Page 146 of Not Quite Dead Yet

No, Jet had to stop this.

‘– You can’t! Do you have a wa-wa-w–’ FUCK, what was that word, that legal term? She should know this, she had to know this, to put a stop to this. ‘Did the court issue a wa-wa-war– I need to see it. The wa-warr–’

The chief wasn’t listening, his fingers gripped around a set of handcuffs, raising them toward Jet’s wrist.

Jet couldn’t think of the word, and she had nothing else, she couldn’t let them take her. It was instinct, a fire that had already started behind her eyes, claiming the rest of her, a new strength.

She shoved the chief back, left hand slamming against his shoulder.

He tripped on the curb, lost his footing, and Jet didn’t wait to see what else.

She made a break for it, down the street to the right.

‘She’s running!’ Lou yelled behind her. ‘Go, Sergeant, go!’

Two doors slammed again, the growl of an engine.

Then a siren, screaming after her.

Jet flew.

Her breath shuddering in and out.

No thoughts; Jet let instinct, or the black hole, take those too. Just run. Run faster.

Shoes hammering the ground, veering this way and that as the world tilted, tried to throw Jet off.

The police car was right behind, chasing her down, hot breath against the backs of her legs.

She turned left, into the parking lot behind the public library, slamming into the hood of a silver truck just pulling out.

The driver beeped.

Jet blinked. She braced and pushed off the truck, stumbling away, disappearing behind it.

Checked back.

The cop car was pulling around the angry truck, following her down the lot, gaining speed.

The siren shrieking, ready to swallow Jet whole.

She pushed harder, sprinting, the end of the parking lot right ahead.

Pinned down between a brick wall and the siren.

Jet sped up, pressed her left hand against the lip of the wall, and vaulted over it. Not clean, caught her foot and rolled in the gravel on the other side, but she was over.

The siren cut out.

Two doors slammed.

‘Jet, please stop running!’ Jack shouted.

She already was, checking back to see the two cops climbing over the same wall, chasing her on foot now.

They could not catch up to her.

She didn’t have time for this. She had less than forty-eight hours to live, and she would not give those up for anyone.