“You need to take Lucy.” He pushed the little girl into her arms, then pulled his gun from its holster, positioning himself in front of the doors. “I need my hands free in case...” He didn’t finish, likely because Lucy was listening.
But she knew what he meant. He wanted his hands free in case there was another gunman waiting for them in the parking garage.
4
Grady swallowed the urge to curse, knowing he shouldn’t have let his guard down even for a second. He’d stretched out on the sofa for what he called a combat nap. The sound of glass shattering beneath the force of the bullet had completely taken him by surprise. It burned to know he had not anticipated the threat would come through the floor-to-ceiling windows behind him, rather than the front door.
The elevator ride down to the parking garage seemed to take forever. It was a straight shot down from the thirty-sixth floor to the underground parking, but it still didn’t move as quickly as he wanted. When the car finally stopped, he drew in a deep breath and edged a bit to the side, still making sure his body covered Lauren and Lucy. The doors slowly opened, and he waited. When nothing happened, he stepped out with his gun raised, sweeping the immediate area for a threat.
So far, so good. He glanced back at Lauren. “I’ll drive. Please get Lucy in the car.”
Lauren looked scared to death but did as he’d directed without complaint. He continued sweeping his weapon across the area, noticing several new cars were parked in the garage since they’d last been down there. The video he’d taken wouldn’t help him now, so he didn’t bother to retrieve his phone. Instead, he waited until he heard the door of the Porsche slam before he quickly rounded the car and slid in behind the wheel.
He’d never driven a Porsche before, but he didn’t let that stop him. He backed out of the parking spot, then cranked the wheel to drive toward the security gate. Thankfully, the gate lifted automatically, so he didn’t have to stop.
“Where are we going?” Lauren asked as soon as he cleared the parking garage. He didn’t immediately answer, distracted by a flash of headlights barreling toward them.
“Hold on!” Stomping on the gas, he wrenched the wheel again to turn left to avoid being hit. Lauren gasped but didn’t scream as the car flew behind them, missing the Porsche by inches. He kept his foot down, weaving between other cars on the road to escape. The headlights were too bright for him to make out the make and model of the car that had nearly rammed into them, but he grimly realized the shooting at the penthouse apartment had been done for the sole purpose of flushing them out of the building.
A ruse that had pretty much worked. The only reason they were still alive was because Lauren’s Porsche had a turbocharged engine under the hood, enabling him to escape the planned collision. The small size of the car had worked to their advantage too.
Yet the fancy, expensive sports car was more noticeable than he liked, which did not help their cause. He drove like a man on a mission, doing everything possible to avoid being followed.
When it was clear they’d gotten away, he murmured a quick prayer of gratitude. Lauren shot him a questioning look but didn’t say anything. He had learned about faith from the Sullivan family, although he didn’t attend church as often as he knew he should. His schedule made that difficult. He hoped God didn’t mind.
Traffic was lighter at three thirty in the morning, so he was able to zip through the city streets without too much difficulty, taking several turns to help throw off any possible tail. After a few moments, Lauren broke the silence. “I can give you directions if you tell me where we’re going.”
“We need to get out of the city.” He glanced at her briefly, admiring her calm demeanor, then focused again on the road. “I’m open to suggestions.”
“We spent a few summer vacations in Big Cedar Lake down in Missouri,” she said. “It’s a long drive, though, roughly nine hours from Chicago.”
He shook his head. “That’s no good if you’ve been there before. We need to head somewhere these guys wouldn’t expect us to go.”
She shot him an exasperated look. “I’ve never been to Ohio or Wisconsin. Does that help?”
“Yeah, it does.” He quickly turned at the next intersection. “Let’s find the interstate so we can head north to Wisconsin.”
“Okay, keep going on this road for another couple miles.” Lauren turned in her seat to look at her daughter. “Are you okay, Lucy?”
“Why is this happening?” Lucy’s voice was small and frightened. His heart ached for the little girl. She didn’t deserve this. And neither did Lauren.
“I don’t know, sweetie. Some people choose to be mean and break the law.” Lauren reached back to pat Lucy’s knee. “But Grady is going to keep us safe. Are you warm enough under the blanket?”
“Yeah.” Lucy sniffed and wiped at her face. Grady belatedly realized that the little girl had been crying. She was in her booster seat, with the bedding wrapped around her. Her navy-blue parka was on the seat beside her. “Except for my toes.”
“Here, let’s wrap them up.” Lauren unbuckled her seat belt so she could stretch back to use the end of the blanket to protect Lucy’s feet. “Better?”
Lucy nodded. “Thanks.”
Lauren’s expression was somber as she settled back in her seat and reclasped her seatbelt. Grady wanted to say something reassuring, but he was all too aware that he’d almost gotten them killed.
Again.
Once they were on the interstate, he kept their speed within five miles of the posted limit. Despite his desire to get as far away from Chicago as humanly possible, he didn’t want to be stopped by the local police.
Expensive cars like this Porsche were often targeted by law enforcement.
Silence stretched for several long minutes, then Lauren gestured to a building off to the side of the road. “My father has a plane hangar over there.”
