Jev opened the driver’s-side door of the SUV. “All of the above would be true if the police could be relied on.”
“What are you talking about? They’re the police. It’s their job to catch criminals. We’re not in the wrong here. Gabe would have killed me if you hadn’t stepped in.”
“That part I don’t doubt.”
“Then what?”
“This isn’t the kind of case local law enforcement is set up to handle.”
“I’m pretty sure murder falls under the jurisdiction of the law!” I argued.
“Two things,” he said patiently. “First, I didn’t kill Gabe. I stunned him. Second, believe me when I say Jeremiah and Dominic will not go into custody willingly and without a lot of bloodshed.”
I opened my mouth to argue when, from the corner of my eye, I saw Gabe twitch again. Miraculously, he wasn’t dead. I remembered the way he’d manipulated my sight with what I could only guess was a powerful form of hypnotism or a magician’s sleight of hand. Was he using another trick to somehow evade death? I had the eerie sensation that something bigger than I understood was going on. But—
What, exactly?
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” Jev said quietly.
I hesitated, but there wasn’t time for it. If Jev knew Gabe as well as I suspected, he had to know about his … abilities. “I saw Gabe do — a trick. A magic trick.” When Jev’s grim expression confirmed that he wasn’t surprised, I added, “He made me see something that wasn’t real. He turned himself into a bear.”
“That’s the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what he’s capable of.”
I swallowed against the sticky film lining my mouth. “How did he do it? Is he a magician?”
“Something like that.”
“He used magic?” I’d never given two moments’ thought that such convincing magic might actually exist. Until now.
“Close enough. Listen, time’s running a little thin.”
My gaze traveled to the weeds partially concealing Gabe’s body. Magicians could create illusions, but they could not defy death. There was no logical way he could have survived.
The sirens blared closer, and Jev ushered me toward the SUV. “Time’s up.”
I didn’t move. I couldn’t. I had a moral responsibility to stay—
Jev said, “If you hang around to talk to the police, you’ll be dead before the week is over. And so will every cop involved. Gabe will stop the investigation before it starts.”
I took another two seconds to think it through. I didn’t have to trust Jev. But in the end, for reasons too complicated to untangle on the spot, I did.
I strapped myself in beside him, my heart thundering behind my rib cage. He put what I could now see was a Tahoe in gear. With one arm braced behind my seat, he craned his neck to see out the back window.
Jev reversed down the alley, backed onto the street, then gunned forward toward the intersection ahead. There was a stop sign on the corner, but the Tahoe wasn’t slowing. I was just wondering if Jev would at least yield for the stop sign, as I clutched the granny handle above my door with both hands and hoped he would, when a dark silhouette staggered into our lane. The tire iron projecting out of Gabe’s back was wrenched at a gruesome angle, and in the hazy light, it resembled a broken appendage. A battered wing.
Jev stepped on the gas and threw the SUV into higher gear. It pitched forward, increasing in speed. Gabe was too far away to read his expression, but he showed no sign of moving. He crouched, tucking his legs beneath him, his hands up in front of him as though he thought he could block us.
I gripped the seat-belt strap. “You’re going to hit him!”
“He’ll move.”
My foot stomped an imaginary brake pedal. The distance between Gabe and the Tahoe rapidly narrowed. “Jev — stop — right — now!”
“This won’t kill him either.”
He forced the Tahoe into another burst of speed. And then it all happened too quickly.
Gabe lunged, hurtling through the air toward us. He struck the windshield, the glass cracking into a latticelike web. An instant later he flew out of sight. A scream filled the car, and I realized it was mine.
“He’s on top of the car,” Jev said. He floored it over the curb, plowing through a sidewalk bench and driving under a low-hanging tree. Jerking the steering wheel a hard left, he steered back onto the street.
“Did he fall off? Where is he? Is he still up there?” I pressed my face to my window, trying to see above me.
“Hang on.”
“To what?” I shouted, grasping for the granny handle again.
I never felt the brake. But Jev must have stepped on it, because the Tahoe spun a full rotation before squealing to a stop. My shoulder was slammed up against the door frame. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a dark mass fly through the air and land with catlike grace on the ground. Gabe stayed there a moment, crouching, his back to us.
Jev threw the Tahoe into first gear.
Gabe looked back over his shoulder. His hair clung to the sides of his face, a sheen of sweat holding it in place. His eyes locked with mine. His mouth tipped up diabolically. He said something just as the Tahoe lunged into motion, and even though I couldn’t decipher a single word from the movement of his lips, the message was clear. This isn’t over.
I pressed back in my seat, swallowing gulps of air as Jev peeled away in a manner I was sure left tire treads tattooed on the street.
CHAPTER 10
JEV DROVE ONLY FIVE BLOCKS. IT DAWNED ON ME A little late that I should have asked him to take me to Cooper-smith’s, but he’d opted for the obscurity of the back roads. He steered the Tahoe to the shoulder of a peaceful country road, lined by acres of trees and cornfields.
“Can you find your way home from here?” he asked.
“You’re just going to dump me here?” But the real question framed in my mind was this: Why had Jev, presumably one of them, alienated himself to save me?
“If you’re worried about Gabe, trust me, he’s got more on his mind right now than tracking you down. He won’t be doing much of anything until he gets the tire iron out. I’m surprised he had the strength to chase us as far as he did. Even after he gets it out, he’ll have what I can only describe as a killer hangover. He’s not going to be in the mood to do much other than sleep for the next several hours. If you’re waiting for the perfect moment to make a break for it, you aren’t going to get a better one.”
When I didn’t budge, he jerked his thumb back the way we’d come. “I need to make sure Dominic and Jeremiah clear out.”
I knew he wanted me to take a hint, but I wasn’t convinced. “Why are you really protecting them?” Maybe Jev was right, and Dominic and Jeremiah would fight the police. Maybe it would end in a bloodbath. But wasn’t the risk better than letting them walk free?
Jev’s eyes were fixed on the darkness beyond the windshield. “Because I’m one of them.”
I immediately shook my head. “You’re not like them. They would have killed me. You came back for me. You stopped Gabe.”
Instead of answering, he angled out of the Tahoe and came around to my side. He yanked my door open and pointed into the night. “Head that way to town. If your cell phone doesn’t work, keep walking until the trees clear. Sooner or later you’ll get reception.”
“I don’t have my cell.”
He paused only a beat. “Then when you get to Whitetail Lodge, ask the front desk for their phone. You can call home from there.”