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“Are they coming?”
Glancing across the yard, she shook her head. “I don’t see anything coming this way.”
He released her and she put her weight on her hands, her feet lightly dancing over the hedge until she could swing her legs over the fence. She let herself drop to the ground.
Her panting merged with the panting coming from behind her and she spun around and nearly tripped over a furry, four-legged creature.
Before she could warn Max, he dropped down beside her with the laptop tucked beneath one arm. The dog backed up, lifted his nose and let out a howl.
“Shh.” Ava dropped to her knees and placed her hands on either side of the mutt’s head and rubbed his ears. “You don’t need to do that.”
The howl ended and the little dog pranced around their feet in excitement.
Max nudged her back with his knee. “Let’s get going before he changes his mind.”
Rising to her feet, Ava chucked the pup under the chin, reluctant to leave the one spot of normalcy in the entire evening. “You’re a good boy.”
They dashed across the yard with the dog at their heels, but at least he’d decided they were friends instead of foes.
The fence on the other side, leading to the street where Max had parked the car, posed less of an obstacle than the other fence, and they both hopped over easily, landing on the sidewalk across from the stolen SUV.
Ava took a step toward the curb, but Max had other ideas. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.
“Hold on.” He nudged her behind his back as he ventured into the street, looking both ways. “Stay with me.”
She practically stepped on his heels as she jogged across the street in his wake.
When they reached the car, he cupped his hands at the window to peer inside. He nodded and carefully opened the door.
She did the same on her side and let out a long breath when she collapsed on the passenger seat. She twisted around and placed the laptop on the floor of the backseat.
Max started the car and then manually turned off the headlights that came on automatically. He put the car in Reverse and backed up, avoiding Dr. Arnoff’s street.
It didn’t do any good.
* * *
JUST WHEN HE reached the next cross street, a car, its headlights blinding them, came roaring around the corner.
Max didn’t miss a beat. The Tempest agents must’ve gone out to the street, listening to every sound in the night—the howl of the dog and the engine of the car. He continued his reverse turn around the block, and when the other car turned down the same block, Max punched the accelerator and sped past the car in the other direction.
His eyes darted to the side mirror. The driver of the other car hadn’t bothered turning around. He’d taken off after them in Reverse. That gave him and Ava an advantage.
Max clenched the steering wheel. Now if he only had a high-performance car instead of this clunky SUV. They were fast approaching the end of the block, and he’d have to make a hard right turn or end up in someone’s living room.
He glanced at Ava’s white face. “Hang on.”
The other car was almost abreast of them. Max eased off the accelerator and jerked the steering wheel to the right. The tires squealed but stayed on the road—for the most part.
Cranking her head around, Ava peered between the two front seats and out the back window. “They made the turn. Now they’re facing the right direction.”
“That’s good. Now they can go even faster.”
“How is that good? They’re going to catch up to us.”
“I noticed something on that first road we turned on just off the freeway. I was cursing this SUV a few seconds ago, but I think its wide body is just what we need.”
“If you say so. Are they going to start shooting into this car?”
“If they get the chance.” With the other car roaring closely behind them, Max kept floating to the left to keep them from drawing up next to them. But he had plans to take them to a wider stretch, as long as they didn’t start taking potshots at the back of the SUV.
He careened around the next corner toward the freeway, keeping the SUV in the middle of the road so the other driver couldn’t see what was on the horizon.
When Max neared the dip in the road that he’d noticed before, he slowed the SUV until the other car was almost at their bumper. Then he pulled to the right and slammed on the brakes.
