Caleb lowered the satellite phone He looked at Anissa his expression -
“He's hiding out in an abandoned auto body shop in Queens,’ Caleb r eported.
“Get the car," Anissa ordered, not wasting a single second. "The armored SUV. Bringit to the back alley."
They moved fast, They bypassed the crowded club entirely, taking a service corridor that led straight into a subterranean parkinggarage. Caleb jumped into the driver's seat of a massive, matte-black SUV. Anissa slid into the passenger side. The engineroared, a de ep, guttural sound that echoed off the concrete walls. The tires shrieked as Caleb slammed the gas pedal, launchingthe heavy vehicle up the ramp and out into the freezing Brooklyn rain.
The drive to Queens was a blur of gray skies and frantic windshield hiên
Anissa leaned her head back against the cold leather headrest. She closed her eyes, tryingto steady her breathing.
But the rhythmic thwack-thwack of the wipers against the glass acted like a metronome, hypnotizingher, dragging her consciousness violently backward.
The memory hit her with the physical force of a sledgehammer.
It was raining in her past life, too. She was sitting in the Roy family's massive living room. The television was broadcasting the Thunder Speedway finals live.
She saw Forrest's red and white car approaching the hairpintum. She saw the exact moment the vehicle stopped responding
The car didn't tum. It launched forward like a missile, hitting the solid concrete retainingwall at two hundredmiles per hour The sound of the impact was a deafening crunch of metal and fiberglass. A massive ball of orange fire erupted on the screen, sendingburningdebris rainingdown on the track,
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Chapter 32 % +120 Points at most Anissas stomach violently convulsed. She remembered watching the paramedics drag Forrest's fimp, smokingbody from the crushed cockpit His legs were completely pulverized. His career, his spirit his entire life- destroyed ina fraction of a second,
And then, the memory shifted to that same night Ashlee had thrown a lavish, champagne-soaked party in the mansion. Anissa remembered standing in the hallway, listeningto Ashlee complain to her friends that Forrest's “stupid little accident” had ruined her mood and stolen her spotlight.
Anissa’s eyes snapped open.
Her pupils were dilated, the whites of her eyes threaded with angry red veins. She looked down at her hands. Her fingernails had bitten so de eply into her palms that tiny drops of blood were welling up against her skin. The SUV slammed on its brakes, throwing Anissa forward against the seatbelt
They were parked in front of a rusted, graffiti-covered rolling garage door ina desolate industrial park in Queens. Caleb honked the hom twice-a specific, rhythmic pattern.
‘The metal door groaned and slowly rolled upward.
The heavy stench of motor oil, burning rubber and welding sparks flooded the SUV's cabin. A man walked out of the shadows.
He was covered in dark grease from his elbows to his fingertips. He had wild, unkempt hair and an unlit cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. He let his eyes drag over the armored SUV, letting out a low, mockingwhistle.
*Military-grade chassis, civilian shell. Nice hide" Blaze said, his voice raspy from years of inhalingexhaust fumes. ‘But your tire wear is uneven. Youneed a four-wheel alignment before you kill someone” His arrogance wasn't directed at their wealth; it was the absolute disdain of a mechanical geniuswho could spot a flaw from ten yards away.
This was Blaze Jankowski
Blaze walked upto the passenger window and tapped the glass with a heavy wrench.
“Caleb,” Blaze said. ‘| dont care if you broughta million bucks in cash. | don't touch official league cars anymore. Its a headache | don't need.” Anissa pressed the button. The tinted window rolled down, exposingher to the freezing rain.
She didn't blink She reached into her jacket, pulled out a crisp, watermarked piece of paper, and slapped it lat against the wet glass of the window frame.
“It's not a million,” Anissa said, her voice carrying the absolute, freezing authority of the Snow Matriarch. It's a five million dollar Swiss bank draft. And it buys three hours of your time."
Blaze's eyes dropped to the paper. He saw the string of zeros. He stopped chewing on his cigarette. He sucked in a sharp breath, his arrogant posture instantly stiffening.
He looked back at Anissa his eyes narrowing with de ep suspicion ‘What kindof highly llegal suicidemissionare you draggingme into?"
“I need you to inspecta fully regulated, official race car," Anissa said, her gaze drilling into his skull. "| need you to find a fatal modification that is designed to bypass every single piece of official league diagnostic equipment’