A small boom sounded in the distance, and she turned around to see a tiny fireball. She guessed that was the house.
“Oops,” Nemo said, a tight smile on his face. “Guess I left the gas on.”
“Shit happens,” Midas said. “Medusa, I’m sending coordinates to the GPS for an airstrip in Lake Geneva. Contact there is a guy named Equinox. He’s one of Cosmos’ guys.”
Medusa looked in her rearview mirror. “Fuck a duck,” she muttered. “Humvees behind us,” she advised her passengers. “Weapon up. Midas! Where’s Loki?”
“He should be right behind you. They switched vehicles. Dark-purple Charger.”
The three men began drawing their weapons, so she rooted around in her backpack and pulled her gun and ammunition from inside.
Ildefanso smiled. “Glad to see you haven’t lost what I taught you. Something goes wrong, you fire at anyone who isn’t us.”
She nodded, her head spinning. How was this her life? A week ago, she’d lost the only person in her life who kept her anchored. Less than twenty-four hours ago, she’d been plotting how to flee her own home. Now she was back in the company of the husband she’d believed dead and gone, chased by Colonel Cartel members, and probably fighting for her life in the near future.
Her thoughts were finally starting to become less confused. She turned to Ildefanso. “Lake Geneva doesn’t have an airport.”
“There’s a small community there that has its own airstrip.Gonna be a small plane, but we’ll be switching out after about an hour when we can meet up with our jet. We didn’t plan for them to find us, or at least not this quickly, so we had to go to plan B. We’re taking you to Los Angeles… to our headquarters. You should be safe there.”
The silence in the vehicle was oppressive as they sped back toward Wisconsin and the busy tourist town Wisconsinites often referred to as Little Chicago. Being woken from a sound sleep and hustled into the vehicle with no preparation had been completely disorienting. Only by closing her eyes and focusing on her senses one at a time could she get herself back on track.
A soft voice from lips against her temple roused her. She’d somehow fallen asleep as they drove. “We’re here. Get ready to hustle. As soon as we’re inside the plane, they’ll shut the door, and we’re off. We couldn’t shake them, so we’ll be exposed for a few seconds.”
A glance around her showed that everyone was once again checking their weapons. A hand rested on top of hers as she went to do the same.
Ildefanso’s silver stare froze her actions. “You run. Do not stop to defend yourself. Your only job is to get on that plane. If that door closes without some of us inside, you buckle in, and you go. No arguments.”
The last time she’d run without him, her whole world had shattered with a single shot. “Yeah, unlikely I’ll be following those bullshit instructions.”
He switched to Spanish.“Why is everything always an argument with you?”
“Everything is not an argument with me!”
An eyebrow rose, his gray irises flaming to molten metal.
“Mom, they’re fighting again!” Nemo yelled.
“Maldito idiota,” Steel muttered.
“That did not sound complimentary.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Fuck.” This came from Medusa in the driver’s seat. “Loki, we’ve picked up the blue line.”
Sure enough, a siren sounded behind them, the red and blue lights swirling as they came up behind them.
A voice with a slight Nordic accent came over the speakers. “We’ve got you, Medusa. We’ll draw them off.”
A roaring engine came up from behind them, drawing side by side with the cop for just enough time to draw his attention. A swift lane change followed, and Loki pulled away fast, increasing his speed. Goaded into frying bigger fish, the officer behind them swerved into the next lane and took after the speeding sports car.
TB complained, “Told ya you speed too much. Fit in, I warned you. But no, you need to bust out your Autobahn moves. As if we don’t have enough bullshit already to deal with.”
“Drive yourselves next time,” she threw back.
“I would, but I was ordered otherwise.”
“Then sit back and leave your logistics to me, T-Rex.”
