Page 67 of Enigma

But she intimately knew what loss felt like, and she never wanted to experience that kind of hurt again.

As the thoughts churned in her head, she felt something shift in the air.

She glanced around but saw nothing that had triggered her instincts.

But something felt wrong.

“Jason?” she asked.

“We’ve got company.” He fixed his eyes on the rearview mirror.

Olive turned to look through the back window.

A dark sedan had fallen into line behind them, maintaining a careful distance but matching their speed.

Jason took a right turn onto a residential street.

The sedan followed.

“Maybe it’s just someone heading in the same direction as us,” Olive murmured, unconvinced of her own words.

Jason made another turn, this time a left onto a street that led away from the main part of town.

The sedan stayed with them.

“Definitely not a coincidence,” he muttered.

The residential streets gave way to rural highway, and Jason pressed harder on the accelerator.

The Tahoe responded with a surge of power, but the sedan easily kept pace.

“They’re not trying to hide it now,” Olive observed as the sedan closed the distance between them.

Through the rear window, she saw two figures in the front seat of the pursuing car. But the distance and glare made it impossible to identify them.

“You have a gun?” Jason asked, his knuckles white on the steering wheel.

“Sure do, thanks to Elena.” Olive pulled the weapon from her waistband.

She checked the clip—fully loaded.

“What’s the plan?” She glanced at Jason, her muscles hardening with resolve.

“Depends on what they want.” Jason’s voice sounded as tight as his jaw looked. “If they just want to follow us, we’ll try to lose them. If they want to play rough?—”

The sedan suddenly accelerated, closing the gap between them to just a few feet.

Then the car swung into the left lane and pulled alongside the Tahoe.

That answered Jason’s question.

These guys clearly wanted to play rough.

The sedan paced them for several seconds.

Olive tensed as she watched them, still gripping her gun.

She saw the passenger—a man in dark clothing with his face obscured by sunglasses. She couldn’t make out enough details to identify him.