The faint sound of sirens from the front of the estate now reached their ears. More police and emergency vehicles had been called in. If they didn’t move within the next thirty seconds, they ran the real risk of being blockaded in on this side street.
“Come on,” Sydney whispered to the car as she worked.
Seconds later—it felt like a lifetime—the car rewarded her with a satisfyingly smooth roar of ignition. Winter hopped out from the passenger side to the back seat, she slid nimbly to where he’d been, and Tems jumped forward into the driver’s position.
“Go,” Sydney snapped at Tems.
“We’re already late,” Tems replied. He stepped on the gas—they all jerked back against their seats as the car shot forward down the road.
“Easy, Tems,” Sydney said through gritted teeth. “We’re trying not to attract attention, remember?”
Tems eased the car into a legal speed limit, then glanced at her with a wry grimace. “I think we might be past stealth, sweetheart.”
Then they reached a roundabout, and Sydney’s retort died on her tongue as a police car turned at the opposite end of the traffic circle.
For a moment, the police car seemed to pause, as if watching them make their way around the turn. Through the rearview mirror, Sydney saw Winter’s head turn slightly to keep the car in view.
“Don’t look,” she reminded him, her face turned resolutely in the direction of the road.
Winter followed her advice in an instant. As he did, she held her breath, waiting for the police car to turn with them and follow.
But at the other side of the roundabout, it went on in the direction of the gala building. Securing the estate must overrule anything else right now, she guessed.
Adrenaline was still surging through her veins, making her tremble all over. Now that their immediate flight was over, now that they were insidea car—Sydney could feel it overwhelming her, making her dizzy. She reached up over and over to wipe tears from her face. When she looked at Winter, she saw his face stunned into blankness, pale from shock. He was looking down at his phone.
“Claire?” she asked.
He nodded wordlessly. “No signal,” he answered.
Tems shook his head, his face pale and stricken. “Who’d set up Niall like that?” he murmured.
Silence hung heavy in the car at his question.
Winter swallowed and said, “Maybe the same person who set up Seah.”
“The bigger question iswhy,” Sydney said.
“What do you mean?” Winter asked.
“Why bother creating two plans?” she went on, her voice still shaking. “It succeeded in leading us astray—but it also meant putting your enemies on high alert that something would happen to the president on this evening. It meant the gala had been crawling with soldiers and security, which would have made the entire operation trickier to execute. Better to have just a single plan and launch it as a shock.” Her eyes met Winter’s. “So why the trouble? Why not make it easier for themselves?”
“Unless thiswaseasier,” Winter replied.
Sydney turned back around in her seat. “It’s not easier,” she murmured. But Winter’s answer echoed in her head until she realized that maybe he wasn’t wrong.
Unless thiswaseasier.
“They must want everyone to suspect a different person,” Tems said as he pulled onto a freeway. “They wanted everyone to know, first of all, that Seah—who we were guided to target—wasnotthe assassin. Then they wanted everyone to know that someone elsewas.”
“What’s the point of that?” Winter said.
“To set someone up,” Tems replied. “Now the entire country is ona manhunt for who the president’s real killer is, and who else might be behind the operation. When they find their culprit, they’ll get the consequences they were aiming for.”
“Don’t look back,” Winter suddenly said.
Sydney didn’t. But she froze in her seat at his words. “Why?” she asked.
“The police car from that roundabout,” Winter said calmly, his face forward in the rearview mirror. “It’s behind us.”
