Give Me War - Kate McCarthy Page 0,38
brother replies. “Because when he reaches the end of that storm drain, we’ll be waiting.” Mitch starts tapping on his phone, dialling someone. He puts it to his ear.
“Who are you calling?”
He glances over at me, his expression grim. “Bomb squad. They’re almost at the safe house. They’ll need the new co-ordinates.”
He passes on the information while the sick knot in my stomach pulls tighter. “What about Coby?” I ask when he hangs up. Evie’s brother was staking out the Vipers Campbelltown compound with Henry when we got Evie’s location, but it’s a good hour or more away from where we are now. “He’ll need the new co-ordinates too.”
“Seth’s already on it.”
I make another turn, my eyes flicking to the rear view mirror to make sure Travis is still behind me. “Does Coby know about the vest?”
“He was given a brief overview of the situation but that part was left out. If he knows his little sister is strapped up in explosives he’ll lose it and we need him here in one piece.”
My fingers tap an anxious beat against the steering wheel. “So what’s the length of this storm drain?” I ask, knowing the best thing I can do for Evie right now is keep my shit together and focus on the task at hand.
“The section from the house to the river looks about a couple of kilometres.”
I do the math. “So what’s that by foot, around twenty minutes or so?”
“Yeah, that sounds right.”
I check my watch. It’s been about fourteen since they went inside the house. “We’ve got six minutes.”
“Turn here,” Mitch says, and I pull off the road.
We’re driving alongside the dry, rocky riverbed now, but the road ends just up ahead.
“How much further?”
“Too far to walk and get there on time.”
Moments from reaching the dead end, I jerk the steering wheel to the left. We zoom down the embankment and straight onto the path of the empty waterway, the front bumper of my car scraping across the ground. The car bounces wildly but I don’t lose speed. Debris kicks up behind me and I lose sight of Travis in the dust, but I know he’s following.
My tyres fly over the unsteady terrain, rocks tearing at the undercarriage of my car. Right now I’m kicking myself for keeping the Porsche—a sentimental and impractical decision. She’s got guts and glory and has never let me down. Until now. “Sorry, girl,” I mumble, while promising silently to myself that if we get out of this okay, I’m buying an entire fleet of battle-ready tanks.
I squint in the distance, seeing a flash of metallic white. “Is that a car?”
“Shit. Yes. Stop here. The drain exit is just up ahead. Right near that car.”
I pull over to the side, giving Travis room to drive up and stop beside me. The four of us alight in unison, shutting our doors and jogging towards the storm drain. “How are we gonna play this?” Mac asks.
“With you staying right here,” Mitch replies.
My little sister fumes. “You know what? Fuck all of you. I’ll still be trying to prove myself when I’m eighty.”
“The way you’re going,” Travis mutters, “you won’t make it to eighty.”
“Neither will any of you,” she points out, her reasoning logical and her tone snide.
“Enough!” I jerk my head towards the car we’re closing in on. It’s a white Toyota Corolla. A little beat up. Something you wouldn’t look twice at in traffic. It appears empty, and likely planted earlier in case Grudge’s meeting went to shit and he needed a sneaky getaway. “Go check it out, Mac. And keep your voice low from here on out. We don’t know how far Grudge is from the exit.”
Outwardly relieved at the olive branch and the offer of a task, she walks over to the car while we keep moving, one eye on our sister and the other on the storm drain exit. Mac’s long stride eats up the distance quickly, the gun in her palms raised and ready. She points it at the windows as she checks inside before tucking her weapon away. She gives the all-clear signal before giving a yank on the driver’s side door. It opens and she reaches in, flipping down the visor. Keys drop out. Mac snatches them up with a grim, satisfied expression, pocketing them as she bends and pops the boot.
After rounding the back of the car, Mac gives the space a quick inspection before reaching in, flipping over a thin, dark plaid blanket. She comes out