Flood Rising (Jenna Flood #1)

“For the moment, I just want to lose these guys.” It was such an absurd thing to say that Jenna had to suppress an urge to laugh aloud.

“And then what?”

“Homestead. That’s where Noah wanted us to go.”

“So we need to get to the highway without them realizing that’s where we’re going.” Mercy looked back to the road ahead. “Okay, I think I can manage that.”

Encouraged, Jenna craned her head around. She saw the pursuing car’s lights come into view at the intersection, about a hundred yards behind them. Mercy took another turn, back into the maze of neighborhood streets. She sped up, the engine revving as she pushed the gas pedal too hard, but then just as quickly, she slowed and took another turn. Jenna, who had never experienced the least bit of seasickness, felt her stomach begin to churn with the rapid maneuvers. She faced straight ahead, closing her eyes until the sensation passed.

When she opened them again, she recognized where they were. She saw familiar buildings: the boatworks, a Baptist church, a Tom Thumb convenience store. Mercy had her headlights on again, and maintained a steady thirty to forty mile-per-hour pace. In a few more blocks, they would reach the Overseas Highway that linked the Keys to the mainland. She risked a glance back, but instead of seeing just one set of headlights, she saw several, as well as the receding taillights of vehicles moving in the opposite direction. It was impossible to distinguish makes and models, but Jenna knew their pursuers would be facing a similar challenge.

Mercy pulled up to the stoplight at the highway intersection and made a rolling stop before taking the turn. She accelerated quickly, though evidently not quickly enough. An eastbound car traveling in the same lane caught up to them, let out a long irritated honk and swerved around them as if they were standing still. Mercy’s only reaction was to keep driving, and soon they were just a few car lengths behind the irate motorist, cruising down the tree-lined causeway toward Boca Chica Key.

“Were those the men that killed Noah?” Mercy asked, breaking the long silence.

“I’m not sure. I recognized one of them, Zack, one of the guys who put the bomb on the boat. So, I guess he would have to be, right? Unless all of Noah’s old enemies picked today to show up and settle…” She turned to face Mercy again. “This doesn’t make any sense. If this was just about getting revenge on Noah, why come after me…us?”

“Us?”

“They went to your place. They didn’t follow me there, so they must have been looking for you.”

Mercy shook her head but didn’t take her eyes off the road. “I’m listed as Noah’s primary emergency contact. They might have assumed that you would come to me.”

Jenna processed that with a frown. “Well, even if that’s true, it doesn’t explain why they are coming after me. They already got Noah.” She paused, recalling again her father’s reaction to the men posing as federal agents. I’m still missing something.

“This guy’s coming up fast.” Mercy said, squinting into the rear-view mirror.

Jenna looked back again and saw the headlights of a car, coming up fast in the inside lane. In a matter of seconds, it pulled alongside the pickup and then, at least from Jenna’s perspective vanished.

“Where did he go?”

“He’s pacing me.” Mercy tapped the brakes a little and the car pulled ahead for a moment. Jenna leaned forward, trying to get a look in through the car’s passenger side window, but all she could see was the reflection of the pickup’s headlights on the glass. The car was a mid-sized sedan, a newer Dodge model, with a conspicuous sticker on the bumper from a car rental agency. Zack and Ken had claimed to be tourists, on vacation. They might have had a rental. Jenna hadn’t been able to see the car that had been waiting outside Mercy’s trailer, so there was no way to know if this was it…but it could be.

The Dodge abruptly fell back, disappearing once more into Jenna’s blind spot. She leaned closer to Mercy, trying to follow its movements, and saw it easing back further still, its front end almost perfectly even with the truck’s rear tires.

Jenna saw what was about to happen like a premonition. “Brakes. Now!”