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He got his hands on the wheel, kept his head to the side, and was about to hit the gas when a loud, crunching i up and saw that the ambulance driver had purposely rammed the back of the SUV

"Crazy bastard!" Sully whooped appreciatively

"Bought us a couple of seconds," Drake said

Jada cried out as another bullet punched a hole in the roof, a new attack froritted his teeth They had to get away from both attacks, the sniper and the SUV, and there was only one direction open to them that he kneould accomplish that He slammed it into reverse, backed the taxi up thirty feet, then put it back in drive, cranked the steering wheel to the right, and skidded into a turn down West 12th Street

"Are you nuts?" Sully shouted

"You’re going to hit the fire truck!" Jada warned

Knuckles white on the wheel, Drake drove straight for the closest fire truck Firefighters shouted and tried to wave hi scurried out of the way The two cops on the sidewalk pulled their guns, but not fast enough, as Drake shot the taxi through the gap between fire truck and ambulance and careened down the street toward the police cars waiting there

Gunfire punched the air, echoing off the buildings, but he didn’t slon

"Jada, are they following?" Drake asked

She spun in the backseat and looked out the rear"Yes!"

"Are you kidding?" Sully said "Who the hell are these guys?"

"We’ll be out of range of the sniper as soon as we turn the corner," Drake told them

"What about these nutjobs in the SUV?" Sully barked

Drake sonally at the curb, grazing a parked Mercedes, tearing off the taxi’s sideview mirror, and then accelerated even more At the intersection, he hit the brake, turned into the skid, and slung the taxi into a right turn, driving the wrong way up Washington Street Car horns blared, and a white box truck swerved to avoid a head-on collision

He glanced over his shoulder and saw one of the two police cars pulling out to block the road Two officers on the street had their guns drawn and were rushing up to the SUV as it skidded to a halt

"We’re clear!" Sully said

"For how long?" Jada asked, leaning forward, looking at Drake in theall over us in a er heading into oncolanced over his shoulder at Sully

"What do you think? Chelsea Piers?" he asked

"No choice," Sully agreed

"What’s at Chelsea Piers?" Jada said

Drake s you generally find at piers Boats"

5

The High Line elevated park had started its life as a freight train track built above the city to keep the trains away froh the Meatpacking District all the way to 34th Street had been converted to a long green oasis Drake had never walked the park, but he had read an article about it in soeet a closer look at the High Line, but today he needed it only for cover

He pulled the taxi to the curb on Little West 12th Street and let it roll into the shadows under the High Line In the backseat, Jada was still shaking

"Oh,to do?"

Sully took her hand, forcing her to onna i Nate and I kno to do, it’s improvise"

Drake watched the rearview mirror for cars The street was one way, so at least they had that going for the their shattered ould earn no ave hiuy accelerated, ht be on his cell phone to the cops in a second, but they had at least a couple of o"

Sully opened the back door and cli after him As Drake stepped froh the open driver’s door at the dead cabbie His blood had started to pool on the seat

"We can’t just leave him here," Jada said

"We sure as hell can’t take hilanced back at the dead man "The police will take better care of hiht end up burying us right next to hi at him

"What?" Drake asked

Sully pointed at his chest "There’s blood on your jacket"

Drake stripped off the coat, but he couldn’t leave it in the cab There was enough evidence of their presence already If they were lucky, no one had gotten a good look at their faces and they would never be connected to the gunfire or the dead taxi driver, and so the police would never have a reason to test their DNA against any hair fibers found in the cab He thought that probably would work out in their favor His larger concern had to do with the museum If Gretchen talked about them and helped the police make the connection between Dr Cheney’s , eventually he and Sully and Jada would get caught in the net

They had to rely on Gretchen’s discretion, and Drake didn’t like that Not that he didn’t trust strangers easily He tended to go with his instincts; it was just that there had been ti