Casimir said, “Stay down.”
He moved up a little bit, looking around, and Rox sucked in a deep breath of air when his weight lightened. She asked, “Are we okay?”
A crack, and a clang rang through the car, metal on metal.
“No,” Casimir said. “Gas.”
Rox stepped on the gas pedal, and Cash drove them through the streets, muttering directions to her. It was a miracle they didn’t hit anybody, but after a few minutes, Cash told her to brake one more time. The gear shift handle beside her waist moved, and the SUV flinched as the engine shifted into the parking gear.
Casimir said, “I think we lost him.”
“What the hell was that?” Rox asked, still clinging to his waist.
He sat up, maneuvering himself back to the passenger seat, though he still had one hand on the steering wheel and was looking around. “I think that sniper was the reason why Val needed us to get out of the office so fast. I am reconsidering my position that my car crash was just an accident.”
“No shit, Sherlock!” Rox shoved at Casimir to get him off of her and pushed herself up on her arms. “I can’t believe that Val is trying to kill you over this!”
“I’m not sure it’s Val,” he said, grabbing the door handle to pull himself upright. “I think she tried to warn me. When I argued with her earlier this week, she kept telling me that I didn’t understand, to back off, and to make sure that you had no part in it. I think Val and Josie are either being threatened or blackmailed.” He looked at the shattered windows. “Probably threatened.”
A police car pulled up alongside of them, its siren wailing and lights glaring in their eyes. The officer shoved open her door and jumped out to crouch behind her car, her gun pointing over the car’s roof at Rox and Casimir. She yelled, “Get out of the car!”
“Whoa!” Rox poked the button to roll down the driver’s side window and held up her empty hands. “We were shot at. We don’t have any guns, and we didn’t do anything wrong.”
The officer lifted her head so that she was not peering over the gun’s sights. She looked them over, the sun shining off the polished brim of her hat as her head dipped. “Someone just started shooting at you?”
From behind Rox, Casimir said, “There was a sniper. How many cars did he shoot at?”
“Looked like a couple cars were hit. Are you folks okay?” she called across the top of the car.
“Yeah,” Rox said. “I think so. A little shaken up.”
“I’ll bet.” The officer holstered her gun and walked around her car toward them, though her fingers hovered near her weapon. “Do you need an ambulance or other medical attention?”
Casimir said, “I think we’re all right.”
The officer walked over to Rox’s door. “Can I see some identification?”
“I’m going to take my wallet out of my pocket,” Casimir said, his hands still raised.
“Yes, sir,” the officer said, her fingers lightly touching the butt of her gun.
“And I’m going to dig around in my purse for a minute,” Rox said. “It’s kind of a mess in there.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The officer’s shoulders had relaxed, and Rox turned away to root through her purse for her billfold.
Casimir passed his driver’s license to the officer over Rox’s shoulder. “I have additional identification and the rental agreement for the SUV in my briefcase. There are just a few other pieces of paper in there, a laptop, and so on.”
“Sure,” the officer said. “Move slowly, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Of course, madam.” He slid his fingertips into a side pocket of the briefcase and took out a small, thin book with a burgundy and gold cover. The lions stamped on the front kind of looked like Casimir’s tattoo on the inside of his forearm.
The officer reached for it over Rox’s shoulder again, while Rox was still stirring the boxes of mints and gum and tissue and tampons and receipts, trying to dig up her wallet. She got a glimpse of the cover of Casimir’s passport as they passed it right by her face. The words on the front read, Diplomatiek Paspoort.
Those words might have been Dutch, but Rox could figure out what they meant. She was still so shocked-stupid from getting shot at and nearly dying on the freeway that she almost giggled at the fact that his official diplomatic passport had the word “poo” in it.
Rox found her thick wallet in her purse and unzipped it on three sides. Damn, she had meant to clean it out. The wallet was so full that it looked like she had stuffed a deck of playing cards in there.