Page 68 of Vicarious

I look at the tracker and, indeed, Phae has at least five more hours to go before she gets to the city. Dele and I will be back on the ground before she gets anywhere near it.

“Eileen, what kind of car did she take? Electric or gas?”

“Electric.”

Dele’s phone goes off.

She snatches it up to answer on speaker, “Bella!”

“I fucking told you to deal with that woman.”

“I don’t need your I told you so’s right now. I just need you to—”

“We’re headed back to the house. If Phae even looks in the direction of the estate, we’ll know it if she’s bold enough to try.”

“She is bold enough to try,” I interrupt. “That’s why we need to intercept her before she gets to the city.”

There’s a long moment of silence on the other end of the line before Isabella Uccello speaks again.

“Adrian Blake,” she says tersely.

“My apologies for not greeting you the last time we saw each other. I was in a bit of a rush,” I state.

“No apologies needed. Your greeting wasn’t particularly wanted.”

I ignore her vitriol and say, “We need to intercept Phae before she ever gets to the city. My people are chasing her, but we need your people to head her way from the opposite direction. Get men stationed at all the possible electric car charging stations along the route from Long Island to Rochester. I’ll do the same with my men from the other side. She’s going to have to stop to charge the car at some time, and she doesn’t have a lot of options. When you get home, don’t leave for anything. Don’t let so much as a strange maintenance man on the property until you hear from us.”

“I don’t take orders from you, Blake.”

“Bella,” Dele sighs. “Please.”

There’s a sigh from the other end that I take to mean agreement before Isabella says,“Keep me posted. We’ll do the same from this end.”

30

Viper

Just like I thought she would, Phae has to stop about a hundred miles out from her destination to charge the car. But even though the tracker can figure out her general radius within a few miles, the tracker in her ring isn’t sophisticated enough to give her exact location. The drawbacks of having to use such a small one to fit securely under the small stone in her ring.

I order both Isabella’s and my men who are in the area to station at every possible charging location in parking garages, at conveniences stores, commercial pharmacies, and wherever the fuck else Phae can find one.

Not long after she stops and I put the men on alert, I get a ping from both Isabella and Eileen that Phae has been spotted in a parking garage to charge the car. It’s going to take at least an hour for her to get enough charge to finish her trip so that gives me some time to get to her.

I order the men not to do anything until I get there and to keep eyes on her in the meantime. I’d like to think my men could deal with Phae on their own, but Phae didn’t escape being stupid. No doubt she somehow got her hands on a weapon she knows how to use. Probably a pistol.

Dele and I have been on the ground headed in Phae’s direction from the city for a little over an hour by this time, so we’re not that far from where Phae has stopped. Eileen is about thirty minutes out herself from the other direction. Between all of us, Phae’s not getting away.

Phae spots Dele and I the moment we pull into the parking garage. She doesn’t bother getting out to dislodge the plug, just immediately puts the car into drive and speeds out the spot she was backed into. Just like I taught her years ago. Or maybe how she was taught by her mafia family before she left. Always park backwards for a fast getaway.

“Fuck,” Dele says from next me as we follow her. “Please tell me your men have all possible exits blocked.”

“They better,” I say speeding after Phae. If they don’t, they’re all dead. I don’t care if they’re my men or Bella’s. If they let Phae get away because of a gross oversight like that, I’m dropping them all in the fucking Atlantic with anchors tied to them.

Lucky for everyone involved, they did block all the possible exits after they let Dele and I pass. Unlucky for everyone involved, Phae is crazy enough that seeing a barricade of cars only makes her slam her foot on the accelerator. Between the force that comes from that kind of speed and the durability of the car, Phae forces herself past the barricade, sending cars and men flying in her escape.

“She’s on the move,” I say to Eileen as I speed past my and Bella’s injured or dead men. Someone will know to take care of that.

“I know. I’ve got everyone available going after her and all others detouring other traffic on her most probable routes.”

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