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I turned my attention back to the woman. There was no mistaking the real and deep-set misery in her eyes, or the shadows beneath them, but the unease increased as we walked toward her.
“Rose?” Theo asked.
“Yeah.” She looked at each of us nervously. “You’re Theo and Elisa?”
“We are.” He pulled out his badge, offered it.
She nodded. “Roger said you’d be coming.” A car revved its engine somewhere behind us. “We need to get going. They’re probably driving around and looking for me.” But her voice didn’twaver. She sounded like a woman who’d faced hardship before. Possibly while grifting the vulnerable, I reminded myself.
I opened the back passenger door. “Their vehicle?” I asked.
“Red sport sedan,” she said, climbing in. “It’s fast. They stole it from a parking lot in the city.”
I gave the dark street one more look before closing her door and climbing into the front passenger seat.
Theo started the car, locked the doors, and we took off.
First thing, I sent a message to Roger, letting him know we’d picked up Rose and were headed back to Chicago, and there hadn’t been any issues. And apparently jinxed us, as an engine roared behind us less than a minute later.
I checked the side mirror. The vehicle wasn’t red, but it was a sport sedan. Bright purple with running board lights in the same color. Flashy for criminals.
Theo steadily accelerated, testing them. They kept pace and, in their glowing car, moved closer.
“Rose,” Theo said. “Do you recognize the car behind us?”
She turned back, the movement nervous and jerky, and swore. “That’s Pratt’s car.” She swore again, turned back. “I didn’t think they’d followed me to the bus stop.”
“They didn’t,” Theo said, gaze flicking between the rearview mirror and back window. “They pulled out after that last intersection. They’d been waiting.”
“Someone signaled them?”
“That would be my guess. This is probably the second team.” His voice was careful, controlled, but his hands tightened on the wheel.
Rose turned around again, looked at us imploringly. “Whatever happens, don’t stop. If you stop, they’ll kill all of us.”
“I don’t plan on stopping,” Theo said. “They won’t put another mark on you.”
While he drove and comforted, I leaned the screen out the window to get a photo of the vehicle and its plate, and sent a message to Roger:vehicle in pursuit.
His answer was nearly instantaneous.sending to cpd. keep me posted.
“You got the info?” Theo asked.
“Yeah. And told Roger.”
“Then let’s lose these assholes.”
If I was being honest, I wasn’t sure he could do it. The Pack’s SUV was a solid ride, but people didn’t usually add running board lights to vehicles they hadn’t already souped up.
But I clearly hadn’t managed my expectations of my partner effectively—that had been the lesson on my first day of my official Ombud training—as I nearly squealed when he whipped the vehicle down a side road with the skill of a racer.
The purple car accelerated, and rubber squealed in the darkness as they took the turn behind us. With smooth aplomb, Theo accelerated again, made another turn, and swerved around a minivan that was taking a much more leisurely route to its destination. The purple car moved in again, and Theo skimmed through a light just before it turned. The car followed despite the red light through a barrage of horns.
“Assholes,” Theo muttered, “disrespecting the law like that,” and turned hard enough to have me grabbing the door. He drove to the next light, turned again, and then we were racing toward South Gate.
That’s when I felt the shudder, the vibration that seemed to rise up from the ground but rippled through the air.
“What is that?” Rose asked.
