Tower Falling - Now You See Me {Completed}

Chapter Fourteen

Hey babes! I'm soooo super sorry about this long absence. I really have no motivation whatsoever to write, which is a real problem since I'm participating in the July Camp NaNoWriMo, which is in like eight days. Anyway, I'm finally getting moved and settled into my new house in Minnesota, so life is still hectic for me between unpacking and driving back and forth between here and Iowa. Another note: There's one final chapter after this and then an epilogue. Happy? Sad? What are your thoughts? Also, I'm thinking about finishing this novel up and entering it into the Wattys. What do you all think?

Chapter Fourteen

The bus ride was bumpy as hell and I found myself swearing loudly several times, to which Merritt would merely laugh as he drove like a bat out of hell. Danny and Henley were in cars ahead of us, tailing the car that Jack was in. My heart was hammering in my chest, even though I really had no part in this epic car chase that was taking place. But how would you feel if the FBI was pursuing you all over the city?

My fingers typed like lightning against the keyboard of my laptop, opening up one of my editing programs. I'd been given the task of printing fake money while the other four got the hard job. Currently, I was pulling up Google Images for pictures of dollar bills. Merritt, Jack, Henley, and Danny had all taken selfies with my phone before we launched into this plan, so it was a simple process for me to connect my phone to the laptop and Photoshop each of our individual faces onto one of five bills. Getting the shades of green to match was a more difficult tie, but not impossible. I was finished and ready for them to be printed just as Merritt swerved the bus in front of the FBI car Alma Dray and Agent Rhodes were tailing us in, throwing me against the window in the process.

I closed the laptop in a huff and set it aside, glaring at the back of Merritt's head. He winked at me in the mirror above his head. Gripping the top of the seat in front of me, I glanced out the window and looked ahead of us. Merritt pressed the button on the bus's console that would release a car identical to the one containing Dray and Rhodes. The black vehicle's wheels touched down and, since it was unmanned, immediately moved in the direction of the center barrier separating the two sides of the bridge we were on. Merritt swerved back into the other lane, behind Henley, Danny, and Jack's cars, and I watched open-mouthed as the "empty" car crashed into the barrier and flipped, landing on its roof. Merritt laughed triumphantly and we zoomed away from the crash site, leaving the container of gasoline to empty and the cadaver Jack had stolen from the morgue at the hospital to go up in flames. 

Merritt was still laughing as the car exploded, but I was frozen. I knew Jack wasn't in that car and that no one had actually gotten hurt in that explosion, but worry still nagged at my brain. I'd seen Rhodes and that other man run away from the car with the documents we'd planted in their hand. Everyone involved in this chase was perfectly safe. So why did I feel so concerned?

"Andie," Merritt said as we took an exit off the highway and into the less-busy parts of the city. "Stop with that expression. Everything is going according to plan. It'll be okay."

I swallowed the lump in my throat, still confused by my reaction. "I know it will. Just drive."

oOoOo

We pulled to a stop outside the warehouse containing the safe we were planning on stealing. Henley and Danny were already there, standing outside their cars and chatting idly. Henley was holding her brown wig in her hand, but Danny was still wearing his fake mustache. "You look like a porn star, Daniel," I called out as Merritt and I approached. "And not the good kind."

He yanked the mustache off, grimacing from the apparent pain. Still wincing, he looked at me with squinted blue eyes. "Did you finish designing the money?" I nodded. "Alright. Let's go find the office in this place."