“They’ll see your speed,” Jax says. He shakes his head as if he’s clearing his mind.
“Not if I’m in the trees,” Colette responds in singsong.
She slams on the accelerator and the car whips around to blast back out the cemetery gates.
I turn to Jax. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah.” He leans forward to look at the screen. It still flashes with the alert on Sam and Colette. “How long since that went out?”
“Ten minutes,” Colette says. “I figure that was about when Jovana got her antidote and took over the situation.” She glances back at us with a frown. “Vigilante blood is spilling all over the globe.”
She guns the car and we fly along the highway. She swaps the screen out for a map with red pulsing dots. “Nobody’s that close,” she says. “And nobody’s heading for us.” She presses a few buttons. “But I’m not taking any chances.” The dash goes dark as she returns to cloaked mode.
Jax and I fall against the back of the seat as she jets forward and veers off the road. We go straight into the trees and she dodges the big ones, weaving through spaces I don’t think we can possibly fit.
After a moment, my body adjusts to the erratic movements. I try to calm down. I’ve been in a panic ever since I saw the alert.
Jax stares out the window. He still seems to be in some sort of daze.
“You went down hard when they shot you with that dart,” I say to him. “Were you faking that?”
“No,” he says. “They drugged me enough that I would pass for dead.” He turns back to me and his eyes soften. “I’m fine now.”
“You don’t seem fine.”
His jaw tightens.
I wrap my fingers around his hand, squeezing. “We’re going to try to intercept Sam. We think it’s safest if we all stick together.”
“Is Paulson still with him?”
“No. They had to separate or Paulson couldn’t stay in the game.”
This gets him. He sits up. “Is Sam safe?”
“He’ll get by,” Colette calls back. “He’s got his toys.”
Jax sets a Blackphone on the console. “You can reach him with this.”
“Yes, he mentioned it in the last communication. Said you’d taken it from his hand before jumping into the river.” Colette’s laugh is like the tinkle of glass. “You are one crazy man.”
“Where are we going?” Jax asks.
“D.C. Same as everybody,” Colette says. “It will take an hour since I have to evade.”
Trees continue to whip by, but they are thinner now, and the car jostles less.
“Sam is coming up with a plan,” she says. We arrive at a small road, and Colette gets on it. “That should have killed a visual if they had it. I’ll do another maneuver in a bit just in case.” She sets the car on auto-drive and turns around.
“I still have another of your suits in a bag back there,” she says. “So you can restore your usual spiffy appearance.” She presses a button and a wall rolls up between the front and back seats. “To protect your modesty. Or my virgin eyes.” She laughs again.
The wall fits into place, and we can’t see her anymore.
I’m not sure what is going on with Jax, but I’m sure he’ll feel better in decent clothes. I unzip the bag. “Colette really watches out for you,” I say as I pass him a shirt and pants.
Jax stares at the clothes like they’re foreign objects. “She always has,” he says absently.
I clutch the garments in my lap. “Can you please tell me what isgoing on with you, Jax? You’re not acting anything like the last time I saw you.”
