“I’m in a car, but my friend is driving. He noticed that the same car has been following us since I left work twenty minutes ago.”

“Okay, ma’am, I need your location and direction.”

I look around to find some sort of landmark or street sign, rattling off cross streets as Caleb gives me the direction we’re heading.

“Okay, ma’am, what I need you to do is head east on Decatur. There’s a police station we need you to pass by.”

“He’s going to bolt if we drive to a police station. I’m heading toward the suburbs. Can your officer intercept there?” Caleb asks loudly.

“Sir, we need you to cooperate and work with us. It would be safer—”

“With all due respect, this tail has been driving with increasing recklessness the longer we go. He’s already blown one stop sign, and I don’t want to keep this going for much longer,” Caleb interrupts, taking a hard turn into a neighborhood.

The blue car breaks off from the line of traffic to make the same sharp turn, nearly causing an oncoming car to hit them. I swallow, flexing my free hand as it shakes.

“We have units heading in your direction. Do your best to not engage, please.”

My phone vibrates in my hand with an incoming message, but I swipe it away before I even have time to see who it’s from. I glance in the mirror again, and the blue car is directly behind us, not even trying to be subtle. Caleb and the dispatcher are going back and forth so the police can find us, but I can hardly make out what they’re saying over the pounding in my ears. We make another sharp left, and then a right, and I’m thoroughly lost in the grid of narrow residential streets.

“Officers are inbound, two minutes out,” the dispatcher says at some point.

My phone vibrates again, and I see that it’s Rhett trying to call. But I can’t answer with my phone in emergency mode. I swallow the lump in my throat. He’s probably pacing like a caged animal. I can only hope he’ll forgive me for this when I make it home.

“You’re in a black Escalade, correct?” the dispatcher asks.

“Affirmative. I think I see your unmarked unit behind us,” Caleb answers with clipped efficiency.

“There’s a cul-de-sac coming up. The officer wants you to turn down there. Other units are incoming to block off the exits.”

Caleb grunts his answer, then makes a hard left before making a quick right. The blue car blows the stop sign before we lose sight of him for a moment, but then he’s making the same turn, too caught up with the chase to notice the No Outlet sign. But just as the dispatcher said, the street ends in a wide circle surrounded by cookie-cutter houses.

The lights from the white car that followed behind come on as we’re swinging around to leave. I start to relax, thinking that this is about to be all over. But then, there’s squealing of tires moments before we’re knocked sideways. I scream as the SUV rocks, arms coming up over my head. Metal screeches, the airbags pop, and blood covers my arms. My chest is on fire—

“We’re okay, Lydia. You hear me? Open your eyes.”

Caleb’s deep rumbling command ripples through me, cold for a moment, before settling into something like rain sliding down my back. Refreshing rather than painful. After I open my eyes and realize we’re stopped, the compulsion to obey fades almost immediately. The SUV is still running, but there is a significant tilt toward the back corner on the driver’s side. The windshield is still intact, and none of the airbags have gone off.

Swallowing around my suddenly sore throat, I lower my arms. I look at my phone as it vibrates again, this time with a call from Lucas. My phone is still locked in emergency mode, but the call with the dispatcher has ended. When I look around, I find Caleb staring intently at me, scent strong with something salty. His concern fades as I take a deep breath and nod my thanks.

He turns and I follow his gaze as we realize that we’re surrounded by police officers. The blue car is nearby, angled in our direction. I twist and realize with a jolt that he rammed into us as we were trying to leave.

“Stay in the car,” Caleb instructs without looking at me.

He doesn’t have to tell me twice. Caleb opens his door and climbs out, moving fast. But the door doesn’t close fast enough behind him for me to not hear the garbled roar of shouting that was previously muffled. One voice stirs something in my mind, but I can’t figure out where I’ve heard it before.

The locks engage with a loud thunk that makes me jump and I settle back into my seat with a sigh. I take several deep, measured breaths, trying to stop my body from shaking. My phone buzzes in my hand again, and I look down to a text message.

Luc: Hey, are you dead?

I can’t help but smile a little. Leave it to Lucas to know how to break the tension.

Me: No. There was an incident on the way home. I’m okay. Caleb is okay. No one is hurt.

Luc: That’s unhelpfully vague.

Me: We noticed someone was following us on the way home, so we called the police. Caleb thinks it might be my stalker.

Luc: Wow.

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