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"Crap," Shelton said "They hit us with a tracker"

"Isn’t the car protected against them?" I asked

"It was," he said "I haven’t used this car in ages Some of the wards ainst lanced behind us

He suddenly didn’t look too sure "I doubt they’ll try anything with noarage about a hundred yards behind us Shelton looked in the rear-view rowled

"Where did the cops coe

"It’s Darkwater," he said "They’re using illusions"

I watched as our pursuers gained "Can this heap go any faster?"

"I’ve got the pedal to the floor already"

"I can run faster than this," I said, patting rabbed another staff to replace the one destroyed in our first encounter with Darkwater

Cars swerved out of the way of the fake police cruisers, clearing a path Shelton swung the steering wheel right and took us down a ra of traffic, but the sine in Shelton’s car screaained on us effortlessly

As if emboldened by the lack of traffic, a man in the black robe of the brotherhood leaned his upper body out of the passenger , extending a wand our way A beay speared into the trunk At first, the beaht on the car’s dash blinked

Shelton swerved right The bea it

"Can you take the wheel?" he asked

"Right now?" I ducked as another death ray speared from the man’s wand and dispersed across the rear

"I need to shoot back at theonna slide out backwards" He leaned the seat all the way back and set the cruise control to whatever insane speed ere travelling

I grabbed the wheel as he shimmied into the back seat, and slid over the center console into the driver’s side, soree turn that would have flipped it like a blueberry pancake My foot found the accelerator, and I discovered, ed to the floor The speedometer crept slowly but surely past a hundred

Shelton pulled out his staff Flicked it to full length The ends s down thefuriously By the time he rolled a n, the Darkwater vehicles had pulled nearly even He jerked on his staff, but it was too cumbersome to maneuver in the confines of the car, so he flicked it back to co froerof the fake cruiser to our left aimed his wand at Shelton I hit the brakes Tires screeched and the odor of burnt rubber hit my nose Shelton oofed I felt his face sht shot across the hood of the car and nailed the other Darkwater sedan, splashing across it without dae

"They have defensive char about for escape My supernaturally quick reflexes examined the scene in an instant Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the pursuers hit their brakes to match our speed

This was a controlled access freeway No nearby exits for escape A tall, concrete median blocked a U-turn Only a handful of other cars populated the road A quick glance in the rearviewfar behind to avoid the conflict

We’re so screwed

Time seemed to resu his head in the rear-view htthe nose of the car into the rear quarter panel of the attacker’s vehicle The rear end lurched left Sparks sprayed as round to a halt