Velocity

The chase wasn't a race. A race had rules. A race had a finish line. This was a hunt.

The GTO was a beast of straight-line speed, a muscle car built for the quarter-mile. The SUVs were modern, heavy, and persistent.

Leo took the on-ramp to the I-95 underpass sideways, drifting the heavy car with a precision that made Sofia scream. The rear bumper clipped the guardrail, sending a shower of sparks cascading into the night.

"They're gaining!" Sofia yelled, looking out the back window.

"I know!" Leo shouted over the roar of the engine. "Sit down and keep your head low!"

A gunshot shattered the rear windshield. Glass rained down on Sofia. She shrieked, curling into a ball on the floor.

"They're shooting at the bride?" Leo yelled, outraged. "Who shoots at the bride?"

"They aren't trying to bring me back!" Sofia yelled back. "They're trying to silence me!"

Leo swerved across three lanes of traffic, cutting off a semi-truck. The truck blasted its horn, acting as a momentary shield against the pursuers.

"The tunnel," Leo said to himself. "We need the tunnel."

He jerked the wheel, taking the exit for the Battery Tunnel at eighty miles per hour. The suspension groaned, but the car held. They plunged into the subterranean amber light of the tunnel.

The sound changed here. The roar of the V8 echoed off the tiled walls, becoming a deafening boom.

"Talk to me," Leo said, eyes glued to the rearview. "What proof?"

"A hard drive," Sofia shouted. "I stole it from Marco’s study during the rehearsal dinner. It has the schematics. The bank transfers. He isn't planning a merger, Leo. He's planning a massacre. He’s going to lock the doors at the reception and kill every Vane in the room. Including me."

Leo felt a cold knot in his stomach. It sounded exactly like Marco. The Red Wedding approach. Efficient. Brutal. And sanctioned by their father, no doubt.

"If I go back," Sofia said, "there is no peace. Just a slaughter."

In the mirror, the SUVs entered the tunnel. They were faster in the straightaway.

"Hold on," Leo said. "I'm going to kill the lights."

"What?"

"Trust me."

Leo reached onto the dashboard and flipped the toggle switch he had installed for street racing. The GTO went dark. No headlights. No taillights. In the dim, amber wash of the tunnel, the grey car effectively vanished into the gloom.

He saw the SUVs hesitate. They swerved, unsure of his position.

Leo downshifted. He cut the wheel hard to the right, crossing the double yellow line into oncoming traffic.

"You're going to kill us!" Sofia screamed.

"I'm saving us!"

He wove through the oncoming cars—horns blaring, lights flashing—using the civilian vehicles as a moving barricade. The SUVs couldn't follow. They were too wide, too slow to react.

Leo hit the exit ramp, bursting out of the tunnel and back into the rain-slicked night. He took a sharp left, diving into the labyrinth of industrial alleys near the docks. He drove for another ten minutes, twisting and turning, until the sirens and the engines faded into the distance.

Only then did he slow down. The GTO rumbled, steam rising from the hood.

"We lost them," Leo said, exhaling a breath he didn't know he was holding.

He looked in the rearview mirror. Sofia was sitting up, brushing glass from her hair. She looked like a wreck. But she was alive.

"You drive like a maniac," she said.

"You're welcome," Leo replied.