Hunt, catch, kill.
The van was forced to slow as it approached a turn. Ace jumped onto the roof of a nearby car, watching the van tilt alarmingly as it rounded the corner at incredible speed. For a moment, he thought they were going to spin out and save him the trouble of catching them, but at the last moment, the van straightened out, and the driver floored it.
Ace jumped across the roofs of a few cars, denting them as he bounced. As he finally reached the van, a growl of satisfaction rose in his throat. This time, they weren’t getting away.
Ace sailed through the air and landed on the roof with enough force to leave a decent-size dent. He dug his claws in, leaving long furrows in the metal as he clung. He looked ahead and saw they were coming to a bridge, which meant the van would have nowhere to go.
I’ve got you now motherfucker.
With a mighty thrust of his muscular shoulders, he dug his claws in even farther, tearing a massive hole in the roof. There was a scream below as he dropped down into the back of the van.
I thought there might be a few guys in here, but there are only two. The passenger must have jumped back here to fight me off.
Ace growled as he stalked the guy. The man tried to raise his gun, but Ace slapped it away. He launched himself, and the guy ducked and rolled, kicking him into the wall. Ace growled in fury, extremely pissed that these guys kept vexing him.
I will tear their fucking throats out!
This time he crept along the floor, springing up at the last second. He hooked the guy’s mask and yanked it back, then turned to get a good look at the man’s face.
Benny. I should have known.
This wasn’t a hit by either of the families … it was Benny and Fritz trying to cover their tracks. Ace was so angry that he lost focus momentarily and tried to leap at Benny at the exact moment the van swerved hard to the side.
The driver … who had to be Fritz … swerved violently from side to side, making it hard for Ace to keep his feet. Benny wasn’t doing much better, and they staggered around the van’s empty cargo area, trying to land a good enough hit to turn the fight to their advantage.
Ace managed to give Benny a few good scratches, enough to slow him down. He began to think it was all going to go his way until the van suddenly spun around, smashing Ace back and forth like he was in a washing machine.
Ace was thrown through the air, and he saw Benny jump up and grab the scaffolding on the ceiling of the vehicle. Ace howled with frustration as he saw what was about to happen.
Benny gathered himself and kicked out with his legs, catching Ace in the ribs. He was flung straight out the back doors to tumble through the air.
All Ace could see was the rapid, rolling view of the road beneath him as he fell. He waited for the impact, knowing that this one was really going to hurt.
Then, he saw water.
Fuck! I’m going over the side!
He flailed with his legs, his claws grazing the guard rail as he tried to grab it. It was no good. He was going over into the Chicago River.
The last thing he saw as the road disappeared was Benny waving from the back of the van. Ace closed his eyes and gave himself up to the fall.
This isn’t over. No fucking way.
Chapter17
Emma
Emma picked herself up off the ground, whimpering a little over her bruised knees and grazed elbows. The fall had hurt as well as being a terrible shock. She hadn’t a clue what was happening until she heard the gunshots.
She looked up just in time to see Ace’s tawny tail swishing away down the sidewalk as he tore after the white van. Shreds of his clothes lay around the table, and she saw his wallet, keys, and phone still tucked into the remains of his pants pocket.
Emma took a deep breath as she sat down, looking at her reddened hands and carefully picking out tiny pieces of gravel. The place had emptied out very quickly, and she was the only one in the outdoor area now.
She wondered if she should wait for Ace to get back, but the longer she sat there, the more frightened she became. Not only could the gunmen come back, but the employees of the café were watching her suspiciously through the windows. None of them looked brave enough to come out.
Someone probably called the cops.
That wasn’t a probably … it was a definitely. Emma hurried to pick up Ace’s things as well as her own and hurried away, ignoring the people who stared at her. She couldn’t believe she’d been stupid enough to just sit there. It was only a matter of time until the cops showed up, and there was no possible way she could convince them she didn’t know what was going on.