Just as they turned a curve in the road and started down a stretch of highway that was nearly deserted, she spotted the BMW parked on the opposite side of the road. Even as she noticed it, the car began to pull into the road as the driver stepped on the accelerator.
Kendra’s cell phone rang. Her dashboard display told her it was Jessie, clearly calling through her helmet’s Bluetooth rig.Kendra punched the dashboard button to answer it, and Jessie’s voice blared through her car’s stereo system. “Our friend is back.”
“I noticed.”
Jessie’s cycle pulled over in front of the car and edged it back over to the side of the road.
Spang!
A bullet?
Jessie’s voice came back through her stereo. “Keep pace with me. On the count of three, give your wheel a jab hard to the right, got it?”
“Yes.”
“One . . . two . . . three!”
Kendra turned sharply into the BMW’s front right panel. The car spun in a circle and then skittered off the road.
Spang!Another bullet?
“Move!” Jessie shouted as she turned the cycle and headed back to her former place in front of Kendra.
“Youmove!” Kendra shouted back. “Are you crazy? I’m surrounded by metal. You’re the one riding on a blasted motorcycle.”
“Good point,” Jessie replied. “I wasn’t expecting gunplay. Theyreallywanted you to stop. Though I think that those were warning shots meant to scare you. Unless those guys were really lousy shots.” Jessie was looking back at the BMW on the side of the road where car doors were opening and two men were scrambling out of their seats. “We’ve got a little time now. There’s a service station right up there around the bend. It would be stupid of them to try to go after you with an audience watching.”
“I’ll meet you there.” Kendra cut the connection and voice-
dialed another number. It wouldn’t hurt to bring in some backup.
By the time Kendra arrived at the station, Jessie had already dismounted her motorcycle and was motioning for her to drive around to the building’s other side, out of sight from the road.
As Kendra climbed out of her car, she tapped the disconnect button on her phone.
“Who did you call?” Jessie asked.
“Agent Metcalf at the FBI.”
“Not Griffin? He’s probably still nearby.”
“He wasn’t picking up. Probably on a conference call. Metcalf is usually more responsive anyway.”
Jessie smiled. “Of course he is. He has a humongous crush on you.”
“No, Metcalf has women falling all over themselves for him.”
“Not you.”
“Come on, he’s a good friend. He’s going to meet us here and escort me home.”
“I’m sure that will make Olivia happy. She’d prefer that you call out the marines, but she’ll make do with the FBI.”
“Well, she did call you,” Kendra said. “But perhaps she thought your service in Afghanistan would make up the difference. Anyway, thanks for being there for me, Jessie.”
“Of course.” Jessie raised her motorcycle helmet. “There’s a digital camera built into this thing. I got some shots of the guys we ran off the road. They climbed out of their car and ran into the woods as we drove away.”
“Great. Send me those pics, okay? I’ll pass them along to Metcalf. He can run those through facial recognition. You go babysit your movie star, and I’ll be okay here.”
