They were well out of sight by now, of course.It had taken me several minutes to get down here.By now, both cars might be several miles away in several different directions.
“Going east on Harding,” Rachel’s voice said in my ear.“Probably headed for the interstate.”
This was good news, in a way.It was bound to be easier to follow them there, undetected, than on the smaller, mostly empty roads.
On the other hand, it would be easier to lose them there, too.
“Just keep the phone on,” I told her.“Put it on speaker and leave it in the console or somewhere, so we can stay in touch.I’ll try to catch up.”
I dropped the phone in my lap, where Edwina wouldn’t be likely to trample it, and stepped on the gas.The SUV shot off up Nolensville Road toward the intersection at Harding.
When Rachel announced that they were passing the interstate—without turning onto the ramp—I was still two blocks behind.“Where are you going, then?”
“Looks like straight ahead,” Rachel said.“Toward the airport.”
Hopefully they weren’t headed there.Hopefully they were just going toward the airport, not actually to it.
“Any other cars around?”
Rachel said there weren’t.
“I think I can see your taillights up ahead.Turn off somewhere, so they think you aren’t following them.I’ll take over for a while.”
“Roger,” Rachel said.
“Excuse me?”
“I’m turning.”
She was.I could see the car ahead of me start to signal and then go off to the right.Much farther ahead, the taillights of the sedan were winking in and out as it navigated through the industrial area on the other side of the interstate.Up above us, a plane was coming in for landing, so close I could almost see faces in the lighted windows.I pushed down on the gas and sped up.
By the time I had the sedan more reliably in my sights, Rachel reported that she’d turned around and was behind me.“I can’t see you, but I’m coming.”
“I’m probably good for another couple of minutes,” I said.“We’re getting close to Murfreesboro Pike, though.More traffic, but they may notice if I turn the same way they do.It might be best if you’re ready to take over then.”
Rachel said she’d speed up and be ready.“Just don’t lose them.”
I promised I wouldn’t and we carried on.
On Murfreesboro Road, I let the sedan go right while I went straight.Then I spent a couple of minutes finding a place to turn around—it wasn’t easy, since I had strayed onto airport property, and they like you to follow the road in a big circle around the terminal instead of turning around.As a result, both the sedan and Rachel were way ahead of me by the time I got back to Murfreesboro Road.
“They’re turning east on Bell Road,” Rachel reported.
“I’m nowhere near Bell Road,” I told her.“You’re just going to have to turn, too, so we don’t lose them.I’ll try to catch up.”
“I’ll do my best to be inconspicuous,” Rachel said.
“Please.These are the guys I think beat up Zachary.We don’t want them to notice us.”Just in case they beat us up, too.
Rachel agreed that we didn’t.She followed them onto Bell Road toward the lake while I scrambled to catch up.
By the time I took a left on Bell, Rachel had followed the sedan onto smaller roads.She read them off to me as she wound her way through the neighborhoods southeast of the lake behind the sedan.
“They’re stopping!”she said finally, in an excited whisper.
“Pull over and stay where you are.Don’t go any closer.I’m almost there.”
I was almost there.It took a couple of minutes, during which Rachel gave me the exact address and reported that the car had driven straight into a basement garage, and she wasn’t able to see anything that happened after that.
