The night air whistled in through the broken back window as I drove aimlessly around northern Portland, trying to think. No use visiting Kevin’s partner now; he wouldn’t know anything more than Kevin had, besides the fact that Kevin had probably called to warn him by now. Dave and Stacy were hopefully checking up on the Polly angle, which left me out of clues.

Stopped at a red light, I pounded the steering wheel in frustration. It cracked under my fists. I winced, and added it to the long-and-growing-longer list of things I owed Jack.

Maybe I should have gone with Kevin to see Lady Ann. Then I snorted at the preposterousness of that, since I now suspected she was behind the attacks on me. She’d have just killed me and taken the amulet off my corpse. And it was mine.

Thinking about my next move made me glance at the dashboard to check the tank. I winced. Less than a quarter tank left. I thought about where I could find an open gas station, when I remembered my missing wallet. Shit. With no money to fill the tank, I had to hoard what I had left.

As I drove north on MLK, I spotted a closed grocery store on my right with an empty parking lot. I pulled over and parked to give myself time to think. Where should I go with the last bit of my gas?

I didn’t want to leave the car alone with a broken window, so instead I just leaned the driver’s side seat back and relaxed, trying to think. I felt so helpless. Jack could be hurt—or, or worse. I scrubbed tears from my eyes with my sleeve. No, I refused to believe Jack was dead. Jack was resourceful, and knew how to take care of himself. Still, my mind kept circling back to worst-case scenarios.

To distract myself from thinking anymore about Jack, I pulled out the amulet and examined it again. The hieroglyphs that circled the portrait in the center were too worn down to make out without my tools back at the museum. There were two broken-off areas on either side that made me think that it had originally been part of a necklace or other piece of jewelry. There was nothing special about it at first glance, or second for that matter. If it hadn’t been for the way it had absorbed blood from my clothes, I would have said there was nothing out of the ordinary about it at all. Just another piece of jewelry looted from an Egyptian tomb.

I was still staring at it when the burner cell in my pocket began jingling with an incoming call. Only two people had this number, and I couldn’t see Dave calling me back voluntarily. I sat up and about dropped the phone in my eagerness to answer.

“Are you okay?” I gasped.

A low chuckle greeted me. “Oh, I will be soon, Everett,” a woman purred.

I froze, the phone pressed to my ear. “Who is this? Where’s Jack?”

“Now, now, not so fast, darling. Haven’t you ever heard of small talk?” The woman tisked. “But no matter. I suppose it is best to get right down to business, as they say. I am a busy woman, after all.”

My stomach sunk, and I felt sick as I realized who I was speaking to. “Lady Ann. Is Jack…”

“Jack’s fine. I propose a trade. Tit for tat, you know.”

“Let me talk to him.” I tried to keep my voice firm and even, but it still cracked at the end. I couldn’t believe I was challenging a mob boss, even over the phone. My hands shook, and I was very glad that she couldn’t see me.

“Proof of life for proof that you actually have my amulet in your possession,” she responded coldly. I imagined her examining her perfectly manicured nails as she spoke, even though in reality I had no idea if she was the kind of person who even bothered with manicures. I’d never met her before. She worked through intermediaries.

“Fine. I’ll text a photo to you at this number,” I snapped. “You do the same, then call me back.”

“Agreed, but I want a selfie with you in the picture.” She sounded almost bored. The line went dead.

I lowered the phone and groaned, putting my head in my hands. This was a terrible idea. Even with my minimal knowledge of technology, I knew she could get my location from the metadata on any photo I sent her, while I’d learn nothing in exchange. Other than the fact that Jack was alive, a little voice said inside me. That wasn’t nothing.

I held the amulet up next to my face and snapped a quick selfie, but I hesitated with my finger over the send button. No. I’d wait for her to send proof that Jack lived first. I sat staring at the phone, waiting impatiently.

After ten minutes and no response, I sent Jack’s phone a text message.

“Proof of life first, then I’ll send mine.”

This cheap phone didn’t let you know when the other party was typing, but after a moment it did check the message to show it had been read. So she’d seen it.

While I waited for a response, I got out of the car and walked around the mostly empty parking lot, trying to use up some of my restless energy. I wandered up to the dark storefront. I was walking back and forth along the front, staring at my phone, when a car came screeching around the corner onto MLK and opened fire on the parking lot.

The first bullets hit Jack’s car in a spray of broken glass. I froze at first, staring in shock at the man hanging out the window of the SUV holding a machine gun. The hail of bullets cracking across the concrete towards me snapped me out of my stupor. I turned and ran for the side of the building, fumbling at my jacket pocket for the gun I’d taken from Kevin.

As I ran my phone began ringing, the default ring tone cheerfully pinging in between the pops of gunfire. Without thinking about it, I pressed answer and lifted the phone to my ear. The bullets were getting closer; I could hear them cracking into the pavement at my heels, so I used vampire speed.

“Hello?” I said into the phone. Air whistled by as I ran. “Sorry, I’m a little busy right now.” I struggled to get the gun out of my pocket as I ran, ripping my pocket in the process. As I fumbled with the strap of the holster, I accidentally dropped the gun. At the speed I was going it hit hard, bounced, and skittered away along the asphalt. I left it and kept running. Not like I knew how to use it anyway.

“Is,” the person on the phone said, each letter drawn out. It was like the person on the other end was talking in slow motion. I didn’t recognize the voice over the roaring of the air and the gunfire, but it was a guy. In my haste, I hadn’t looked at the caller ID before answering. I needed to start thinking more about what I was doing.

“That.”

I ran past the end of the building towards the loading docks. I made a sharp turn to run along the back of the building, my tennis shoes sliding several feet before finding purchase. The gunfire was fading behind me, and I could hear the speaker more clearly now. I was starting to get thirsty, so I concentrated on slowing down again.

“Gunfire?” the person finally finished his sentence by the time I was a block away, the last word speeding up to normal speech by the last syllable.

“Yeah, but it’s fine now. Who is this?” I said, jogging down a back alley. The shooters had to have known they’d missed, and would most likely be driving around, looking for me.

“Everett?” Jack’s concerned voice came over the line. I recognized his voice now that it was quiet. Tears of relief rolled down my cheeks. “Someone’s shooting at you? Are you hurt?”

I wiped my face dry, glad Jack couldn’t see me. “No, I’m fine, but I don’t know for how long. I’m hiding, but I don’t know where to go,” I whispered. The light was gone, but I could hear a car’s engine circling the block. It could have been normal night traffic, or it could have been the shooters.

“Shit. Tell me what happened.” Jack sounded sincere, but… Could he be working with the people trying to kill me? I didn’t want to consider the possibility, but I had to.

“Jack, how’d Lady Ann get your phone?” I asked quietly, ducking my head around the edge of the doorway to check that it was clear.

“She took it off me when I was captured by her thugs. What happened? Did she text you pretending to be me?” Jack sounded worried.

It was clear, so I sprinted out of the doorway and down the alley to the corner. Which way to go? I was back on MLK; I recognized the center planting area that separated the north and southbound lanes. “No, she called me from your phone, trying to negotiate a trade for you. What happened last night? When you didn’t make it back I was so worried.”

“Shit.” Jack said a few more choice swear words. “She was lying. I escaped from her thugs over an hour ago. She must have panicked, and tried to get you to give her whatever it was she wanted from you before you found out I escaped. Let’s get you to safety, then I’ll tell you the whole story. Are you on foot? I don’t hear a car.”

“Yeah, on foot.” There was sparse traffic going by in both directions. I didn’t see a black SUV like the one the shooters had been driving. I tried to think. For now I wanted—no, needed to trust that Jack was being truthful.

“Is there a car or any way for you to get away quickly?”

“Your car is parked nearby; I think it still might be drivable.” The bullets had looked like they all hit the sides and trunk, but it had been hard to tell from where I’d been. I headed back towards Jack’s car since I didn’t have any better ideas.

“Might still be drivable?” Jack repeated in disbelief, followed by a deep sigh. “Not important right now. Focus on getting out of there safely.”

The bad news was that Jack’s car was riddled with bullet holes, all the windows were broken, and the windshield was cracked. The good news was that now I wouldn’t have to confess about accidentally shooting out the window when I’d fed on Kevin.

I propped the phone against my shoulder to free my hands, pried the door open, and stuck the key in the ignition. The car turned over and to my surprise, actually started. “It still works. Where should I go?”

There was a muffled conversation in the background, and then Jack came back on the line. “Meet us at the 7-11 at the south end of St. John’s. And throw your phone away before you leave. Dave says that she probably found you by tracking it.

“Who’s us?” I asked suspiciously, trying to keep it from my voice. I wanted to trust Jack, but it was hard.

“Stacy’s driving. She’s going to take us somewhere safe. Now go, before they come back.”

“Got it.” I hung up the phone and threw it out the window before putting the car into drive and roaring away. Wind stung my eyes through the huge crack in the broken front windshield, but I squinted and dealt with it.

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Continue on to Chapter 14

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