Untraceable (50 page)

All I could pray at that point was
that he knew what he was doing.

“
But don’t get too
close—they’re already a little spooked because you didn’t show
yesterday. You might be able to see it from the top of the bridge
before we hit the island.”

“
The beach house is that
close?”

“
It’s about a mile
away.”

“
That’s too far,” she
said

“
The truck is too bright
to hide.”

“
It’s white,” she stated
matter-of-factly.

“
Maybe it
was
white, but it’s not
anymore.”

She looked at him
expectantly.

“
It’s pink,” he
finished.

“
Really? I hope you’re not
lying to me, Ryan,” she continued.

I hated the sound of her calling him
by name. I could tell she was starting to take an interest in him,
and I suddenly knew how Micah felt when he told me long ago that he
didn’t want to destroy my innocence. Ryan was a good person, and
he’d only made love to one woman—even though he was a stunning man,
he was still very innocent. Just the thought of Sharon sinking her
claws into him and ruining that beautiful virtuousness filled me
with fury and disgust.

“
Head for the bridge,
Allen,” she ordered and then turned back around in her
seat.

From the top of the big bridge, a pink
spot could be seen in the horizon—the truck was parked at the beach
house. She was discussing how she could get it without getting shot
when Ryan simply stated he’d do it.

“
You?” she questioned.
“You’re just going to waltz right up there and drive away with
it?”

“
Something like that,” he
replied.

I knew what he was thinking; none of
my dad’s men would dare shoot him—he had been marked untouchable by
the Capo dei Capi himself—I was just praying that all Dad’s men got
the memo.

“
Pull over,” she told
Allen after we crossed the bridge. This was the same place that
we’d pulled into to make sure everyone was okay the night we had
the brawl at the beach. Now, here we sat preparing to do the most
dangerous thing of our lives. Evidently, she brought several men
with her to Pensacola, and she was preparing to put them into place
along the highway.

“
I want details,” she
said, looking at Ryan. “No surprises or she takes a
bullet.”

“
They won’t recognize this
car, but if you’ll let Leese drive, we’ll roll the windows down
and, when they see us, none of them will think more about it than
we grabbed a rental. Leese lets me out. I already heard them
talking about the fact that the ignition is rigged in the truck—I
won’t need a key. I’ll just jump in and pull out. Leese can run
interference for me until I can drive somewhere secluded. We’ll let
you know where we’re at, and you get the truck.”

“
Hmm…no good,” she stated.
“What’s to keep you two from just pulling up and running inside?
Please, handsome, I didn’t get where I’m at from being stupid.
Allen and I will duck down in the backseat. The only way this is
going to work is if you know she has a gun pointed at her
back—other than that, I like your simple plan. Once I get my coke
back, maybe I’ll show you just how grateful I really
am.”

Ryan smiled, but I knew he was faking
it. It was so easy to see that Sharon liked her ego stroked, and
for him to act as if he liked the idea of having sex with her—well,
that was a major caress to her self-image—of course with someone as
stunning as Ryan, that would be a major boost to anyone’s
self-esteem.

Once she told her men to prepare and
where she wanted them, we switched seats.

“
They watch whoever comes
near the house, so you two need to duck down now. If they see
anyone other than the two of us, we won’t make it out of
there.”

Sharon didn’t look too happy, but she
took the opportunity to remind Ryan that if she didn’t like
anything he did, I’d be shot. She also told him that her men would
start following him in about two miles where there was some heavy
road construction, and that he’d better not try to lose them or,
once again, she’d find reason to blow my guts all over the interior
of the car.

Allen was crouched behind Ryan, and
Sharon was behind me making sure he could see the pistol pointed at
my back.

“
Go” was all she
said.

I dropped the car into drive. The car
had more than enough muscle for what I needed to do. It was the ZL1
model which meant I had almost 600hp under the hood. Unfortunately,
it was an automatic transmission, but that was okay—I’d make
do.

Ryan reached over and rested his hand
rather intimately on the inside of my right thigh—I wondered for a
moment what the hell he was doing when I felt him tracing letters
against my skin with his index finger.

D. O. L. O. M. I. T. E. P. I.
T.

He rewrote it. I reached down with my
right hand and scooped his up, giving it a squeeze—and tracing O.
K. inside his palm. If we were headed that direction, Micah would
most likely figure out that we were on our way to what should have
been the original meeting site. I could only hope he’d figure it
out in time to take the alternate route.

As we drove up, I noticed my father’s
men. One car was about a block before we arrived. The second was
parked approximately a block farther down the street. That one,
most likely, would be the first one I’d have to contend with. The
only cars at the house were David’s BMW and the 300.

The first car had four men inside.
They knew who we were, so other than a second glance, they made no
move as we drove past. I was thinking there were a million things
that could go wrong with this ‘simple’ plan. My heart was beginning
to pound as I drew closer and closer to the beach house. They had
backed the truck in. I guessed because they wanted the big, rolling
door on the back positioned so they could see it, and perhaps to
hide the Louisiana license plate.

No one, thank God, was outside. Damn,
that driveway seemed so long—far too long for Ryan to run down to
reach the driver’s side of the truck.

“
I’m pulling in,” I
stated.

“
No,” Sharon
growled.

“
It’s too far for him to
make it to the truck before someone stops him. Sit tight; this is
less suspicious than just opening the door and sending him
running.”

“
Screw this up and I’ll
kill you,” she warned.

I pulled in, practically feeling the
bullet that was prepared for me. I brought the car nose to nose
with the truck and Ryan jumped out. Thankfully, the driver’s door
wasn’t locked. He was in it and had it roaring to life in a split
second.

I had the Camaro in reverse and
burning the tires backwards down the drive. What a moment of déjà
vu! I’d done this very thing with Micah’s Z the first night we were
alone together, except this time I wasn’t heading back toward the
bridge but I’d be going down the island for the turn that would
take us to the other side of the mainland. I wasn’t sure if I
should let Ryan get in front of me, but I gave him room and he took
the lead. Sharon was peering from between the seats at the roadway
ahead and barking orders at me, but I didn’t pay her any attention.
I knew what I was doing.

I watched the car down the road crank
and turn sideways.

“
Hold on,” was all I said
as I cut around Ryan and prepared to ram the other car. I could see
the surprise on the men’s faces as they realized who was behind the
wheel. They were actually attempting to get out of my way when I
skidded slightly and broadsided them, sending their car careening
against the high curb, effectively blowing two of their
tires.

I put Ryan back in the lead and slowed
as I watched people running like ants out of the beach house.
Thankfully, we were too far away for Sharon to make them out. The
other car which had the several men we passed when we went to the
house was now rapidly approaching. When they drew close enough, I
hit the brakes and swerved. They seemed surprised as their target
suddenly was to their rear. I hit the back passenger’s side fender
and spun them out. Ryan was getting farther away.

I started to catch up to him when I
saw the 300 and David’s BMW quickly approaching from behind. I
could tell Micah was at the wheel of the 300, with my father in the
passenger’s seat. David and another man were in the sports
car.

I really hoped those boys were wearing
their seat belts.

I looked ahead and saw a couple cars
had pulled out and were now following Ryan; those had to be
Sharon’s men. Suddenly, I heard the sound of a performance engine
winding out to the maximum. David had passed Micah and he was
closing in on me fast. I tried to break and swerve, but he’d
already seen that move and he was prepared as it seemed we were
involved in a high speed dance down the congested roadway. There
were orange and white cones, water barrels, concrete barriers,
highway workers and (the closer we drew to the shopping areas on
the beach) a ton more traffic. I saw the absolute stunned surprise
on David’s face as we barely avoided each other and he got his
first look at who was behind the wheel. Once again, I was in front
of him.

Ryan was a good distance ahead and had
made the turn for the mainland.

As we approached the intersection,
David appeared as if he was going to abandon me and the Camaro to
his brother, and he would follow the truck, but I wasn’t about to
allow that to happen.

Timing was everything as we approached
the red-light at the intersection. I certainly hoped people were
paying attention. This would be an unpleasant car pile-up, but if
people were fast enough on the brakes, hopefully no one would get
killed. I slid into the intersection sideways, narrowly missing two
cars going opposite directions, but it was enough to set off the
chain reaction as people who were unaccustomed to controlling a
skid, plowed into each other and blocked David’s turn. I watched
his car begin to slide, trying to avoid the cars when another car
hit his passenger’s side sending him into the melee. I was saying
my prayers that everyone would be okay, but now I had a new
problem: I’d missed my turn and my chance to follow Ryan. Concrete
barriers blocked me from getting to the westbound lanes—and I had a
black 300 hot on my tail.

By this point, Sharon and Allen had
been tossed around so much in the backseat that they were now
completely upright and visible. I didn’t care really because I knew
if Micah saw them, he’d figure everything out, including (at least
I hoped) where we might be headed.

Sharon was still bitching away about
the fact that her coke was headed a different direction than she
was, but I was in total concentration as I weaved through the
traffic, intent on finding a way through the barriers—hopefully
before I had to drive the entire twenty mile stretch down the
beach! Suddenly, I saw my opportunity a block down the road. Two
concrete barriers were missing, most likely as a place for police
to cross the roadway in an emergency. I began to slow and drift
into the outside lane.

“
What the hell are you
doing?!” Sharon screamed at me. “He’s catching us, you stupid
little bitch!”

I believe Allen understood what I was
heading for, but he knew we were going too fast to make the tiny
opening. “You can’t drive through there!” he yelled.

“
I’m not driving through
it,” I shot back, “I’m freaking parking in it! Hold on,” I said
once again, hoping Sharon wouldn’t pull the trigger before she
understood my plan.

It had been a long time since I’d
pulled this stunt, but I had to admit my adrenalin was through the
roof as the speedometer hit thirty miles-per-hour and I hit the
brakes and cut the wheel. It was one hell of a tricky move, but
executed properly it was a thing of beauty as the car suddenly spun
180 degrees and slipped perfectly sideways between the barriers
without an inch to spare. Had the barriers been a pair of cars, it
would have been the perfect parallel parking move, but now it was
time to punch the gas in the westbound lanes of traffic and catch
up to that freaking pink truck!

CHAPTER thirty-nine

Micah was seated on the sofa as he
listened to Vitale continue to beg for Sharon’s life. Caprizio
seemed more irritated than moved by the older man’s requests, but
since their families had been friends for many years, he permitted
him to continue. Giovanni had just finished taking a shower and was
slipping into his button up shirt over a cotton tank as he
re-entered the room.

When they heard the sound of the truck
cranking, everyone experienced a momentary pause of frozen shock.
Micah, David, and Giovanni were the first to snap out of it and run
for the door, followed by another one of Caprizio’s soldiers,
Caprizio himself, Botachelli, and Vitale.

All Micah could think, as he watched
the truck and a Camaro leaving at a high rate of speed, was how did
they get past the men who were posted? But he didn’t have time to
worry about it, he needed to catch them.

He heard David yell, and he looked up
just in time to see his coil gun being thrown at him. He snatched
it from the air and opened the door to the 300. Jonathan had the
keys, but he put them in Micah’s hand, and then quickly moved into
the backseat. Caprizio was going for the passenger’s side, and (to
his surprise) Botachelli and Vitale were also getting into the
backseat. He certainly did not like the idea of having mafia’s
elite top brass involved in a car chase and possible gun battle,
but with David armed with both Glocks and a coil gun, Caprizio’s
soldier, Eddie, wearing a pair of Walther’s, and Giovanni… Micah
paused for a glance in the rearview. Giovanni had just come from
the shower and had been in the process of dressing—he was unarmed.
Damn, Micah thought, but he knew as fast as everything happened
there had been no time for Giovanni to run to the back bedroom and
grab his harness.