The Blood In the Beginning (10 page)

I wasn't even going to grace that with a response.

At the next stop light, Cate put her arm on Joey's shoulder and he brushed it off.
Prick.
How a friend of mine could be with this guy was harder to figure out than Avo's molarity in chemistry class.

‘Cate, you have to work on self-esteem.'
Hell, maybe we all do …

Joey glowered at that; Cate clammed up. The feng shui harmony in the truck took a major downturn. We drove in silence through the stop and go traffic. At this rate, it would be another half hour locked up with these two. Maybe I should have taken a cab, or waited for the bus. As I stared into the rear-view mirror to glare back at Joey, I noticed a white BMW behind us. It was the same model as the one in the parking lot back at the hospital. Coincidence? I resisted the urge to turn around. Instead, I leaned forward and glanced in the side mirror as Joey changed lanes. The BMW followed. I slumped down in the seat. Probably nothing.

Three turns later, I knew it wasn't chance. This BMW was on our tail.

‘Joey, take the highway 405 exit.' Technically, it was the old interstate 405, but post Big One, it hugged the coast, had unrestricted access and more cross roads than you could count. On all the new maps, it was highway.

‘Why the 405?' It was across four lanes of traffic, coming up fast.

‘Stay on 2 and we can cut across to Wilshire,' Cate said.

‘405!' I shouted.

Cate gripped the dash. ‘We'll never make it.'

Joey took that as a challenge. He slapped the right turn signal and went for the exit. Then realising there was still one lane and a semi between us, he backed off. ‘She's right.'

Like hell she is.
The BMW was still there. A flood of adrenaline rushed through me. I released my belt and threw myself forward, screaming at the top of my lungs. I cranked the wheel toward the exit. ‘Floor it!'

Cate smashed into me, our heads knocking. Joey had no choice but to stomp it, or be hit from behind. We sped in front of the semi, scraped the concrete traffic barrier on two wheels and flew down the twenty-five mph exit ramp doing sixty. He slammed on the brakes. I launched toward the dash, my grip on the backrest saving me from cracking my head open. We slowed enough to make the hairpin turn. It plastered us to the side of the truck before we straightened out, cruising north on highway 405. To the left, the Pacific Ocean ate away at the new narrow coast below. To my right, Cate clutched her shoulder harness, knuckles white, eyes unblinking. She didn't look like she could breathe.

Joey stared ahead. Sweat dripped down his temples. He glared into the rear-view mirror. ‘Are you insane, Sykes?'

I was too relieved we made it to answer. Plus, at the moment, I was questioning my mental status as much as he was.

‘What the hell, Ava?' he was shouting, but at least he had his eyes back on the road.

I buckled back into my seat. ‘That was us, not getting killed.'

He shook his head.

‘Take the Westward exit. It's coming up in a couple of miles.'

‘Not happening.' He changed lanes.

‘What are you doing?'

‘Taking you back to the hospital where you left your brains.'

I glanced at Cate for support. She still hadn't blinked. ‘Look, Joey. I thought there might be someone following us, is all.'

‘Following as in …' Cate's voice was a whisper. ‘Your attacker?'

‘I don't know. It was the white BMW.'

Joey frowned. ‘Who the hell did you piss off?' He caught me in the mirror again. ‘Jack fucking Freeman?'

‘Not him …' I whispered. The name Jack Freeman was well known, and equated with ‘mob boss.' As untouchable as he was invisible. Nobody really knew what he looked like, but the urban legend preceded him. Or ‘them'. Most likely ‘Jack Freeman' was a whole board of directors, running the New LA underworld.

‘White BMW?' Joey's eyes went wide and he hit the accelerator.

‘What are you doing?' I yelled as we sped down the fast lane. The truck wobbled. The tyres must have been knocked out of alignment. There was a whining sound coming from the front right.

‘It's back!'

I shot a look in the side mirror. Sure enough, a white BMW, male driver, was catching up. As we careened along, the surf crashed onto the crowded beach some two hundred feet below. An exit sign came up, with a speed limit of fifteen mph. We were doing a hundred. ‘Don't take it!' Cate and I shouted at the same time, but Joey wasn't listening. A bang exploded in my ear and the truck lurched, turned sideways and skidded down the road. My laptop flew off the seat and smashed onto the floor. The vase toppled and shattered.
Shit!
The safety belt snapped tight across my chest, winding me. Joey turned the wheel into the spin, righting it quickly as we dropped speed. He braked, downshifted, and slowly limped to the emergency lane. The truck thumped to a stop as the engine hissed and stalled. Steam rose from the hood. No one spoke. The only thing I could hear was the rush of blood in my head, and the traffic roaring past.

It took me a while to collect myself. ‘Cate? You okay?'

She leaned back in her seat. ‘Yeah. You?'

‘Peachy.'

‘I'm going to kill you, Sykes!' Joey tried to tear out of his seatbelt. His movements were frantic and it took a few goes to release the catch. If I hadn't been so freaked, I would have laughed.

‘Joey, calm down!' Cate looked more scared now than when we were being chased. ‘No one's hurt!' Her voice cracked. A trickle of blood ran down her face.

‘What about my goddamn truck?' His voice was breaking up, he yelled so loud.

I unbuckled and picked up the laptop. Water from the spilled flowers ran off it. I didn't like the chances of it ever working again. ‘It's called insurance.' Too bad I didn't have any, but I knew Joey did.

‘Will he come back?' Cate asked, her voice a hoarse whisper.

‘We don't even know if that was your attacker,' Joey said. ‘Right?'

‘You must have thought so when you panicked …' I snapped back.

Joey was out of the truck and straight to my door. He yanked it open and I backed up against the other side. He didn't seem scared of me now. ‘You freak!' he shouted. ‘Were we even being followed?' He spat a string of oaths. ‘It's not like a white BMW is rare.' He stared at me, panting, then slammed the door and went back to the driver's seat. Joey tried to start the engine, but it didn't turn over. ‘Damn you!' He smacked the wheel.

I was pretty sure he wasn't talking to his truck.

‘You're paying for this, Sykes! Every cent.'

Cate sucked in her breath. ‘Oh, thank god!'

I looked up. A black Cadillac Escalade pulled off the road in front of us. ‘Who's that?' Joey and I asked at the same time.

‘Our boss.'

Daniel Bane stepped out of the car, calm and classy in slacks and a white dress shirt, dark shades. ‘How'd he show up here?' I wasn't big on coincidences. This was just weird.

Cate checked her watch. ‘On his way to the Ranch, I imagine. They have four p.m. meetings every Tuesday.'

‘You his secretary now?' Joey asked.

I have to admit, I had the same thought. ‘What's the Ranch?'

‘Headquarters for the Poseidon owners. They …'

‘Stay here.' Joey was out of the truck before Cate could finish.
What a dick.

‘You're bleeding,' I said to her.

She turned the rear-view mirror toward her and pushed back her hair. ‘I think that happened when we conked heads.'

‘Sorry.' I leaned over the seat and rummaged in the glovebox for a tissue to mop up the blood. The smell of it was strong with the windows up, air con off. I sat back and cracked my window open, letting in the highway smells, and a bit of onshore wind.

‘Thanks.'

Joey and Daniel were bending over to look at the tyres. No doubt Joey was giving him the ‘Ava has paranoid schizophrenia' rave.
Great.
When they stood up, Joey took out his phone and started tapping in numbers, shooting death-threat glares at me. Daniel put his hands in his pockets and caught my eye. He was at the door a moment later.

‘Hi, Mr Bane,' Cate said, still blotting blood. She had suddenly gone all chipper. ‘Great timing. I don't know what we would have done.'

‘Call a tow truck, I imagine,' I said under my breath. Did she know how hard she was flirting? With the boss?

‘You'll need a tow, by the look of it.' He was staring at the smashed flowers over the floor.

‘We had some casualties, but thanks for them.'

I scooted over when he made to jump in. A hint of fine cologne preceded him.

‘Are you recovering, Ava?' I couldn't read his expression behind the sunglasses.

‘She's much better,' Cate answered for me. ‘Aren't you?'

I opened my mouth to respond.

‘Of course, we had a bit of a freak-out here.' Cate talked over me. ‘Ava's being stalked.'

Bane frowned. ‘So Joey said.'

Rourke's caution about keeping this to myself was flying out the window. ‘I'm not sure. Maybe it was nothing.'

‘Nothing?' Cate's voice squeaked. ‘Not what you said when the white beemer was about to ram us.' She smiled at Bane. ‘We're so lucky you came along. Joey's not very good in a crisis.'

When had Cate become such a suck-up? I turned to Bane. ‘You were on your way to where?'

‘A meeting at our head office,' Bane said. ‘It's a property a few minutes up the coast. We call it …'

‘The Ranch,' Cate said when he paused.

‘We do.' He smiled at her. ‘I saw trouble and pulled over. What a surprise to find it was you.'

‘Total surprise,' I said. Didn't quite trust it, but Bane gave me a half smile and, yeah, it seemed genuine. He was a helpful guy.

Cate dropped the sugary grin when Joey headed back to the truck. I couldn't work out if it was conscious or not.

He hopped back in the driver's seat. ‘Tyre's shredded. Front fender's bent, too out of shape to change, and I might have blown a head gasket.'

I wanted to say
tough luck,
but my civility was in place. ‘Sorry.' Maybe I had panicked, but I was sure we were being followed.

Joey grumbled. ‘Tow truck'll be at least an hour.'

There goes my lecture.

‘I can give you ladies a lift,' Daniel said. ‘No need for you all to wait.'

Cate's face lifted and fell again in the space of a second. ‘I'll stay with Joey, but Ava should go with you.'

‘What about your meeting?'

‘They can't start without me.' He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his hands. ‘Perks of being the boss.'

‘Right.' I checked the time on my phone. ‘Lab started five minutes ago.'

‘A ride home then?'

‘Thanks. That would be great.' Last thing I wanted to do was sit here and exchange insults with Joey for the next hour. Currently he was pointing out every white beemer that roared past. ‘Are you coming back to mine?' I asked Cate.

‘I've the next few days off.' She yawned as she spoke. ‘I'll stay at Joey's.'

Of course. ‘Try and get some rest.' It would give me time to make sense of her career ambitions at Poseidon. ‘Call me after you've had a good eight hours.'

Joey grunted something unintelligible, followed by an ‘Ava Sykes, you owe me' look.

I grabbed my pack and laptop, leaving the broken flowers for Joey. ‘Thanks for the ride.'

He turned away, and Cate rolled her eyes. I guess my tone lacked sincerity.

The highway traffic rushed by as Daniel led the way to his car and opened the passenger door for me.
Did this guy grow up in some E. M. Forster novel?
The smell of leather hit as I sat in the cushy seat. Daniel's door clicked closed and the sounds of traffic all but vanished. He flipped on the air con before starting up the engine. The sun baked in, but the stifling heat vanished in seconds. ‘Nice ride.'

‘Buckle up,' he said as we pulled into traffic. It was still awkward with one arm. I didn't stop him when he reached a hand over to help.

We headed south on 405 while Daniel asked questions. Rapid fire. It was like talking to Rourke. No, I didn't recognise the man who attacked me. No, I couldn't confidently spot him in a line-up. Of course I have self-defense skills. No, there was nothing that stood out about the attack.
Like a blue ribbon I'm not supposed to talk about.

‘And this BMW?'

‘They were following. That's what it felt like. Maybe I panicked.'

He listened in a calm, generous way. But, the contrarian in me was not put at ease. If anything, I felt more wound up. By the time we reached East 101–299, I wanted to bolt. Daniel stopped in front of my apartment and shut off the engine. Bad sign.

‘I can walk you in,' he said.

‘I'll be fine.' I unbuckled and clicked the door latch. The car started beeping and Daniel turned the key to full off.

‘What's your security like?'

I glanced at the building and the no longer monitored, not-so-hidden camera. ‘Fort Knox.'

‘If you want, I can check.'

‘Not necessary, but thanks.' A green Subaru cruised past. Rourke was looking after my ass. I turned to go. Foot out of the car.

Daniel touched my arm. ‘We should talk.'

I had to pull my foot back in so I could turn to look him face on. ‘Are you going to fire me, after all?'

Daniel repressed a smile. ‘Hardly. How about we talk over dinner? Tomorrow night, eight o'clock?'

My forehead creased.
Dinner? With the boss?
The weird thing was, part of me wanted to say yes. Definitely wasn't listening to my own advice. ‘I train tomorrow night.'

‘In that condition?' He nodded at my arm sling.

‘I'll be ready for a light workout.'