In spite of their conversation, she still wanted Spence. Badly. And the constant closeness they’d share until Ethan was caught was only going to make it worse. But she had no choice, so she squared her shoulders and waited for Spence before heading toward the office door.
They were both silent as they rode the elevator to the parking garage. Spence had his hand on his gun as the door opened, and he motioned for her to stay inside the elevator while he checked the area.
A minute later he was back, and he opened the car door and waited for her to slide inside. Then he opened the trunk briefly. Closed it.
When he got into the driver’s seat, he tossed two Kevlar vests onto the back seat. “One of those will fit you,” he said. “But we’re not standing around in a parking garage, trying them on.”
They looked smaller than she’d expected. Less bulky. Maybe wearing one of those vests wouldn’t be so bad. She stared at them, amazed they could stop a bullet. One of them would be on her body at the conference next week.
She wasn’t sure how they’d fit beneath the clothes she’d chosen for the conference, but she’d change her wardrobe choices around and make it work.
He pulled out of the parking lot and turned onto the street. Out of habit, she watched for white cars. Spotted one to the left of them, waiting in the left turn lane. It could be a Subaru. “On your left,” she said. “Possible Subaru.”
Spence’s head twisted in that direction, and he watched the car for a moment. “Looks like Illinois plates,” he said. The way the Subaru was positioned, it would be easy for it to follow them as they drove out of the parking garage. They’d go straight and the white car would fall into place behind them.
Their light turned green and at the last moment, as Spence exited the garage, he swung into a left turn instead of going straight. “Look and see if that’s Davies,” he said.
Zoe strained to see beyond Spence, and she caught the driver looking at their car. Sucked in a breath. “That’s Ethan,” she said, her voice shaking.
“Hold on.” Spence made a tight U-turn and edged into the left turn lane. Horns blared behind him, but he focused on the white car. When they got the green arrow, Ethan turned right, followed by the two cars behind him. Then Spence’s car.
Spence made no effort to get closer and Zoe curled her fingers around the edge of the seat. Her nails dug into the rough nylon, and she kept her gaze on Ethan’s car.
Traffic slowed at the next intersection. Ethan was turning left, as was the car behind him. The third car swung into the right lane, and Spence crept close to the car behind Ethan.
The light turned yellow, and Ethan waited. Finally, just before the light turned red, he made a left turn. Spence swung away from the car in front of him and turned left, just missing the cars starting to move in the traffic on the other side of the street. Horns blared, but Spence guided his car onto the street. Ethan was a block ahead of him, speeding away.
Spence gunned the engine and sped up behind him. But not fast enough. A delivery truck backed out of an alley right in front of him, and Spence had to jam on the brakes. By the time the truck had moved out of the way, Ethan’s car had disappeared.