Chapter 44
Emily’s entire day had been a carnival ride of one unlikely event after another. And now here she was involved in a car chase. Acar chase, for crying out loud!
To make matters worse? She seemed to be the only person in the truck shitting bricks. Down to a man, her companions were as cool as proverbial cucumbers. Christian was the worst of them. There wasn’t a tremor in his voice or a hitch in his delivery when he said, “We need to get off the motorway and ditch this bloody pickup truck.”
“Ditch the truck?” She blinked at him as Rusty swerved around another car and sent her slamming into Christian’s side.
To her dismay, he threw an arm around her shoulders to steady her. “It’s the only way to lose our tail,” he said.
“And once we ditch the truck?Thenwhat?”
Rusty slammed on the brakes, leaving rubber on blacktop when a car pulled into his lane. She was lucky she was buckled in, or she would have gone sailing between the front seats and straight through the windshield.
Once she’d recovered, she demanded again, “What happens after we ditch the truck?”
“Not sure.” Christian shrugged, looking completely blasé. “First things first.”
“Right.” She nodded. “Wonderful. Sounds like a plan.Not!”
“There!” Ace pointed through the windshield. “Take that exit.”
Rusty crossed three lanes of traffic at a blistering pace. When she glanced over her shoulder, she saw the black SUV dart past them, unable to pursue without causing a twenty-car pileup.
Blowing out an unsteady breath, Emily realized she had dug her fingernails into Christian’s thigh when he covered her hand with his and winced. “Little less pressure, darling. I think I might be bleeding.”
“Oh!” She unstuck her nails from the denim of his jeans and gripped the seat in front of her instead. “Sorry. I—”
Her thoughts snapped off like bones brittle with age when Ace pointed to a road that led back into Folkestone. “Take that. And everyone keep their eyes peeled for a car we might steal.”
“Appropriate,” Angel corrected. “To steal something indicates we might think to keep it. We will merely beborrowinga car for a short while and—”
“There!” Ace cut him off. “That one.”
Emily blinked through the windshield. They had turned onto a neighborhood street. Houses packed side-by-side sported postage-stamp-sized lawns, rosebushes, and the occasional tipped-over tricycle. “You mean the gray one? The Ford Focus?Why?”
“The Ford Focus is one of the most popular cars in the UK,” Angel said, as if that bit of trivia was supposed to mean something.
“Given we’re not certain what’s going on, it’s best if we blend into the crowd,” Christian explained.Bless him.“Also, the vehicle comes standard with a Thatcham 2 security system, which means no alarm, just an immobilizer.”
“An immobilizer?”
“Something that keeps common thieves from being able to hot-wire the vehicle.”
“Good thing I am not a common thief,” Angel said, not a shred of braggadocio in his tone, just a statement of fact.
The most popular car in the UK, Thatcham whatwhozits, and immobilizers… Emily had always fancied herself a pretty knowledgeable gal, but obviously she was just a babe in the woods when it came to this stuff.
“Let me out at the curb there.” Angel pointed. “Then drive around the block and wait. I will meet you there once I have the vehicle.”
“Shouldn’t we wait with you?” Emily asked, peering around, trying to see if anyone was in their front garden on this chilly March night. Thankfully, the block was quiet. The only movements came from the wind in the trees and a lone moth that seemed particularly intrigued by their right headlight.
“No.” Angel said. “This pickup truck is too conspicuous. We do not want someone to look out their window and become curious.”
“Right.” She nodded. Curiosity was bad. Everyone knew what it had done to the cat.
Rusty pulled in front of the car they planned to steal…er…appropriate, and Angel hopped out. No sooner had the door slammed shut than Rusty was back on the gas and they were leaving Angel to quietly mosey toward the unsuspecting vehicle. With him gone, the heat radiating off Christian seemed amplified. So did the smell of him, that expensive earthy-sweet aroma of his cologne.
“How long will it take him to break in and hot-wire the thing, do you suppose?” Emily asked, her heart reaching speeds of a mile a minute.
