Touch of Red (Tracers #12)(81)

Brooke ran back to her car and jumped behind the wheel. She grabbed her phone to call Sean. Putting it on speaker, she tossed it into the passenger seat, then threw her car into gear and sped away.

“Come on, come on. Pick up,” she muttered, barely slowing at the stop sign.

“I can’t talk right now,” Sean said. “I’ll call you back.”

“Wait. Where is Mahoney?”

Silence on the other end.

“Sean? Do you have eyes on him?”

“No. Why? Where are you?”

“I thought he was under surveillance!”

“He gave us the slip. Brooke, where are you? What’s wrong?”

She gunned the gas and tried to catch up to the silver Audi that was quickly fading from view.

“Brooke?”

“I’m at the Spences’ house. Or I was. Cameron is missing, and a silver Audi just went tearing out of here—”

“What do you mean, missing?”

“Sean, what kind of car does Mahoney drive?” She floored the pedal as the Audi hung a left at a stoplight.

“A black Escalade. You said a silver Audi? Hold on.”

She heard muffled conversation on the other end as Sean talked to someone.

“Joe Hurd drives a car like that. That’s the judge’s bailiff. You think Cameron is with him?”

“I don’t know.” She slammed on the brakes, and her car rabbited to a halt at the intersection, nearly hitting a pickup truck in front of her. Brooke smacked her steering wheel.

“Where are you, Brooke?”

“I’m at”—she glanced around—“Cherrywood Road and Market Street. Sean, you have to get someone over here. They just turned south on Market. They’re getting away!” She glanced in her rearview, then threw her car into reverse and shot backward. Shifting into drive, she maneuvered around the pickup truck, prompting a chorus of honks as she drove onto the median and hung a left in pursuit of the Audi.

“We’re sending patrol units now. Did you actually see Cameron in the car?”

“No. I haven’t seen him at all.” She swerved around cars, trying to catch sight of the Audi, but she couldn’t spot it. “I don’t even see the car anymore. Sean, what if they have Cameron?”

In a flash of silver the Audi came into view. Brooke punched the gas, barely making the next traffic light as it turned red.

“Brooke, are you listening? We have units en route. You need to pull over.”

“Are you crazy? They’ll get away!”

“Brooke, pull over. You’re going to get hurt—”

“I’m not letting them out of my sight, Sean. They might have Cameron!”

More muffled voices as he talked to someone.

The Audi hung a left onto a state highway.

“They’re turning onto Highway 46 southbound. Can you tell your people?”

“Brooke—”

“I’m not pulling over, so save your breath.” She swerved around a delivery truck.

“Okay, just . . . listen. Whatever you do, you cannot let them see you. Do you understand? We think the judge and his bailiff could be in that car. We think they’re armed and dangerous. Hang way back, and do not confront them, whatever you do. Got it?”

“Yes.”

“I have to jump off, but I’ll call you back.”

Brooke tossed her phone aside and focused on driving. Her heart raced. Her hands felt slick on the steering wheel as she waited for a break in traffic and made the turn onto the highway. The Audi was far ahead now, but with a fair amount of traffic on the four-lane road, she hoped she could keep from being spotted.

Maybe she’d been spotted already. She wasn’t trained in covert vehicle pursuit. She wasn’t trained in any of this, and Sean was probably right that she should pull over and let the police handle it.

Only the unshakable certainty that they had Cameron in that car with them kept her going.

She eased into the right lane, where she’d be less conspicuous as she kept a steady pace behind the Audi. Minutes passed as they neared the outskirts of town. Where were the cops? Were they on their way? Or maybe they were already in pursuit in unmarked units. Brooke glanced around at the other vehicles on the road, but none looked like a cop, undercover or not.

She nudged her speed up as she trained her gaze on the silver sedan in the distance. It was just driving. Not erratically, not too fast. It was moving only a few miles per hour above the speed limit, as though the driver had no idea she was back here following him.

He hadn’t spotted her.

She took a deep breath and tried to calm her nerves. It didn’t work. Brooke knew, in her heart of hearts, that Cameron had been grabbed and that he was in that vehicle. It belonged to Mahoney’s bailiff, and it had been speeding away from Cameron’s house. Now that the driver was out of Cameron’s neighborhood, he seemed to want to blend in with traffic.

Had Cam cut class and gone home to see his dog, as his mother suspected? Had he been avoiding the police interview?

Whatever had happened, Brooke had no doubt he’d crossed paths with some dangerous people.

A horrible thought jumped into Brooke’s mind and she gripped the wheel tighter.

What if Cam wasn’t with them? What if he hadn’t been kidnapped at all? Maybe whoever was in that car had already hurt him and was speeding away from the crime scene when Brooke showed up?