Jack accelerated until his bumper was almost touching the SUV’s, then started flashing his high beams. He didn’t expect them to pull over, of course, but now they knew there was a witness, a thorn. If they wanted to get clear with Effrem, they’d have to deal with Jack first.
The SUV accelerated, opening a gap, but Jack countered until he was again on their tail. The SUV’s brake lights flashed. Jack braked hard, swerved left, and found himself alongside the SUV. Jack didn’t need to see the vehicle’s window rolling down to know what was coming. He jerked the wheel, crushing the Audi against the SUV. Jack’s passenger window spiderwebbed once, twice, then shattered inward. Wind gushed through the Audi’s interior.
He slammed on the brakes, letting the SUV pull ahead, then slid in behind it as a train overpass enveloped them. Jack stomped on the gas pedal and smacked into the SUV’s bumper. He backed off and did it again, this time angling the nose of the Audi into the SUV’s quarter panel in hopes of sending it into a spin. The SUV’s driver countersteered into Jack and he lost the angle.
This couldn’t go on for long, Jack knew. If the police weren’t already on their way, they soon would be. That might solve the issue of Effrem’s rescue, but if the occupants of the SUV opened fire on the police there might be bodies in the street, and at best Jack would end up in jail. He needed to end this quickly.
The road dipped and the SUV slipped into an underpass with Jack a few feet off its bumper. Headlights flashed through the Audi’s windshield. The blaring of car horns echoed through the underpass. Jack weaved right, trying to pass the SUV, but again the driver countered, swerving and shoving Jack toward the guardrail, forcing him to brake hard. The SUV surged ahead, emerged from the underpass, and turned left at the next intersection. Jack momentarily lost sight of it, but then, as he, too, made the turn, he saw the SUV fishtailing and disappearing through a gate in a long wooden fence. Jack overshot the gate, braked to a stop, then reversed and turned in.
On either side of the car, massive open-sided bays stacked with lumber flashed past the Audi’s windows. A lumberyard. Bright, pole-mounted security lights cast sharp circles of light on the pavement.
A forklift emerged from an alley to Jack’s right. He jerked the wheel left, but not enough. The forklift’s blades scraped down the Audi’s side and shattered the rear window. Jack slammed on the brakes, glanced at the sideview mirror, and saw the forklift was still upright, its driver climbing down from the cab. He hit the accelerator again.
Ahead, the SUV turned right and disappeared behind a warehouse.
Jack was five seconds behind.
The SUV was gone.
To his right was the warehouse wall. The nearest door, lit from above by a spotlight, was fifty yards away and partially closed. Too far. Jack looked left down an alley bordered by tiered stacks of railroad ties. No sign of the SUV. He kept going, glancing down the next alley as he went past. At the third intersection, he saw the SUV’s tail end disappear behind a lumber stack. It was running parallel to him, its lights off.
Jack jammed the accelerator against the floorboards, pushing the Audi’s accelerator past fifty, then tapped hard on the brakes and spun the wheel left, slewing the car down the next alley. He let the tail end snap back, then accelerated again and reached the next intersection just as the SUV sped past. Jack didn’t slow but raced to the next intersection, did a hand-brake skid-turn to the right. As he raced through an exit gate, the pavement turned to rutted dirt. Out his passenger window was a line of trees, and through these he could see fragmented light that seemed to be moving, keeping pace with him. A train, he realized.
He sensed movement out his passenger window, glanced that way. The SUV’s headlights filled the Audi’s interior, blinding him. He jammed on the brakes. Through the windshield he saw the SUV fishtail and its rear bumper clip the Audi’s hood. Jack steered into it but overshot. A pyramid of railroad ties loomed through the windshield. He counter-steered, but not quickly enough. The Audi sideswiped the stack of ties, and a pair of them crashed into the hood and spiderwebbed the right half of the windshield before tumbling over the roof and disappearing.
Jack spun the wheel, bringing the Audi back in behind the SUV.
Time to end this, he thought. Hold on, Effrem…
He eased left and accelerated. The SUV took the bait and moved to cut him off. Jack tapped the brakes, swerved right and down the SUV’s opposite side, then jerked the wheel hard, ramming the Audi’s bumper into the SUV’s tire. The driver had no choice but to counter, but he overdid it. The SUV’s rear tires, now sideways to the vehicle’s momentum, stuttered over the furrowed ground. The SUV flipped onto its side, then began spinning toward the trees. Dirt and chunks of the vehicle’s chassis peppered Jack’s windshield. He hit the brakes and the Audi skidded to a stop.
Jack got out and paused to get his bearings. Dust swirled in the beams of the Audi’s headlights. The sudden halt to the chase left him momentarily dizzy.
Which way?
He raised the HK and started jogging toward what he guessed was the tree line.
From the darkness, a lone gunshot.
A round in Effrem’s head? he wondered.
He slowed down, hunched over, and tried to localize the sound, then eased left. Somewhere in the distance a train whistle echoed, then went silent. Abruptly the dust thinned and he found himself in the trees. A branch smacked into his forehead. He landed on his butt, got back up. To his right one of the SUV’s turn signals blinked yellow in the darkness. He headed that way.
“Jack, he’s out there!” Effrem’s voice.
Jack froze, crouched, sidestepped behind a tree trunk. He assumed Effrem was referring to Möller. “Just him?” he called.
“The driver’s not moving.”
“Are you hurt?”
“I don’t know. I’ve got one of their guns.”
Jack didn’t know if this was true, but it was a smart move on Effrem’s part.
“Sit tight!” Faintly Jack heard the warble of sirens. “Police are on the way.”
This was as much a problem for them as it was for Möller, but Jack hoped the German would flee before he had time to think that through. Then again, Möller was just unflappable enough to do the opposite.
“No, I gotta get out!” Effrem shouted. “This thing’s leaking gas.”
Jack could smell it now.
From the direction of the railroad tracks came the clank of steel wheels. A train was coming.
Jack realized his NVGs were still hanging around his neck. Using his free hand, he settled them over his eyes. The left lens was shattered, leaving him only a grayish monocular view of his surroundings. With each beat of his heart the view vibrated. He took a calming breath, then looked around, starting behind himself and moving slowly toward the crashed SUV.
He stopped.
Movement.
He panned back and focused on a bush. Something there, he thought, a straight line in the curved branches. Too much bulk in the foliage. He took aim on the shape and fired once. Nothing moved.
A branch snapped. Jack spun right. Twenty feet away, a figure was moving through the trees toward him. Jack raised the HK, laid the front sight on the figure’s center of mass.
“Hallo, ist da jemand?” a male voice called. Hello, is anyone there?
Jack kept the HK trained on the man. Was it Möller?
“Wer is da?” Jack called.
“… Holzlager,” came the answer. Lumberyard.
“Polizei! Gas!” Luckily the word was the same in both languages. With any luck, the man would relay this message to the first police on scene. It might slow them down a bit.