Brave Fear (boyxboy)

Chapter 33

"Can't his little bird ass save himself?" Joseph whined as he squeezed back in the small backseat of the car. "Isn't he perfectly capable?"

"As a hollow-boned bitch?" Zane said. "I don't think so." The car's tires squealed against the asphalt as he stepped on the gas. Jonas shot back in his seat, his eyes widened as his head hit the headrest, his hair ruffled as his long arms grasped the sides of the seat, holding on for dear life. He never made a sound, though. Whatever else he may be thinking, he trusted Zane.

The crowd, dispersed in the wake of the first car, quickly gave Zane room as he yanked left on the wheel, rocketing the car into a tight nearby alley, the same one the previous car had turned into. Zane spotted the car rounding a bend ahead of them.

Joseph gasped as the mirror chafed the wall beside them and broke off, rolling along behind them, losing its velocity. "You know, car chases are cooler in movies," he said. "In real life, they're just outright terrifying. Especially with you driving."

"Asshole," Zane muttered again. Joseph grunted in response. He leaned forward, avoiding getting too close to the walls lest he become the mirror. Zane laughed.

"Are you a psychopath?"

"Am I a psychopath if I'm enjoying this?" he said, still chuckling. "If so, then yes, I'm a psychopath." Zane could practically hear Joseph grimace in the backseat and roll his eyes. Zane smiled and yanked the wheel, taking the tight turn the car in front of them had taken.

Jonas closed his eyes. "They know we're tailing them," he said, as if he could see through his eyelids. His eyes could be seen shooting around underneath his eyelids, retrieving information from the microchip. "Turn into the alley on your left."

Zane turned to him, slowing the car a little bit. The alleyway was coming fast. "Why?"

Jonas's eyes shot open, fixing Zane with a dark brown glare. "They're heading for the denser traffic," he said. "They think they can lose us there. Turn left, it'll get us there before them. Trust me."

Zane turned. "I trust you," he said. He meant, of course, that he trusted both Jonas and the information stored in Wawrzynski's microchip, but he wouldn't say that. He wanted Jonas to trust him too and not think he was just using him like Wawrzynski had. Which of course, he wasn't.

The alleyway was even thinner than the last one, and the other mirror was gone in a matter of milliseconds. Joseph cringed. "Could you slow down?"

Jonas closed his eyes briefly, running over some calculations in his head. "No," he said. "If anything, speed up."

"Don't speed up!"

"We have to make it in time," Jonas said calmly, his voice a point of serenity in the chaos of a car chase. "We have to beat that car, or we might not get Marcus back."

"How do you know?"

"Intuition and imported facts, my guy," he said, chuckling. "Intuition and imported facts."

A small dip in the road brought the car several seconds of air time. Joseph squealed and Zane whooped. Despite his reluctance to drive earlier, he was having an excellent time. Joseph clearly wasn't. "Could you stop the car? I'm gonna hurl,"

"Zane, do not stop this car!" Jonas said. Zane was torn between stopping to help Joseph and obeying Jonas's orders and cutting off the other car. Only when he thought of Marcus, trapped in the car in bird form did he step on the gas and the car sped up, flying through the alleyway, jumping over several more bumps. Joseph made retching sounds in the back seat.

Zane hollered as they burst free from the alley, the car launching onto a street with several cars heading toward downtown London, finally tired of the unoccupied jet landed in the city square. Zane yanked the wheel to the left, skidding the wheels along the asphalt, turning the car to align with the rest. The traffic was condensed, unmoving. A large intersection was up ahead and jam-packed with cars trying to get places. Either London always had very heavy traffic, or for some strange reason, rush hour was taking place near midnight.