Daniel made a face. “Sit down.”
“I...I don’t think we’re being followed,” Leon said. His fingers were clenched around the fabric, Daniel saw, so tightly it had to be painful. “I think-”
“Sit down, okay?” Daniel mumbled. “Put your damn belt on.” With the speedometer swinging higher by the second and his nerves thrumming at high alert, the last thing he needed was Leon bouncing around unchecked. And he really didn’t want his friend to get thrown straight through the windshield if anything went wrong.
Leon blinked, turning back to front. “O-Oh. Yeah, I guess...yeah.” He grabbed for his seat belt, the motion slow and clumsy. Daniel sighed.
“Are you hurt?” he said quietly, once Leon had seated himself.
Leon straightened, running his hands over his chest. “N-No. I don’t think so. Nope.”
Daniel exhaled, letting his head fall back. “Good.”
“B-But, what the hell was that?” Leon said, spinning to face Daniel again as though all his energy had surged back in. “W-What the hell is going on? Who were those people? And why-”
“Slow down,” Daniel said. His brow furrowed. How was he going to explain this? Because Leon did deserve an explanation. “It’s Indira’s people,” he said at last.
“What? What does she want?”
Daniel caught himself just in time, keeping the manic laugh pinned in his chest. “Me. And, well. You guys.”
“You? But, why would- Wait, us guys? Plural?”
The world flashed past outside their windows. Daniel glanced into the mirror again, searching for any trace of pursuit. Cars zipped by, all headed to their busy mornings—but none of them seemed to be following too obviously. “Yeah,” he said, hitting the brakes and steering them down a side street. “They caught on. To you, and James, and Maya. Which...hold on, okay?”
Leon fell back, his hands pulled up to his chest defensively. Daniel scrabbled in his pocket. A relieved sigh burst from his lungs as his fingers met cheap plastic. His phone. He hadn’t lost it, which was something, at least. Some small silver lining to this whole shitshow. Glancing between it and the road, he called up Maya’s number again.
“I couldn’t reach you,” he said, letting the dial tone ring in his ear. “I tried. But I managed to get Maya. She’s…”
He trailed off, going quiet. The prerecorded tones of Maya’s inbox chirped in his ear, screeching to leave a message. “Shit,” he muttered, slamming the burner closed again.
Leon was still fidgeting, all but bouncing in the passenger’s seat. “W-What? What was it?”
“Nothing,” Daniel said heavily. “I got nothing.”
“Oh,” Leon said. Daniel could almost see the man deflate. “Um. Well, I can try. Give me a minute, and-”
His hand slapped the pocket of his wrinkled jeans—and his spine stiffened. Daniel winced. Watching Leon was almost more exhausting than all of...all of this. Up and down. Back and forth. He’d never seen Leon so animated. Then again, he’d probably never been shot at before, either.
“Crap,” Leon whispered.
Daniel groaned. “What?”
“I didn’t grab my phone.”
Shit. Daniel acknowledged it with a quick nod, a muscle in his jaw starting to pop. He’d yanked Leon out of a slumber, after all. It made sense that there hadn’t been time to assemble himself. “So, uh. Is it-”
“It must be back in my house,” Leon said. “Right on my nightstand where I left it. Maybe-”
His eyes went wide, filled with a sudden horror. “Shit. Shit. They’ll have it. And on that phone-”
“They’ll have my phone number,” Daniel said. He’d been a few steps quicker to the conclusion than Leon, but he found himself more resigned than horrified. “For the burner, anyway. It’s...It is what it is. I’ll get rid of it, after…”
After he wrapped this up. After he found a solution to this mess, somehow.
“Fuck,” Leon mumbled, pressing his hands to his face. “I’m sorry, D-” Just as quickly, he shook his head, cutting himself off. “Sorry.”
Daniel smiled mirthlessly, his mind racing even if his body was still. “We’re...I’m assuming there’s not one of Indira’s goons in the backseat, so I think you can use my name. For now.” It’d be a risk, and it’d be smart to keep things a bit closer to his chest. But, damn it, giving Leon his name in the first place had been a risk. And with the panic still threatening to overwhelm him, he couldn’t help it. He wanted that little bit of comfort, in whatever form it took.
The car went quiet. A few moments later, a low “Daniel,” was mumbled from the seat alongside him.
Daniel tightened his grip on the wheel. “Look,” he said, his voice low. “I got to Maya a while back. She was going to look for James. If something went wrong…” Again, he shook his head, trying to drive the anxiety-ridden thoughts from his mind. Trying, and failing. “If something went wrong, it was probably at James’ place. Can you-”
“O-Oh,” Leon said. He sat up a little straighter, searching the road around them. “Um. Well. When you get to the light ahead, take a left. It’s...We have a little bit.” He glanced toward Daniel, then away. “Did...Should I plug it into the-”
“If you know the way, then we’re good,” Daniel mumbled.
“Right.”
With that final word, the car fell into an uneasy quiet. Every few seconds, Daniel cast a glance back behind them. Every time, he expected to see something—another car, coming to chase them down. A man leaning out of the SUV alongside them with a gun. Hell, part of him even worried about getting flagged down by a cop, to be questioned for the bullet holes riddling his bumper.
He didn’t find any of it. Apparently, none of the people sent to Leon’s place had expected him there—or they just hadn’t expected Daniel and Leon to get the jump on them. He wasn’t convinced they were making a clean getaway yet, but it was a damn good start.
Too late, he realized the quiet wasn’t so comfortable—and he felt the eyes on him. A sheen of sweat appeared on his palms.
Leon was
