“Ten more seconds or so …” Ramesh said, but I could hardly hear him over my own heartbeat and the silent argument I was having with Bray.
I’m going to go for it, I told him with my eyes.
Don’t, he scolded back with a glare.
There’s no other choice.
Erin!
Just as I made the decision to throw my elbow into the ghost’s solar plexus, a screech of tires and loud crash turned everyone’s heads toward the street.
A car had flown through the intersection and T-boned another. A second car followed, screeching to a halt, but not in time. Glass exploded everywhere. Metal crunched.
“I got you,” Ramesh’s voice buzzed in my ear over the honking and shouting. The injuries looked minor, but it was enough to block the intersection and cause everyone on the sidewalks to move toward the scene.
My ghost loosened his grip, caught in the same surprise as everyone else. Bray was halfway bent over, having flinched from the noise of the accident behind him. He met my eyes, realizing he’d been freed from his ghost’s grip too. This time, there was no argument between us.
“Run!” he shouted.
CHAPTER24
Ishoved my elbow back into the ghost’s nose and heard it crack. Then I stomped on his toe and ran like hell.
The chaos of the accident was still drawing everyone’s attention. Aside from the people I shoved out of the way, no one noticed the woman fleeing through the crowd with blood on her coat’s sleeve.
“Was that you, Ramesh?” I asked as I sucked air, preparing my body for escape.
“Yes. I hacked the traffic system and kept that light green to cause an accident. I’ll beg for forgiveness later.”
“Nice one, guy in the chair,” I commended and flew back past the bank. “Now, how the hell do we get out of here?”
“You, turn right at the next intersection. Bray, go left on your street,” Ramesh commanded.
“Wait, you’re not behind me, Bray?” I asked. I held my finger to my earpiece as I looked over my shoulder and kept running. No sign of Bray, but the ghost was plowing up the side walk like a rolling boulder, shoving people out of the way.
“No,” Bray huffed. “Better if we split them up.”
“Where are you?” I swiveled my head again but only saw a blur of stone buildings, street, sidewalk, and faces. I was already a block from the accident, where people weren’t as concerned yet.
“Don’t worry about me,” Bray said. “Ramesh, where are we meeting?”
“You’re both going opposite directions from where you parked, but I don’t think we want to turn this into a car chase through the streets of downtown Houston anyway. Let me get you into a building.”
I had never stopped running. I was dodging people left and right. Bobbing and weaving in and out of pedestrians and intermittently glancing over my shoulder to see the ghost still chasing me.
“Any of these buildings an option?” I said through a tight breath. “It would be nice to lose this guy.”
“Working on it …” Ramesh trailed off.
“Oh, shit,” Bray hissed.
“What happened?” I asked over my thundering heart.
“Nothing. Don’t worry about me.”
“I’m always worried about you, Agent Bray,” I said.
“Katherine—alley up ahead,” Ramesh cut in.
