The realization hit him as she spoke. “The chest? With the wedding clothes? You think the gems are in there?”
“Or the passcode to that crypto fortune. Or anything valuable.” She drummed her fingers over her lips.
“Or clothes,” Naveen said gently. “Mira, he could have just saved that file on his phone.”
“Trust me, this makes sense. At the very least, it wouldn’t hurt to go back to the storage unit and double-check. We have no other place to go from here.”
He studied her drawn face. There was an edge of desperation in her tone that worried him, but he could hardly blame her. These were desperate times. “Okay. Let’s go see. But if we don’t find anything . . . we have to talk about calling my brother.”
“If I’m right, we’ll have more money to bargain with than your family could ever come up with.”
He shook his head. “Why are you so against tapping my family?”
“I’ll never be able to repay them.”
“You won’t have to repay them.”
“I’ll feel like I will. I’m your ex. I can’t take their money.”
“What if you weren’t my ex?”
The silence stretched between them. “What?” she finally asked.
He hadn’t thought this through completely, but as he said the words, they sounded right. “Mira, we have similar values and aspirations. I’d like to . . . maybe we could consider getting back together after all this is over?” If he sounded stilted, it was because he was trying his best to not freak her out.
She stiffened, which told him he hadn’t done a great job. “I don’t think this is a good time to have this conversation. And even if we did get back together, I especially wouldn’t want to take money from your brother. I’d feel indebted to you.”
He drew away, physically, but also emotionally. “Well, please, the last thing I’d want is for you to feel like you were stuck with me. Consider the money a ransom for my family, and not yours. How’s that?” This is unfair. You are still reacting to thinking she was running away again.
Logically, he knew that, but he couldn’t get his knee-jerk pain to subside, nor could he bring himself to tell her the truth.
I’m hurt. “You know what, why don’t we talk about this later? Let’s go check out your hunch.”
She nodded, but her eyes were wary, which he hated. He grabbed their stuff and followed her out the door. The sun was just starting to rise, painting the concrete with a crimson glow. It wasn’t until they were in the Mustang that he noticed the police car parked at the far end of the parking lot. The windows were tinted, and they were far away, but Naveen could see that there was a figure inside the driver’s seat.
And he was looking straight at them. As he watched, the guy picked up his radio.
Naveen backed the car out, his brain switching away from their relationship troubles back to their regular troubles. “You got everything important out of that hotel room, right?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Good. Because I don’t think we’ll be able to come back.”
She followed his gaze to the cop car and stiffened. “Oh no. Do you think . . .”
“Put your seat belt on.”
The cop pulled out behind them, and Naveen flexed his fingers on the wheel. “Fuck,” he muttered. He made a sharp left, then a right, and the car stayed with them.
He turned again, keeping his eye on the rearview mirror. Exactly seven beats behind them, the police car turned as well.
Naveen breathed deep. “Your belt’s on?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Hold on.” He accelerated fast, and tried not to notice the tiny yelp Mira gave. He went faster and faster, then did a quick left, and got on the freeway.
The police car kept pace with them easily, as he dodged and switched lanes. Mira looked over her shoulder, nearly vibrating with tension. “Why isn’t he pulling us over?”
“He probably has instructions to either follow us or herd us into a more private area.”
Mira pulled her phone out and dialed. Emi’s face popped up on the screen. She looked like she hadn’t slept much either. “We need help,” Mira said, and quickly recounted the car following them.
Emi’s voice was brisk in response. “On it. Hang on. Let me track your phone, see where you’re at.”
“She can track us?” he asked Mira, but she shushed him.
“Okay, I see you. Naveen, can you hear me? Follow my exact directions.”
“Sure.”
“Try to get in the far right lane. There’s an exit that usually gets semi-backed up with a two street split. You’re going to fake this guy out. You’ll have to move fast.”
“The faster we get rid of him the better.” He switched lanes, and the cop followed.
He put his signal on for the exit, and the officer did the same. Naveen almost took the first exit, then switched quickly at the last minute, driving over the divider. Mira gave a strangled squeak. The cop had no choice but to go straight, not without causing an accident.
“Go left at the stop sign.”
Naveen drove fast even though the immediate danger was past. “They know our car now,” he said grimly. “And that it’s registered to Sunil. Where are you directing us?”
“Nirvana.”
Mira let go of the handle at the top of the door. “That’s a hotel on the Strip.”
“Yeah, I holed up here last night, just in case. There’s plenty of people. Come here and we’ll figure out next steps.”
Mira hung up on her friend and looked at Naveen. His heart was still beating like a jackhammer.
“Where did you learn to drive like that?”
He was embarrassed to say. “One of my cousins was really into cars. He liked to street race when we were young.”
“Like The Fast and the Furious?”
Naveen rubbed the side of his nose. Telling anyone that he’d run around the city in his late teens and early twenties with too-privileged fools wasn’t his idea of a good time. That it was Mira, after they’d already had a squabble this morning, was even less fun. “With less Vin Diesel, and way more luck that we didn’t die.”
“Interesting.” Mira settled back into her seat. “I wouldn’t have thought you were a fast car kind of guy.”
“I’m not. I’m an electric car kind of guy.” Now. “But I know how to maneuver, I guess. It’s like riding a bike. Like playing poker is for you.” He shrugged, uncomfortable. “It’s not that big of a deal.”
She rechecked the safety of her belt. “Give me some more warning next time you do any evasive moves, thanks. Big deal or not.”
Chapter Seventeen
Naveen was thankful that Emi had rented such a large suite. The better to pace it, from one corner of the living room to the other. Sometimes his pacing overlapped with Mira’s.
“So how much was that again, trapped in this data file?” Sunil asked politely on-screen. Emi had graciously allowed them to use her tablet to set up a video conference with the man. He looked far more well rested than any of them and was hoovering a fruit plate.