Page 6 of Conquered Betrayal
“Are you going to ditch the guy? Because I can tell right now, he’s going to be a problem.”
Marley wasn’t wrong. Having Landon here, him knowing what I’d done while working with him, only complicated everything. And I couldn’t afford to be distracted right now, not when we didn’t know the extent of Emerson’s plans regarding the people who could shift into animals. The “beasts” as my brother called them. People like Landon’s two friends, Walker and Kane.
In contrast, I don’t think I’d ever met anyone morehuman, than Landon Urick. Even as kids he’d come off as the uptight one. He’d always worn dress clothes and loafers. When I thought about the day in the woods so long ago, Landon’s civility stood out against the brutal backdrop like a smudge of red paint overtop a landscape watercolor done in blues.How could he be friends with beasts?
We rounded the last corner to Alina’s gray Fiat 500. A relieved exhale escaped my lips to see it remaining where I’d left it, unharmed and untouched, four cars down. I picked up my pace.
“I’ll do my best,” I said to Marley, keeping my voice low. Even so, Landon heard and stopped me with a hand on my arm.
“Who are you talking to?” His scowl deepening, he tipped his head until he could see my left ear.
Now that he’d removed my wig, I had nowhere to hide my earpiece and I didn’t want to shake my hair out of its net because it would make me more recognizable to Emerson’s goons. Bright orange hair was hard to hide.
Quick as a cobra, he snatched the comm out of my ear before I could react. “What the hell?” he murmured, his eyes glued to the tiny device.
At a glance, a person could tell the little beige comm wasn’t a run-of-the-mill wireless earbud. Marley had made some modifications to the top-quality earpiece, increasing its range, and Alina matched it to my extremely pale skin tone. She’d laughed heartily while adding a couple of freckles. Most people wouldn’t have noticed it. Landon always did have good eyesight though, taking in every detail around him.
“This comes from Urick Enterprises,” he said, his head tipped in confusion as his eyes hopped from me to the comm. “Latest model.”
I held out my hand, unimpressed he’d recognized his own product, and that he’d taken away my only connection to Marley and Alina. I didn’t have a phone on me, hadn’t used one since escaping Alaska. Emerson was resourceful and connected, and only got more powerful as the years passed and his wealth grew. Long ago, I’d started a bank account on my own and he’d had it frozen. I basically needed to assume he had every aspect of my life monitored in his quest to find me, including any dummy accounts. Paranoia was my friend.
A screech of tires echoed down the street. Landon and I turned at the same time. A black SUV made a sudden stop past the intersection ahead and now reversed wildly to change directions—more of Emerson’s men.
“Shit.” I plucked the earpiece out of Landon’s fingers, reinserted it, and ran toward the Fiat. Thankfully, I didn’t have to tell him to move. The smack of his dress shoes against the pavement told me he followed.
“Get in,” I said, unlocking the doors with a press of my thumb to the key fob. I kept my eyes on the SUV as it got itself pointed in the right direction. Throwing my satchel into the backseat, I hopped in and started the souped-up Fiat, complete with bulletproof glass. Landon squeezed himself in beside me, swallowing up the space in the compact vehicle with his height.
“Don’t hurt my baby,” Alina said in my ear like she knew I was about to put it through its paces.
“No promises.” I didn’t have time to make sure Landon was buckled in before I shifted in reverse, then changed gears again to shoot out of the parking space. Only a boulevard separated us from the SUV.
I sped down the street, giving the driver a quick glance: Emerson’s head of security, Cliff. Out my side mirror, I watched him accelerate, then make a U-turn.
The traffic light turned yellow. I stepped on the gas, zipping across two lanes of traffic to make the left onto East Jefferson. If I didn’t have shit to do in this city, I would have gone straight and taken the bridge to Windsor, disappearing into Canada like I longed to. I gave Landon a quick side-glance, noting how he braced his hand against the dash. Hiding wasn’t an option now—if it ever was.
Passing under the shadow of the DPM, The Renaissance Center whizzed by on the right, the tree-lined boulevard blocking our view of offices on the left. I glanced in my rearview mirror. Cliff blew through the red light, making several cars lurch to a stop to avoid hitting him.
Was it too much to ask for him to follow basic traffic laws? I stepped on the gas, edging over the speed limit. “Any ideas?”
I asked the question to Marley, but Landon was the one to answer. “This isn’t my city.”
No shit.A glance in my mirror showed the SUV gaining on us.Titty fucker.“You’re going to need to change your plates,” I said to Alina through the comm. Those goons had probably already run them, already had her name. The last thing I wanted was for either of my friends to end up on Emerson’s radar.
“I’ll happily change my plates if you keep her in one piece.”
“Who are you talking to?” Landon asked again, his angry voice dominating overtop of Alina’s in my ear.
I didn’t have any time to go into it. “Friends,” was all I said, and focused on driving to keep us alive. The SUV continued to gain on us. I needed to get off this straightaway, to lose them somehow, but the further we drove, the more residential the neighborhood became.
I took another corner, then another. Even though I varied my route, I couldn’t shake them. They matched my speed after every turn. There weren’t enough cars to hide behind.
“Can you find me somewhere to lose these guys?” I asked Marley.
“Working on it,” came her quick response. “I hacked into the live satellite feed. Take your next left.”
I obeyed, and the traffic thinned significantly. “This isn’t any better.” We were sitting ducks out here.
Right on cue, a bullet pinged off the rear fender. Landon flinched, his head swinging around.
