CL Hart -From A Distance (7 page)

"Come on," Kenzie demanded, aware of her delay tactics.

The shot was not audible, but a millisecond before it was fired Kenzie saw the red line from the laser sight refracting on the car. Instinct took over and she tackled Cori to the ground just as the side window of the Honda exploded. "Stay down," Kenzie ordered as they huddled together, the shattered glass raining down upon them. Moving away from the side of the car, Kenzie brought her guns up and fired rapidly in the direction of the source of the laser.

The loud noise of the big guns echoed through the neighborhood, filling the streets with screams from frightened people, including Cori who was crouching down, her hands over her ears, looking too stunned to move.

"Open the car door," Kenzie yelled as she ducked down to reload.

Cori didn't move.

"Open the fucking car door, now!"

Cori reached through the shattered window, unlocked the door and pulled it open. With the car door now open, Kenzie holstered one of her guns and pushed Cori forward. "Get in, get over, and get down."

Kenzie picked up her duffle bag, and threw it into the back seat just as two holes exploded into the frame of the car. Kenzie hurtled into the driver's seat and then emptied her handgun at the muzzle flash in the shadows. Quickly switching guns, she holstered the empty one as she reached for the keys gripped tightly in Cori's hand.

"Give me the keys," Kenzie demanded as she ripped them from Cori's fingers. Firing up the engine, she shoved it into gear and stomped on the gas pedal. The tires squealed as the small car shot backward out of its parking stall and into the street. Kenzie spun the steering wheel with one hand and the car bounced and slid sideways as she slammed it into a forward gear.

Cori crouched on the passenger side floor watching as Kenzie maneuvered the car with one hand while reloading her guns with the other. "What was that?" Cori yelled over the noise of the car. "What the hell was that? What's going on?"

Kenzie was too busy refilling clips and trying to drive to answer. Her eyes darted from her lap to the road in front, and then to the vehicles behind them. Kenzie shoved an ammo clip into the butt of her gun.

"Somebody wants you dead. That's why I'm here." She holstered her gun and looked down at Cori. "Why would someone want you dead?"

"You're here to protect me?" For a moment, Cori's face held a look of relief, but that soon disintegrated. "You're not here to protect me, are you?"

To Kenzie it sounded like a rhetorical question, so she offered no answer. "Why would someone want you dead?"

Cori rubbed at her face. "I-I don't know. No one... I'm just a student. I haven't been down here long enough to piss someone off that badly. I'm not into drugs, and my mother doesn't have any money, so there's no point in kidnapping me." She sniffed loudly as she looked around her at the shattered glass. "I don't know why anyone would want me dead."

Kenzie was thinking about Cori's disclaimer as they approached Anillo Periferico, the main road that looped around Guadalajara. Studying every vehicle behind her, she tried to decide if she should go directly to the rendezvous point or follow a circuitous route to make sure no one was following them.
The rendezvous point... What am I going to do with her? How am I going to explain her? Maybe I can smuggle her onto the plane. Yeah, right, and then what? I need to find out who wants her dead. Then what, LeGault?

Cori, struggling to stay calm, said, "Excuse me."

Her thought processes interrupted, Kenzie looked down at Cori almost as if she had forgotten she was there.

"What just happened? What exactly is going on?"

After a pause, Kenzie finally said matter-of-factly, "Someone just tried to shoot you." She reached over and brushed away some of the shattered glass. "Sit in the seat."

"I think I know that, but why are they shooting at us?" Cori's voice reflected surprise and fear.

Kenzie reached around into the backseat and unzipped her duffle bag. "Not us - you." Keeping her eyes on the road and behind them, she felt through the bag with her fingers. "Now get up and sit in the seat."

Cori didn't attempt to move. "You shot back at them."

"That's what I do." Deja vu took her back to when she was standing in her own home talking with Colonel Manuck.
Was it Colonel Manuck? Does he not trust me?

"But you could have-" Cori paused and looked at Kenzie in naive astonishment. "You could have killed an innocent bystander."

"That really isn't my concern. Now get in the seat."

"It isn't your concern that you just shot at innocent people and someone could have died!"

Kenzie's jaw muscle tightened as she looked in the rearview mirror, "People die all the time. It's not my problem. Now move your ass into that seat before I make you!" Kenzie found what she'd been looking for in her bag and dropped the extra clips into her lap.

"Not your problem-"

Kenzie turned and glared at her. "I'm still alive, and that is my first priority." She reached down, grabbed a handful of Cori's hair, and started to pull. Cori screamed and snatched out at Kenzie's wrist with both hands, digging her fingers into skin. Kenzie ignored the pain and continued to pull. Cori had no choice but to slide into the passenger seat. The moment she was seated, Kenzie let go of her hair and Cori rubbed at her scalp.

"Now, since you feel like talking, maybe you can explain to me why someone wants you dead."

Cori's mouth opened, but she just as quickly closed it. "I don't know. You don't understand - you must have the wrong person."

Kenzie knew she didn't have the wrong person. She had seen the assignment - the name and the picture matched. Still, an overwhelming sense of wrong was growing inside her. In the meantime, she kept her eyes moving. There was someone out there looking for them; she just didn't know where. Cori was upset, but Kenzie reminded herself that was not her problem. She had a job to do. So why hadn't she done it? She had orders, so why had she not followed them?
What am I doing?

A flash of white darted out from behind a delivery van in the rearview mirror and Kenzie saw it out of the corner of her eye. It was a white Renault and it was moving rapidly in their direction. Kenzie pressed down on the gas pedal and the Honda sped forward.

Cori glanced behind them. Turning back, she noted, "What's going on?"

The Renault was closing the gap and Kenzie didn't have time for questions as she steered the little Honda in and out of traffic. There was no doubt in her mind now - the white Renault was after them.

Cori glanced from Kenzie to the rear window. "Is it them?" The rear window exploded in a shower of glass, answering her question.

Dipping and bobbing her head, Kenzie kept sight of the white Renault in the mirror. Try as she might, she couldn't catch a glimpse of the driver or tell whether there was more than one person in the car.

Kenzie pushed the accelerator pedal to the floor and the little car responded. They were now weaving in and out of the traffic at a dangerous rate of speed. Pulling a gun from one of her holsters, she tucked it under her leg as they sped through the streets. Narrow roads combined with slow moving farm vehicles, and speedy little taxis made maneuvering difficult, but Kenzie kept ahead of their pursuers. She spotted an opening in traffic, and the next corner they came to, Kenzie pushed the little Honda to its limit, pulling quickly in front of a large bus chugging out plumes of diesel smoke. The large vehicle blocked the Renault's view as the driver of the bus leaned on his horn.

"Jesus Christ, you're insane!"

Cori braced herself against the door and the dash as Kenzie whipped the Honda into the next lane, letting the bus roar past them. She slammed on the brakes, and horns blasted and tires squealed as she gunned the Honda and swung back in behind the bus and then in behind the white Renault. It was a gutsy, crazy move, but it worked. They were now behind the little white car.

Roaring down the road, the driver of the Renault was unaware he was now the one being followed. Kenzie squinted to get a look at the lone occupant, but she couldn't identify the person. Bracing the steering wheel with her knee, she pulled the gun from beneath her leg and slid a cartridge into the chamber. Kenzie gripped the gun tightly; resting the barrel on the side mirror, she calculated her shot. The driver of the Renault must have seen her in his mirror and slammed on his brakes. The rear tires of the Renault smoked as the brake lights flashed on.

Kenzie slammed on the brakes. Needing both hands on the steering wheel as she fought for control, she threw the gun into Cori's lap. The Honda swayed recklessly back and forth. "Son of a-" she said, taking her foot off the brake and slamming it back onto the accelerator.

Powering the car past the Renault, Kenzie made a sharp turn to the left, darting down a narrow road. Coming out into a busy intersection, she barely slowed as she zipped in and out of traffic before turning down another street. The oncoming traffic honked and snarled to a quick stop, but Kenzie ignored them, turning a hairpin right onto a side street, scattering pedestrians in both directions. The Honda banged harshly over a curb, flinging the two women about inside the car. They heard the brakes and the horns of the vehicles they left behind, but, so far, the Renault had not turned the corner.

Cori looked down at the gun in her lap and picked it up.

Without any warning, Kenzie slammed on the brakes and made a sudden right turn, then a left, and then gunned the car again, bouncing and banging it along the potholed road. Cori had no choice but to brace herself against the jostling, dropping the gun to the floor.

They roared down roads she didn't know, barely slowing down for the traffic. Most of the roads were scarcely wide enough for the car, but it didn't seem to faze the woman behind the wheel. People and animals fled as Kenzie maneuvered in and out of side streets. It was only when they returned to the main street that Kenzie finally slowed down.

Kenzie squinted into the setting sun. "You okay?" she asked without taking her eyes off the road or the rearview mirror. "I think we lost 'em." Kenzie reached up and readjusted the mirror as she drove the Honda cautiously down the narrow, bumpy street.

Once again on their way to the rendezvous point, Kenzie looked around the car for her gun and caught sight of her shell-shocked passenger. "You should put your seatbelt on." Without waiting for a response, she reached over and grabbed the seatbelt. Pulling it across Cori's waist, Kenzie snapped the restraint into place.

A hysterically frightened Cori slapped and pushed away at Kenzie's arm. "Get away from me - get away. You're fuckin' insane!" Cori's wide eyes glared at Kenzie in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? Tell me you're kidding. You bust into my apartment, slap me around, then force me to leave at gunpoint, where I'm shot at as you drive like a maniac on meth through the streets of 'Lajara, and now you're worried about my goddamn seatbelt?"

"We need to get out of here and out of the city," Kenzie said calmly, ignoring Cori's tirade. "They obviously know your car."

"How the hell would they know my car?" Reaching down to the floorboard, Cori kicked at the gun and tried to retrieve it off the floorboard. "And who the hell are 'they'?"

"Let me have the gun," Kenzie demanded as she maneuvered the Honda around some serious potholes and life-risking pedestrians.

Cori lifted the gun, but before she could even think about aiming it, Kenzie had snatched it out of her hands. Cori struck out, punching and slapping at Kenzie with all her might. Her blows were erratic, but several landed, hitting Kenzie in the hand, shoulder, and her already damaged cheek. The car swerved erratically as Kenzie held up a hand to shield herself. Horns honked as the little Honda swayed back and forth, in and out of their lane of traffic.

"Son of a bitch!" Kenzie dropped the gun into her lap. She backhanded Cori, sending her hard into the passenger door. Kenzie steadied the out of control car before holstering her weapon. Reaching up, she touched her face and then looked down at the blood on her fingers.