The Tower

Allander was behind a taxi that was stopped a short distance down the block, and he fired in their direction a few more times. Jade grimaced as he recognized the sound of his pistol. One of the cabdrivers yelled out in broken English as Allander pulled him from his car and smashed his face with the butt of his gun. The driver sank to the pavement, limp.

Crouching behind the taxi, Allander fired again. The back window of the Nissan exploded, spraying Jade and Travers with fragments of glass. They were pinned down; with no immediate cover other than the car, they couldn't get off any clear shots. We'll have to wait until he breaks for it, Jade thought.

"I think I got him, Jade," Travers said.

Jade rolled his eyes and banged the back of his head against the door of the car. "Are you kidding me?" He turned his pleading gaze to the sky. "I'm not gonna let you do this, Jennifer."

"What did you call me?"

"Travers."

"I think I've got an angle on him."

He glared at Travers. "Look. You stay put. I'm calling the moves. This is not a time to fuck around. You are my backup, and I'm going to need you later. You will get killed if you break cover now." As if to accent his point, a bullet split the passenger window right above their heads.

She peered around the side of the door again, toward the street. "Jade, I feel it. I'm telling you I got it and I'm going."

"Goddamnit. You are not going."

Travers smiled and raised herself slightly from her crouch. "What's the matter, Jade, don't you trust me?"

"I trust you, Travers," Jade replied. "I just don't think you're that good."

She frowned at him and turned to go. Jade slipped the handcuffs from his pocket and slid them around her ankles, fastening them with a click. He threw the key into the street.

When she turned around, he saw a burning in her eyes he hadn't thought she was capable of. Her cheeks were red, her hair fell in sweaty spikes over her forehead, and her upper lip was raised in a snarl. She was absolutely breathtaking in her fury.

Her pistol flashed forward from her side. Jade knocked it out of her hand before she could bring it down on his head. She would've done it, he thought. She really would've done it. Something about that filled him with respect.

"It was no good," he said. Staring at her scowl, he couldn't resist a smile. "Try to hold on to your gun a little tighter next time."

The cab peeled out from the curb and Jade was up and running for his car, which was partially hidden behind a Dumpster in the small alley that ran between the parking lot and Singspiel's kitchen. The driver's door was snug against the wall, so he opened his passenger door and leaped across the emergency brake to the driver's seat.

As he sped away, the door kicked shut with the force of his acceleration. He turned left out of the alley and peeled past the front of Singspiel's, leaving Travers still on the ground. She rolled over to a sitting position, feeling the handcuffs dig into her flesh, drawing blood. She was unaware of any pain, however; she felt nothing but rage.

Chapter 54

T H E oncoming cars were passing so quickly that they looked like one long blur as Jade's car flew through the streets of San Francisco behind the yellow cab. They raced up Van Ness, then turned left on Geary, heading toward Fort Miley, the VA Hospital.

Allander accelerated through a yellow light and continued out toward the ocean. Jade blared his horn, as though daring the cars at the intersection to move. I still can't believe he fired at me, Jade thought as he kept his eyes fixed on the brake lights of the yellow cab. He's not a gunman.

They raced over the uneven road, bouncing into the oncoming lane to pass cars. Jade was certain that Travers would call for backup. There were probably a dozen cars and a helicopter on the way right now. The backup wouldn't have trouble locating him; a high-speed chase through the city was something eyewitnesses loved to talk about.

They crossed Twenty-sixth and Allander cut right suddenly, bouncing the cab over a curb and almost hitting a woman who turned screaming and disappeared into a corner deli. Jade hit the brakes and made the turn, gripping the steering wheel tightly and praying the car wouldn't skid out.

When he rounded the corner, he saw a group of children crossing the street two blocks up. On bicycles and holding balls and Frisbees, they looked like they were just coming back from a park.

Allander accelerated toward them and the boys scattered, leaving one little girl on a tricycle frozen in the middle of the road. Jade heard a smash as the side of the cab clipped her tricycle and then he saw her flying through the air. She landed in the road and Jade slammed on the brakes, his front tires skidding to a halt no more than two feet from the little girl.