Edward frowned and it had nothing to do with the winding road ahead of him. Policymakers in Washington seemed to go out of their way to make his job more difficult with each passing day. He was getting fed up with it. Allies were in short supply, and there were a lot of things happening that he didn’t agree with. But his hands were tied by government red tape when it came to doing something about it.
“It seems our Mr. Jones was planning on retirement money when all he would have gotten was a plot in the ground somewhere,” Edward muttered. “Like I said, they aren’t playing the same game he was.”
“Plus, your people knew what he was doing.”
“Technically, they’re our people, because it’s your country too.”
Daniel shot him a scowl. “You know what I meant.”
Edward smirked even as he noticed headlights far behind them. “Not nearly as quickly as we should have. Field agents have a lot of autonomy so that we can make split-second decisions on the fly when an assignment goes south. I’m guessing no one noticed Jones’s suspicious behavior until it was already too late.”
“What’s next?” Daniel asked. “Mrs. Han said she knew I wasn’t Kevin Jones.”
“She did?” Edward frowned. “That’s not good. But for now, we go to Toulouse and I call my handler. Hopefully, your part in this mess is done, then. With a little luck, you’ll be on a plane tomorrow afternoon for home.”
The car behind them was gaining on them too fast to be a regular traveler. He narrowed his eyes, trying to make out the car or the driver, but it was too dark. “Make sure your seat belt is on well. We’ve got a tail.”
“And you had to pick this narrow lane?” Daniel twisted around to look out the rear window. “Do you think it’s the woman from the meeting?”
“Probably. You didn’t think they were just going to give up, did you? They want that information.”
Daniel flipped back around and checked his seat belt. “This road is crazy. It’s too narrow to be going this fast.”
“It’s also a bitch of a winding one, so hold on.”
Edward slowed as much as he could as the path formed a hairpin turn. He checked his rearview mirror again and the car was right on their hip. He sped up when the road started to even out only to spot another upcoming sharp curve.
The car behind them sped up, too, and tapped the bumper.
Daniel started cursing hard under his breath. “Shit, look at the drop on the side.”
“Don’t look,” Edward said, unable to stop his grin as he took the curve smoothly.
“Oh, my God, you crazy motherfucker, you’re enjoying this!” Daniel yelled. “This is insane! Don’t they want the information? These guys are really trying to run us off the road!”
“They won’t. Trust me, okay?”
Edward picked up speed on a straight shot and managed to pull away from their relentless followers. He gritted his teeth and hit the next curve with more acceleration than he should have. He held on to the wheel with white knuckles and sped up as he came out of it. The car behind them crept close and hit the bumper again. They swerved but he managed to keep them on the road.
“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,” Daniel chanted as he braced himself on the dashboard. “There’s a car coming from the other direction.”
“I see that.” Edward hit the gas.
“We’re gonna die. I don’t want to die. Slow the fuck down!”
“You want those guys to nudge us right over one of these drops? We make it if I keep ahead of them and maybe trip them up on one of these major curves. Just close your eyes if you can’t hack it.”
“Screw you,” Daniel snarled as he turned in his seat to look out the back again.
Edward tuned Daniel out to focus entirely on the road ahead of them. The turns grew sharper and the drop-offs steeper. Keeping them alive was going to take all his concentration.
Daniel grew quiet and Edward was pretty sure he even stopped breathing as they got hit again. This time the veer was more intense, and they nearly sideswiped some low-hanging trees.
A wide grin spread across Edward’s face. A turn was coming up that seemed to appear out of nowhere. He hit the gas. And just as he expected, the people behind them sped up as well. Right before the turn, he pressed hard on the brakes, veering as much as possible into the other lane. The person driving the car behind them didn’t.
Edward hit the turn at a speed he normally wouldn’t have taken. The car swung wide, gravel on the side of the road grinding and spitting out from the tires. His own breath was trapped in his lungs and his heart raced. But he managed to keep the car on the road.