“How far ahead is he?” Greyson asked Stone.
“Too far for you to see. Try to pick up any opening you can. You need to make up at least two miles on him.”
With that, Greyson returned to his training and immediately wove through the traffic, going faster, picking up a few feet at a time when passing each vehicle.
“Okay, you’ve cut the distance in half,” Stone said in approval. “Keep going. We need to gain about that much distance again, and then you should be within a few vehicle lengths.”
Focusing, Greyson quickly maneuvered through the traffic, honking his horn as he swept in, taking chances he wouldn’t normally take but needing to under the circumstances. And very quickly he pulled ever closer.
“There’s an off-ramp,” Stone said. “Coming up on your right. The vehicle is crossing four lanes of traffic to get there.”
“That’s a sudden decision then,” Greyson said.
“He is already in the second lane on the right,” Stone added.
“I can make it into the right lane,” Greyson said. “Let me know if he takes the off-ramp.”
“He’s off,” Stone said.
“Next right?”
“Yes.”
Suddenly the exit was right here, and he took it at full speed, only braking as he headed into the corner, pulling around, whipping forward with a speed that he could see was bothering Jessica. But he was in full control. There was nothing quite like the driving training he’d been put through. He knew how to handle any vehicle. He could even fly a plane if he had to. Helicopters? Well, that was a whole different story.
“The vehicle is four ahead of you now,” Stone said.
Greyson hit the gas and passed the next vehicle. “Three then?”
“Three.”
And soon it was two.
“So he’s the second car in front of you right now.”
Greyson leaned forward, looking through the windshield. “Wish we had better lighting,” he said. “I can’t believe how dark it is still.”
“You got a heavy cloud cover,” Stone said. “It’s causing us some troubles too.”
Greyson quickly passed the next vehicle and came up on the passenger side of the car. He looked over at her. “Is that your car?” he asked.
She looked at him, looked at the car beside them, and gasped. “Oh, my God. Yes. See? That’s the car seat in the back.” She leaned forward and tried to look.
“Don’t bother,” he said. “The car seat is empty.”
She gasped and sank back against her seat. “What does that mean?” she said, her hands trembling.
“What it probably means,” he said, “is that Danny is asleep in the front seat, all buckled in with blankets. The kidnapper probably didn’t want to take the time to figure out the car seat.”
She shook her head. “It’s not like Danny to sleep this long. He should be waking up.”
“We won’t deal with that right now,” he said. “What I need to do is get this guy to slow down.”
They were running neck and neck, but the other guy didn’t appear to even be watching what Greyson was doing. He eased back slightly and tucked in behind him.
“What are you doing?” she cried out. “You just caught up to him.”
“We don’t want to put Danny in danger,” he said.
She just stared at him—at a loss for words—and sank back into the seat.
“I know this is tough,” he said. “I get that, but you need to trust me now.”
She nodded slowly. “I’m working on it. That’s my car for sure, but what the hell are we supposed to do now?”
Up ahead were cop cars with their sirens blaring. The Pontiac quickly dodged lanes and took a left. Greyson was right on his tail and took a left too.
“Hey, Stone. I’m gonna need another route, or he’ll think I’m following him.”
“He probably already thinks that.”
As the Pontiac took a quick right, Greyson passed it and took the next right. “Where’d he go?”
“He’s still running parallel to you, so keep going,” Stone said. “You’re a block apart and both of you are heading in the same direction.”
Greyson picked up speed. “Where will this take us?” He looked over at Jessica.
She shook her head. “I have no idea. I don’t know this area at all.”
“You’re in an industrial area,” Stone said. “All kinds of places for him to hide. If you can make a block over, I need you to do that quick, somewhere in the next block.”
Just like that, Greyson pulled over and took a hard right, then drove down and took a fast left. “Now where?”
“He just took a left,” Stone said, “and not this block. On the next block, three-quarters of the way through, there should be a parking lot or underground parking or something. It’s really hard for us to see.”
Greyson pulled up slowly and took a driveway. “It’s a chemical plant,” he said. “Looks like the headquarters or front offices for a chemical plant.”
“No sign of the vehicle at this point,” Stone said. “Maybe get out with Kona.”
“Got it. I’ll keep you in the loop.” With that, he pulled into the first parking lot, hopped out with Kona, and asked Jessica, “You coming with me?”
She was already out, saying, “Absolutely.”
They walked quickly down past the vehicles they had already driven past, looking for anywhere her vehicle could have been hidden. Up past the front entrance were several other vehicles. He looked at them and shook his head, but he saw a loading bay off to the side.
He ran over to the side, and, sure enough, a small car was parked down below. With Kona at his side, he raced to it. Running to the front passenger seat window, he looked inside to see a bundle of blankets. Quickly he jerked open the door and checked. There was Danny.
He quickly scooped the baby up in his arms, and, turning, he passed him over to Jessica, just as she got there. She immediately cried out, grabbing the child, holding him close.
He put
