The Persona Protocol - By Andy McDermott Page 0,48

over. One car refused to let her in, but she held her ground. To her relief, the vehicle behind it slowed to give her space. She waved in thanks and pulled into the gap.

Adam was now out of direct sight, two or three cars between the two Fords. What was he doing? There was a junction ahead, a side road leading right. Was that where he was headed? She kept going—

A brief shrill of tyres and the growl of a fast-revving engine told her that he had made his move. His Fusion was almost lost in the dark, only the flash of reflected street lights and the red scowl of its tail lights giving it away. Had he chosen its colour for exactly that reason?

It took several frustrating seconds before she reached the intersection and could turn after him. He was clearly speeding, the red lights pulling away fast. Bianca accelerated, the smile returning. She enjoyed putting her foot down; the six penalty points on her licence back home were testament to that.

Her surroundings appeared to be mostly commercial buildings; warehouse-like retail outlets and industrial units. Nothing residential, so Adam didn’t live here.

Had he seen her? Was he trying to shake off his tail?

She kept accelerating, closing the gap. A glance at the speedometer told her she was doing over fifty, and she was pretty sure the limit was thirty. A pang of fear; American cops had guns. Her foot moved to the brake . . .

Adam beat her to it. His Fusion’s rear lights flared as it made a hard left turn. Its tyres squealed again.

He was definitely trying to lose her. More doubts – she was chasing a genuine secret agent, for God’s sake! But she still braked and threw the car into the turn after him. Fright pumped through her heart as her Fusion’s rear end slid wide, but she wrestled it back into line.

The new road was less well-lit, lined with darkened warehouses. Adam was already turning again, sweeping right into a narrower side street. She lost sight of him, but could still hear the wail of his tyres. In for a penny, she thought, following—

His car had vanished.

Bianca flinched, genuinely startled. There was no sign of the other Ford. But that was impossible . . .

Headlights glared blindingly in the mirrors.

He was behind her. But how—

Her car shook as Adam’s hit it. The impact was not hard, but still enough to make it swerve to the left . . .

The front wheel hit the kerb before she could straighten out.

‘Shit!’ she wailed as the steering wheel bucked in her hands. The Fusion leapt up over the sidewalk. Chain-link fence flashed through her headlights – then there was a flat bang! and another jolt that threw her sideways.

The stricken Ford juddered to a stop. Dazed and shaken, Bianca sat up. The car’s front wing was buried in the fence.

Her door was yanked open. She looked round in fright—

A fist froze inches from her face. She shrieked.

‘Bianca!’ said Adam, sounding as shocked as she felt. ‘What are you doing?’

‘What am I doing?’ she cried. ‘Jesus Christ! What are you doing? You just rammed me off the road!’

He looked at the damage, then back at her. ‘Are you okay?’

‘I don’t know, I . . .’ She experimentally moved her limbs. All were still attached. ‘I think so.’

‘Good. Here.’ He extended a hand to her. She shot him a mistrustful look, then let him help her out.

‘Oh God,’ she said as she saw what had happened to the Fusion. Between the paving and the fence was rough ground, soil and gravel and strewn garbage – and broken glass. The front tyre had run over a smashed bottle and instantly punctured. What remained of it was wrapped loosely around the wheel rim like a rubber lei. ‘They give me a car, and less than twenty-four hours later, it’s wrecked. That’ll make me popular.’

‘Yeah. Uh . . . sorry,’ he said sheepishly. ‘I’ll call STS to pick it up and fix it. I’ll explain that it was my fault.’

‘Well, yes!’ she exclaimed. ‘Why did you ram into me?’

‘Why were you following me?’

‘Because I . . .’ She tried to find an answer. ‘I don’t really know, okay? I suppose I just wanted to find out more about you. Anything about you.’

‘Why?’

‘Because I don’t like being told “no”? Especially not by idiots like Kiddrick. I don’t know!’ She threw up her hands. ‘But what about you, suddenly turning into Mad Max?’ She