The Dangerous Dames

2-Chasing Vera

The sedan crashed through garbage cans, sending them careening against the nearby buildings and spinning back into the alley. Leo was certain that they were being followed now.

Vera craned her neck to see behind them but Leo was focused on the narrow alleyway before them.

"All I can see is the headlights," she said. "I cannot make out ze car or driver."

Leo slammed the brakes hard and cranked the wheel to the left, hoping that it would lead back to a road. He almost sighed audibly when he saw the cross-traffic ahead.

"Chances are they aren't friendly, whoever they are," he said through a grimace as he floored it towards the traffic ahead. Slowing, but not enough to stop unless he had to, he saw a break in the traffic and pounded the gas.

The car lurched as he jumped the curb, and he heard the familiar rattle of a hubcap freeing itself from the sedan's rim and wheeling down the sidewalk.

Vera had taken his advice and braced herself, one hand on the dash and another around the seat.

"They're still with us," she said, but Leo wasn't even looking behind him. He saw a gap between two cars one lane to his left, barely enough to fit the sedan, but he shot into it.

The car in the back slammed on its brakes and he heard their horn go off, but Leo was already looking ahead. There was another space just ahead of the car he'd been trailing moments ago, so he cranked the wheel and pounded the gas again to cut over.

Another horn sounded, but Leo was just hoping that the lurching traffic he was leaving behind would slow down their pursuers. With open road ahead of them, he kept it straight and finally glanced in the rear view mirror again.

He'd managed to add some distance, but they were still there.

"Who are these people?" he asked.

"I do not know," Vera answered, but Leo wasn't sure he believed her. Now wasn't the time to get into an argument. "I must say, you drive like you have done zis before?" Her tone had shifted, holding less concern now and a lot more syrup. Leo recognized it, but that didn't mean he didn't like it--as much as he hated to admit it.

"Yeah, I've spent my share of time tailing people, taking photos that they usually don't want taken. Getting cars back for banks, that sort of thing."

"Unsavory work, then?" The delight in Vera's voice was unmistakable. Leo suddenly thought about Sandy, sitting back at her office, probably surrounded by papers. Maybe she was punching numbers into a calculator, one of those ones that would spiral ticker-tape numbers off the desk. Maybe she was finishing up for the night.

Or maybe she was bent over the desk, some young intern pounding into her from behind while she bit her lip and pushed the poor calculator off the desk as she wondered if Leo would notice that she was home late again.

Goddamn it.

"Yeah, maybe unsavory to some, but it's a living." Sandy hated it, but truth is, Leo wasn't sure he could ever work in an office like she did. He needed that danger, he needed the excitement.

Leo turned the wheel hard left, and the sedan screamed through a red light as the balding-tired did their best to hang on to the asphalt.

"Are we losing them?" he asked.

"I do not know, but I think so." Vera was turned around completely, scanning the road behind them.

Leo pulled into a service station, slamming the car into park and shutting the engine off abruptly. He reached over, grabbing Vera by the shoulder and pulling her low as he ducked down.

"Keep low," he said, and the two found themselves face-to-face, only inches between them.

In the shadow of the service station's neon, Leo realized that he'd never wanted to bite a lower lip so much in his life.

Her eyes flashed, and as she spoke, he could feel the heat of her breath on his own lips. "You live a very exciting life, Leo."

He stumbled over his own words. "It's...yeah," he stammered, uncharacteristic of him. "It's got its moments, that's for sure."

He raised his head to peek out the rear window, just in time to see a car roar past.

"I think that was them," he said, sliding back into his seat. Vera rose up next to him. "The best part is, we're only a few blocks away from the Regis Arms."

Leo thought of Sandy again. With adrenaline pumping through his veins, he just wanted to eat her alive right now--but the image in his mind changed, and all he could see was that disapproving look she would get when she found out he had to pay to replace the shattered rear window.

And the new hubcap.

He glanced over at Vera, and she had this silly little half-smile on her face as she looked at him, those big doe-eyes lit up by the overhead lamps in the parking lot, looking at him the way Sandy used to.

"God damn it," he said, audibly this time, as he started the car again. Vera looked confused, but he didn't even offer an explanation.

"God damn it straight to Hell," he muttered again. "Regis Arms, here we come."

And I'll drop you off, and let you out of my car, and never see you again--he wanted to add that, but he didn't.

For some reason, he didn't.

And he knew why, but he just didn't want to admit it to himself.

Not yet.