The Fox Inheritance (Jenna Fox Chronicles 2)

Dr. Gatsbro tries to follow, banging on the windows. "Open this! Open up now! I'm warning you--"

Miesha accelerates.

"Dead. So dead." She swerves around a corner. I try to drag myself up to the seat but fall back to the floor when the car bumps over something. A curb I hope, and not a person.

"Dead."

I drag myself up again, gasping as each stabbing pain takes my breath away. I lean against the door for support and try to see what's going on. "What are you doing, Miesha?"

"Saving your skinny ass."

"It's not so--" I freeze my breaths as pain grips my chest. I taste something warm and salty in my mouth. Blood. "Skinny."

"Quiet!" she says. "I can barely drive this thing, much less listen to you!"

"Kilby and State," I gasp. "Go. There. Cab waiting. That's where--" I draw in a shallow breath. All I want to do is shut up and pass out, but I can't. At least not yet. "That's where Kara will go."

I hear the scrape of metal as the car hits bottom on a dip and feel the jolt in my ribs. It shoots through my body like lightning. "Slow down!" I yell, not just for the sake of my ribs--if she keeps driving like a maniac, we're sure to be stopped, or to crash. The car slows.

"Kilby and State. Kilby and State. Where the hell..."

I lay my head back and close my eyes. "A block from Faneuil Hall. South."

She doesn't respond. She just keeps mumbling words that spell our doom.

I try to time my breaths, forcing them in slowly and letting them out the same way. Focus, Locke. Run, Kara. We're coming. "Hurry," I tell Miesha.

"You just told me to slow down! You want to drive?" The car swerves around a corner.

I open my eyes. "Are we being followed?"

"Not yet."

I try to turn around to look out the back window, but a blinding stab in my side stops me. Gatsbro's goons knew what they were doing, all right. They didn't care how much damage there was, and it feels like plenty.

"There! I think I see it," Miesha says. "A Star Cab is parked up ahead on the right."

I pull myself up and see Dot's cab. "Yes, that's it. You're brilliant, Miesha."

"That won't do me much good when I'm dead."

"Pull behind. We'll ditch this car. Gatsbro probably already has the police coming for it."

"Not a chance. Not with what he's mixed up in. It'll be him personally."

She slows and parks behind Dot.

"Do you see Kara?" I ask.

"No, only a Bot."

"Kara should have beat us here. It was a straighter shot through the alleys."

"Maybe she got lost."

Not Kara.

Miesha opens her door. "Come on, we've got to get out of here. Now." She gets out and opens my door. I have no choice. I brace myself for shock waves. I hold out my arm, and she helps me out. The world vibrates around me. Black. White. Violent flashes of yellow. I grab the door for support, and Miesha swings my arm over her shoulder. "Just a few steps. You can do it." I hear the doubt in her voice.