Chapter 6 - The High-Speed Pursuit“Get in the car! Now!” Elena commanded, shoving Claire into the back seat of the SUV just as the passenger-side window of the oncoming sedan shattered in a hail of gunfire.
Clang! Clang!
Bullets sparked off the pavement inches from Elena’s heels as she dove into the driver's seat, slamming the heavy door shut and locking the electronic override.
“Hold on!” Elena yelled, slamming her foot hard on the accelerator.
The high-performance SUV leaped forward with a deafening roar, its four-wheel-drive system gripping the slick asphalt as it fishtailed out of the alley and onto Lake Shore Drive. In the rearview mirror, Claire watched the black sedan give chase, its high beams blindingly bright in the pouring rain.
“They’re gaining on us!” Claire shouted over the screaming engine and the pounding rain.
“Let them try,” Elena muttered coolly, her hands gripping the leather steering wheel with terrifying precision. She punched a red button on the center console labeled AUX-2.
Behind them, a hidden rear compartment on the SUV popped open, deploying a high-intensity electromagnetic pulse flare directly onto the wet highway.
The pursuing sedan drove straight over the device. Instantly, sparks erupted from the black car’s hood as its entire electrical system fried. The engine cut dead, the headlights died, and the vehicle spun violently out of control, slamming hard into the concrete highway divider with a sickening crunch of metal.
Claire exhaled a shaky breath, her hands trembling as she set the leather ledger down on her lap. “Is... are they dead?”
“They’re incapacitated,” Elena said, checking her rearview mirror as the wrecked car vanished into the rainy distance. “But more of Vance’s private security units are deployed across the city. We can’t go back to any safehouse on record.”
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“Then where are we going?” Claire asked, her eyes fixed on the dark, looming skyline of downtown Chicago.
“We are going straight to the top,” Elena said, her eyes flashing with a dangerous resolve. “We are going to the annual gala of the Chicago Business Council, where Margaret Bennett is currently accepting the Philanthropist of the Year award, funded entirely by embezzled money from your father’s estate. We’re going to crash her party.”
