The other thief had stolen the Bellini.
26
Before leaving the crying Dutch woman by the bonfire, Adriana’s last words to Monique were, “You know where to find your painting.” With nearly all of Espinoza’s men dead, she could get it for herself.
Adriana took off, only considering the irony of her escape for the briefest of seconds. In stealing the painting Adriana needed, the Chameleon had inadvertently helped the Spaniard escape. It was a thought that occurred to Adriana as she sprinted barefoot across the pool patio and up the stairs. More gunshots rang out from the driveway, causing her to freeze in mid-step. If she guessed right, the other woman had just taken out the remaining guards.
As Adriana rounded the top of the stairs, she saw headlights turn on in the parking area, and a moment later, a black sedan screamed away, its tires screeching on the blacktop. Adriana pumped her legs hard, ran through the living room, and down the hallway to the entrance. Just outside the front door, she found the two guards she’d met on the way in as well as two more lying facedown on the pavement.
She paused for a second and looked to her right. A red Audi S6 sat nestled against the landscaped retaining wall. She jogged over to the vehicle and pulled on the door handle, praying it was unlocked. The door opened, and she slid into the slick black leather seat. Her eyes searched the console and found the wireless start key fob sitting in plain sight. Finally, a little luck.
Adriana stepped on the brake pad and pressed the ignition button. The throaty engine roared to life, and a second later she shifted it into gear and stomped on the gas.
The half-mile driveway wound its way up the side of the small mountain with over eight switchbacks, making it hard to go too fast down the short straightaways. The other car would have the same disadvantage, though Adriana knew when she hit the bottom of the hill, it was straight sailing all the way back to Guadalajara. Her car was faster than the Chameleon’s, but catching up to her in time was still in doubt.
She hit the first turn, stepped on the brakes, and accelerated through the apex as she’d done so many times growing up. Her father taught her how to drive at the age of fourteen on the twists and turns of the hillsides outside Madrid.
“If you know how to maximize your speed in turns,” he’d said, “you can outrun faster cars driven by less talented drivers.”
Temptation begged her to look down the chasm below to check on the other woman’s progress, but she resisted. Driving at high speeds required 100 percent attention and focus. The next turn approached rapidly, and she repeated the process of the first, smoothly accelerating around the curve and into the next bit of straight asphalt. Each time she repeated the process, Adriana could feel the tires grinding on the road, chewing it up with ease. The Audi’s all-wheel drive also helped, and out of the corner of her eye, she could see the other car’s headlights as she reached the seventh turn.
At the last curve, she whipped around it faster than the others and leaned into it with her body. When she came out of the turn, the Chameleon’s sedan was only a hundred feet away.
Adriana’s eyes narrowed to slits,and she pounded the gas pedal. The thrust cocked her head back slightly, and she couldn’t help but grin at the feel of the acceleration.
The red taillights in front of her grew larger and larger as Adriana reeled the other woman in. She glanced down at the speedometer and noted her car was going over 110 mph — and still climbing. The stripes on the road blurred by like bullets. She’d pulled to within thirty feet of the other car when it suddenly slowed and she noticed something protrude out the window.
Adriana tapped her brakes and veered right, putting half her car on the road’s shoulder just as the gun barrel flashed four times. She corrected her direction and returned to the lane. The weapon flashed again, this time twice. Adriana jerked the wheel to the left an inch more than she intended. Her speed had slowed dramatically to seventy, but the car drifted back and forth, nearly spinning out of control. She remembered her dad’s teachings and took her foot off the gas, letting the car slow itself, which made correcting it easier. Back on the right side of the road, she stepped on the gas pedal again. For a few seconds, the other car had gained distance, but Adriana was pulling her back rapidly.
Another flurry of gunshots flashed from the other car. Adriana saw the hand and gun retract back into the car. Time to make her move. She pressed the pedal to the floor,and once more the car surged forward. The engine whined as she neared ninety again. The gap between the vehicles closed in seconds. Adriana targeted the rear bumper of the other sedan. Twenty feet. Ten feet. Five feet. The front of the Audi fender rammed into the rear fender of the fleeing sedan. The impact caused a momentary shudder in the steering column,but she kept the line true. The other car wiggled slightly,but the driver managed to keep it on course and pulled ahead by twenty feet.
Adriana pushed forward again, once more aiming to hit the other vehicle. This time, however, the other driver anticipated her move and slammed on the brakes. Adriana’s reaction was too slow, and she hit her brake pedal only a second before the front of the Audi plowed into the trunk. The impact sent her forward, but with the high speed of the chase, she’d strapped on her seatbelt, a move that now may have proved to be life saving. Her face smashed into the cushioned airbag the instant it deployed.
Disoriented and in considerable pain, Adriana attempted to gather her bearings as the Audi slowed down and drifted toward the side of the road. The other driver sped away, the car’s bumper barely attached.
Adriana blinked rapidly, regaining her senses. She saw the blurry red lights escaping into the darkness. Her car’s engine was still running in spite of the crash damage. She’d thought it would be worse, but it turned out the other driver hadn’t been able to slow enough to cause total damage to Adriana’s motor. She winced and gritted her teeth, forcing the pain to the back of her mind. The keys had flown forward during the crash and landed in one of the cup holders to the right of her leg. A house key was attached to the key fob. She picked it up and jammed it into the side of the airbag to speed up the deflation process. The bag hissed for a few seconds as the air poured through the puncture. When the bladder was close to empty, she jammed her foot on the accelerator and was back in pursuit. And now she was angry.
The city lights of Ameca glowed in the distance, brightening the otherwise perfectly dark Mexican sky. Whoever this irritant of a woman was, Adriana did not intend to let her reach that city.
The gap between the cars closed again in spite of the aerodynamic alterations the crash caused. When Adriana was four car lengths behind, Allyson tried the same move again, slamming on her brakes to cause another crash and wreck the Audi’s engine. The Spaniard was ready for it this time and jerked her wheel to the left, veering the car into the left lane and alongside the other sedan. She spun the wheel hard to the right, slamming her passenger side into the opposing vehicle. Allyson’s head rocked to the side, but she kept her car on the road. Adriana repeated the move, jerking the nose of the Audi to the right. This time, the blonde had the same idea and pulled her wheel left to counter the blow. The cars jarred together again and knocked the driver’s side mirror off the blonde’s sedan.
Adriana pulled back to the left for a moment. Her eyes flashed back and forth between the road and the other driver. A bend in the asphalt ahead would be difficult to negotiate at this speed — especially since it went left. If she were driving the other car, she would use that to her advantage and try to ram the chaser off the road. The two vehicles sped up, racing to the sharp curve less than a thousand yards away. Through narrowed eyes, Adriana stole another glance to her right. The blonde did the same, but there was a frantic look on her face.