Page 210 of Delightful Sins

“Police! Turn off the vehicle and show your hands!”

Elliot’s hand tightens on my shoulder, and Kay holds her gun on her lap. We’re all wearing our masks. They can’t recognize us.

“Jade!” Kay screams at me.

The light goes green just as a cop gets out of the car.

And we’re gone.

Our tires screech as we let out a cloud of smoke behind us. They’re too slow to get back in their cars, probably already calling for backup.

“Oh my God,” Kay gasps, grabbing the handle above the door as we all get crushed against our seats. “For a second there, I thought you weren’t gonna move.”

“I know what I’m doing,” I say, staying focused on the road. I drift around a corner, sending everyone to the side and praying the van doesn’t flip over.

I feel two tires leaving the road and steer the wheel all the way back.

“Shit!” Ethan shouts.

We slam back on four wheels, and I speed along the road that leads to the highway.

Sirens scream behind us. Now three cars are after us.

“I’m going through the North Shore.”

“That’s not the plan,” Kay fights back.

“They’re South Bank cops. They won’t know the roads like we do. I know them by heart; I’ve raced them my entire life.”

I press down on the gas pedal, knowing I can lose them. One gets close enough, and Kay brings her gun to the window.

Someone fires, but it’s not us. A bullet hits the side mirror, making me scream. Kay fires back, aiming straight for the tires. I watch the car zigzag behind us before crashing into a tree.

“Everyone okay?” she asks.

I nod, speeding across the truss bridge and onto our side of town.

Kay grabs her phone, texting at the speed of light. “I’m sending some guys to slow them down,” she mumbles, focused on her task.

By the time we’re on the other side of the woods, three cars speed in the opposite direction as us, braking as they see the cops and boxing one in.

Two down.

One to go.

I speed through the streets I grew up driving.

Tapping the steering wheel with my index finger, I count out loud.

“One tap. Right, right. Three taps. Left. Two taps.”

I take a right and another right straight away, drive down three blocks, and take one left. I drive another two blocks, take a back alley, and push the van to its limits so I don’t get stuck in case they’re coming from either side.

“Two taps. Right. One tap. Left.Highway.”

I do exactly that, following my childhood mnemotechnics from when my dad would drive me around and taught me how to drive myself.

It takes me less than two minutes to lose the other car.

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