They headed over to the address, Dewi parking on the street two driveways down. It was a small grouping of six ancient duplexes, two of them with blue tarps of various threadbare condition nailed to the roofs. Parking areas flanked both sides of the cluster of duplexes, which sat positioned in two rows of three each.
Joaquin parked at the far end of the closest parking area, where the unit was located, so the vehicle couldn’t be seen from the windows. Joaquin headed around the rear of the building to watch the back door while Dewi walked up to the front door. Just then, in the opposite parking area, a vehicle pulling in caught both their attention.
“Shit! That’s them!” Joaquin said.
Henry was behind the wheel and Fawny occupied the passenger seat. But Henry spotted them first and quickly backed out, squealing tires as he pulled away.
“Goddammit!” Dewi screamed. “Don’t let them get away! Take the other car!” She sprinted for the Saleen and didn’t even bother fastening her seatbelt as she peeled out to follow them.
Weaving through traffic, Dewi lost sight of them but Joaquin had managed to get ahead of her and skate through a traffic light before it turned red. He kept her posted as he pursued the car west along US 41.
“Talk to me, Joaquin!” she screamed.
“I think he’s heading to Krome Avenue,” he said. “I’ve dropped back just enough I can keep up with him.”
“Don’t youdarefucking lose him!”
“I don’t want him to wreck with the baby inside, Dewi!”
“Dammit!”
Somehow, they managed to weave through traffic without picking up any law enforcement, and then Joaquin spoke up. “Turned north on Krome Avenue,” he said. “Right turn. Intersection where the casino is.”
“Where’s Krome lead?” she asked.
“All the way north to Alligator Alley, if he doesn’t turn off first.”
She was still about a quarter mile behind them and managed to slide around the corner on a stale yellow light without fishtailing into traffic waiting in the oncoming left turn lane. The road was four lanes but divided in the center by a wide, grassy median and cable barrier.
Thirty seconds later, she finally caught up to and passed Joaquin, flooring it as she pulled alongside the vehicle they were pursuing.
Sure enough, she spotted a baby carseat in the back.
“Let’s box him in,” she said. Praying he wasn’t stupid enough to hit her car, she pulled ahead of the vehicle and hit her brakes, weaving as Henry did behind her, blocking him in and forcing him to slow down and stop.
Both she and Joaquin jumped out with guns drawn, and in the distance Dewi now heard sirens she suspected were approaching them. Just to the west, on the far side of the southbound lanes, was a wide irrigation canal. West of that lay a vast expanse of sawgrass swamp that composed most of the Everglades.
She ordered Henry out of the vehicle, grabbing him by the arm as he exited and pouring the full force of her Prime into him to immobilize him.
In the back seat, the baby squalled where it was strapped in.
Dewi tightened her grip on Henry’s arm and smacked him, hard, on the back of the head. “That’s for abducting the baby, asshole. Leave your phone, wallet, keys, and any weapons on top of the car. When I tell you, start heading west. Don’t stop until nightfall, or law enforcement catches up to you, whichever happens first. Then you can turn around and head east and turn yourself in to the first cop you find. You’re also going to fucking confess to everything about crimes you haven’t been caught for yet. And pay off the debts you owe to your baby mommas.
“You will forget about Emily, forget you have a child with her, and if you’re ever reminded of that fact you will deny you have any children with her. Delete all your social media accounts. You will forget all about this morning. You’ll also forget about us. Oh, and punch yourself hard in the balls a few times before you head east again. Or if you see law enforcement coming. In fact, start every morning for the next year by punching yourself hard in the nuts first thing when you wake up, and again right before you go to bed.”
“What if he gets off on that?” Joaquin snarked.
“Shut up,” Dewi growled.
Henry left the items, including a gun and a knife, on the roof.
“What’s the phone lock code?” she demanded.
He gave it to her, and she unlocked the phone and reset the code.
“Okay, head west, fucker.”
He did, barely avoiding getting hit by an oncoming car in the southbound lanes as he crossed Krome Avenue.
