Read Online Already Dead by Jaye Ford - Free Book Online Page B

another suicidal round with traffic. Last time, she’d only had her imagination to scare her. This time, she knew life and death were on board and fighting over the navigation.
    â€˜Jax, come on. We can’t sit here like this.’
    She flicked her eyes at the rear-view mirror, saw the nose of a dark-blue car edging out of the lane she’d just left. It was him – it had to be. He was following? Maybe it wasn’t safe to sit too long.
    Hitting the accelerator, pushing the car to 110, she slipped onto the motorway between a flat-top truck and a bus. There were only two lanes now and Jax merged into the faster one, staying with the pace, wanting to keep ahead of whatever was behind. For ten minutes, she saw nothing but a mishmash of the same fast-moving flow she’d watched for more than an hour. Then, half-a-dozen cars back, the dark-blue sedan moved left between the two lines of traffic. Two minutes later it slid right again. Two cars behind her. Speeding up, getting closer. Shit.
    He was probably continuing his journey, she told herself. That’s what people at service stations did. He’d called the police then got back on the road. He’d stopped for petrol and … what? Moved his car to the cafe parking to make a few phone calls. Who did that?
    Brendan’s earlier angst had turned to stillness: gun in his hand, upright in his seat, his attention on the small mirror on the outside of the passenger door. Maybe he’d seen the blue sedan, too.
    They passed a turn-off, then another one.
    â€˜Change lanes,’ Brendan snapped. He waited two beats. ‘Now.’
    â€˜There’s a car beside us.’
    â€˜Get ahead of it.’
    Speeding up, flicking the blinker, she slid left. As Brendan swung his head to the rear window, she watched the traffic in her mirror. A white ute slipped into the hole she’d madewhile other cars moved up. About thirty seconds later, the blue sedan merged. Three vehicles behind her.
    â€˜Move back again,’ Brendan told her.
    She didn’t want to jockey in and out of the fast lane. Didn’t want to argue either – and she wanted to know what the guy from the car park was up to. She tapped the blinker.
    â€˜Hit the pedal,’ he ordered.
    As she pulled ahead, the blue sedan stayed where it was, let four cars pass, then merged right.
    â€˜Fuck.’ Brendan spun around, ducked his head, checked the sky.
    Jax looked too – no clouds, no choppers. What was real and what wasn’t?
    He swung to the back, to the front, lifted the gun, lowered it to the seat. ‘ Fuck. ’
    Alarm fired inside her. ‘What?’
    â€˜They found us. They’ve got us. We’re fucked.’
    Why was she fucked? They were after him, weren’t they? ‘How do you know?’
    â€˜We’re being followed. Dark-blue Falcon. Five cars back. See it?’
    Jax lifted her chin as though it was the first time she’d checked. ‘Yes.’
    â€˜It was in the car park. Arsehole driver was watching us when we left. I should’ve fucking stopped him then. Fuck. Fuck . We’ve got to get off the road.’
    â€˜It’s the motorway. We can’t just get off .’ Her voice was high with fright, his panic infecting her. Had she done this? Was it real? She remembered the man’s gaze on her in the seconds before she was pushed into the car, the buzz as their eyes touched. No smile, no hostility. Possibly a question.
    Possibly she’d just been desperate for help.
    â€˜We might be able to lose him if we can get off,’ Brendan said. ‘When’s the next exit?’
    â€˜I’ve no idea.’
    â€˜Shit.’ Head front then back then front again. ‘Drive, for fuck’s sake.’
    â€˜I am.’
    â€˜Well, stand on the fucking pedal!’
    His agitation scared her. The thought of it turning violent scared her more. The speedo climbed to 130, 135. She didn’t have a lead