Madrid reached up and unscrewed the dome light again. “Slide behind the wheel.”
Even though the night was chilly, sweat broke out on the back of her neck when he got out of the car. Her palms were wet with sweat when she slid across the seat and set her hands on the steering wheel.
“Are you sure you can handle this?” he asked.
She wasn’t. Not by a long shot. But it was too late to turn back now. If she wanted Angela’s killer to be caught, they were going to have to go through with this. “I’m sure.”
He quietly closed the driver’s side door and looked around. “I want you to stay here for exactly ten minutes in the alley.”
She checked the clock on the dash. “Okay.”
“Then I want you to drive over to the new police department building. I’ll be waiting.” He put the items back into the satchel and hooked it on his belt.
“Once you pick me up, things are going to move fast.”
Jess thought things were already moving fast. Too fast, if she wanted to be honest.
“If anything happens…if I get caught…anything, I want you to drive like a bat out of hell back to the coastal highway and head north.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a folded piece of paper. “Call this number and someone will pick you up. Tell them everything.”
Her hand shook when she reached for the paper. Madrid noticed it, too, and he frowned. He leaned in close, intensity glinting in his eyes when his gaze met hers. Without speaking he kissed her hard on the mouth. Kissing Mike Madrid was like stepping on a live electrical cord. Jess felt her thoughts scramble and her body heat up despite the fear coursing through her. And somehow she knew everything was going to be okay.
Then, as quickly as he had kissed her, he was gone.
Jess sat with both hands on the wheel, her heart pounding, and watched him sprint to the mouth of the alley. His shoes were silent on the asphalt. He moved with the grace of a big dark cat. A predator on the prowl. He became one with the night. And then he was gone, and she was alone.
The minutes seemed to tick by like hours. Two minutes passed. Four. Seven. Around her the area was like a ghost town. Her heart nearly exploded when a vehicle passed by the mouth of the alley, but a glance told her it was only a street sweeper.
One minute to go. Her hand shook uncontrollably when she started the engine. The motor turning over sounded like a gunshot in the dead silence. Looking both ways, she pulled onto the street. She was thirty yards from the construction site when a yellow flicker caught her attention. She stared, her hands gripping the steering wheel so hard her knuckles hurt.
A soft knock on the passenger window nearly sent her out of her skin. All she could think was that Madrid had been caught and she was busted. Both of them would be carted off to jail—or murdered.
But it was only Madrid. She hit the button to unlock the door and he slid smoothly inside.
“Drive,” he said as he closed the door. “Nice and easy. Don’t speed.”
The urge to floor the accelerator was strong, but Jess resisted. She knew it would be the fastest way to draw attention.
“You okay?” he asked.
“I will be when this is done.” She glanced in the rearview in time to see the construction site burst into flames.
Chapter Seven
In the course of his career with the MIDNIGHT Agency, Madrid had broken the law too many times to count. Usually the infractions were inconsequential; nobody had been hurt. It had always been for a greater good. Maybe even to save a life. Still, he didn’t like what they were doing. He liked even less dragging Jess into it. The problem was he wasn’t sure how to keep her out of it.
“Turn here,” he said, motioning toward a back street that would take them to the coastal highway.
“I thought we were going to go to the police station.”
“We’re taking the long way.”
His nerves went taut when a police cruiser with its lights blaring suddenly loomed behind them.
“Oh, my God.” Jess gaped at the rearview mirror. “Oh, no.”
“It’s okay. He’s going to pass us on his way to the fire.”
Still, the relief that swept through him when the car sped past was palpable. He glanced at Jess. She looked calm on the outside, but he could see her hands wrapped like vises around the steering wheel, her eyes flicking to the rearview mirror every couple of seconds.
“You’re doing okay,” he said.
“I don’t feel okay,” she replied. “I feel terrified. Like we’re doing something wrong. Like someone might get hurt.”
“None of those things are going to happen. Just try to stay calm. Everything’s going to be all right.”
“Famous last words right before we get busted and dragged off to prison.”
Another cop car, lights and siren blaring, streaked past.
“Okay,” he said, “turn the car around.”
Jess shot him an are-you-out-of-your-mind look. “Madrid…”