Page 9

"This is an emergency," I snap, frustrated more at the situation than Raven herself. "I stole a car and I'm in pursuit of a⁠—”

"Hold on." Raven's voice hardens and a beep crosses the line, then two more voices join the call.

"Was the date that bad?" Valentina asks.

"Do you need to be picked up?" comes Bradley's voice.

"No, listen. I just watched Sabina be dragged into a van by two armed men who took shots at me. I've stolen a car and I'm in pursuit!"

"I've got your location," Raven says. "Tell me about the van."

"It's white with a bunch of veg on the side. I can't quite make out the text on the side right now, but it's something Produce."

"Shouldn't be hard to track down," Valentina adds. "If they were there under the guise of delivering something, there can't be many companies Sabina would open her door to."

"You stole a car?" Bradley almost sounds amused.

"Shit. Yes. We'll need to track down the owner because I'm pretty sure I traumatized the poor woman, but it was an emergency."

"What's the license plate of the van?" Raven asks.

As I read it off, the van screeches at high speed through a red light and I have no choice but to follow, narrowly missing several cars that slam on their brakes to avoid a crash. The next turn is tight, sending the van skidding onto the sidewalk and crashing through a newsstand. I keep to the road, urging my car faster to get alongside them, but they screech back out in front of me.

"Harvest Produce," I recite from the side of the van. "But the bastard who shot at me, he was fast. He didn't flinch or anything."

"You think he's a pro?" Bradley asks.

"I think so."

"There's nothing in Sabina's finances to suggest she's in any trouble," Raven says over the faint clack of her keyboard. "No criminal record or criminal associates either."

"We're on our way to you now, Cassian," Valentina says. "It'll take us a minute to catch up, so don't do anything stupid."

"Would I ever?" I smirk dryly, following the van between a few more lanes of cars. A cacophony of car horns follows us, then the van skids to the side as the front bumper clips another car and they very briefly lose control.

My heart skips up into my throat. Sabina is in there, likely terrified, and these fuckers can't keep the damn thing on the road?

It doesn't matter what's going on. It doesn't even matter if Sabina is in some kind of trouble and deserves this treatment. I'm not going to let them get away with it.

"Shit!" I slam on the brakes as the van clips another vehicle, sending it spinning backward directly toward me. The driver's face contorts in terror while gripping the steering wheel, and thanks to my quick reflexes, I stop just in time and only earn a slight touch of bumpers. The van shrinks in the distance and skids around a corner to the left out of sight.

"Talk to me, Cassian," comes Bradley's deep voice. "You okay?"

"Yeah, fine. Bastards nearly took me out with another car." I glance behind me as I pull the car into reverse. "I lost sight of them."

"Raven, you got anything?"

"There are eighteen Harvest Produce vans out in the city right now," Raven replies. "Six in your area."

"Fuck." The car squeals and complains as I wrench it back into gear and then race down the street toward the turn where the van disappeared from view. "What are the chances I end up following the wrong one?"

"Do you really want to know?" Raven asks.

"No. I really don't."

"Three minutes and we're on you, Cassian," says Valentina. "You see anything?"

I skid around the corner with the car whining loudly and the back wheels spinning. As the next road comes into view, so does the van.