Rox stared at the enormous sum again. “You blackmailed them?”
Not that she was particularly sorry about it. They were going to lock her out without her cats and do God-knew-what to her cats.
Casimir shrugged. “It’s not blackmail if a lawyer does it on behalf of a client. Then, it’s negotiation.”
SHOTS FIRED
Rox drove on the crowded freeways while Casimir sat in the passenger seat, fuming. Traffic flowed and eddied around them, a rushing river of cars that Rox navigated, slipping from one lane to another.
Casimir said, “Why would Val and Josie do such a thing? Now, I am absolutely going to the state ethics board as soon as I can prepare the case. If they hadn’t fired me, I probably would’ve continued to try to resolve the problems from within the law office.”
“Yeah, they really gave us the bum’s rush out of there.” Jitters ran through her at the thought of losing her job, coupled with the huge settlement from the apartment’s management company.
Too much adrenaline.
She glanced at the hills that rose on both sides of the freeway. Golden autumn weeds rippled on the steep slopes. If someone sideswiped them here, at least they wouldn’t roll down an embankment. Ever since Casimir had told her about the car crash that he had been in when he was a kid, she had been imagining every flip of the car and the sickening shrieks of twisting metal punching into his little-boy body. She tightened her fists around the steering wheel.
Casimir asked her, “So why did you steal the token?”
Rox shrugged. “Just to piss them off. Josie goes nuts when one of them is missing. Those two assholes will hunt for hours for it before they go home tonight.”
He laughed. “We don’t need to get in there, do we? My laptop has a bunch of contracts on it, and it is at home. You carried your laptop out in your purse. We should have all the evidence that we need to put our case together for the ethics board. They should have ample evidence to decide whether or not to censure them, disbar them, or file charges against them.”
“I just don’t care. I hate that we got fired when they’re the guilty ones. So I swiped it. Just to be a big ol’ bitch.”
Crack, a bang slapped Rox’s ears.
The windshield spiderwebbed and split.
“Good Lord, that truck must have thrown a huge rock,” she said.
The explosion of cracks in the windshield cut the road into a thousand pieces. Afternoon sunlight glowed in the cracks, making the spiderweb catch fire.
Rox squinted to see through the broken windshield and looked back to check the SUV’s blind spot before she pulled over.
Casimir said, “Don’t pull over. Keep driving.”
“I can’t see much of anything through the cracks.” The car to their right had drifted back, so Rox changed lanes to get to the shoulder of the road. She pulled into the emergency lane and braked hard, stopping the SUV.
As they stopped, Cash’s window shattered inward, spraying them both with broken glass.
“Gunshot. They’re shooting at us.” He grabbed her neck, shoved her down on the seat, and crawled over her, shielding her with his body. “Push the accelerator with your foot. Now. Hard.”
Rox kicked the accelerator pedal, and the SUV lurched forward. Her cheek was pressed against the leather upholstery, and Cash’s jacket flapped in front of her face. The seatbelt bit into her shoulder.
Cash said, “Release the catch on my seatbelt. I can’t reach it.”
Rox extended her fingers above her hair and found the buckle and the button to pop his seatbelt. She squeezed it, and Cash leaned on her a little more heavily. He laid on top of her, hunched over and peeking above the dash while he drove with one hand.
The emergency brake handle between the bucket seats was bruising her ribs, but she stayed mashed flat to the seats, trying to not move under Casimir so he could drive the SUV.
Another pop crashed through the SUV. Broken glass shot through the air, flipping over the back of the seat and peppering her back.
Rox wrapped her arms around Casimir’s waist, trying to steady both of them. If the car flipped now, he would fly out the broken front windshield.
“Faster,” Cash said. “More gas.”
She hesitated.
More gas meant more acceleration, more speed if they hit something and flipped.
He would fly out the window. She couldn’t hold him.
Another bullet slammed into the car. More glass showered them.
“Now!”
Rox shoved her foot down.
The engine snarled.
The SUV leapt forward.
“Come on, come on,” Casimir muttered. He twisted the steering wheel, turning off on an exit. “Brake now.”
Rox stomped on the brake. The SUV’s tires screeched under them. They slid, and they stopped.