CHAPTER FIFTEEN CONSTITUTION AVENUE WASHINGTON, DC

CONSTITUTION AVENUE

WASHINGTON, DC

January 9

That meant it was a glyph. And Roth had no doubt what it meant. The jaguar priests were watching them.

“I don’t see anything,” Jordan said, still holding his phone in one hand, the screen tracking the approach of their Uber driver.

“It’s right there,” Brillante said, walking forward and pointing to the stone wall along the sidewalk. He appeared to be pointing at nothing.

“We need to get out of here,” Roth said. If Suki were there, she could blast away the glyph with the wave of her hand, using the bracelet and ring she wore to channel her power.

Jordan nodded to the street ahead. “The driver is meeting us right there. Let’s go.”

The boys were still staring at the glyph, but they nodded. Roth did too. They all ran for it, Roth’s heart hammering. They were still moving toward the intersection when Jordan’s phone chirped. He glanced at it and then pointed at the SUV that had just pulled up. It was a Chevy Tahoe, metallic gray.

Jordan reached the vehicle first, just as the driver was rolling down the window. “You Jordan?” he asked. “That your group?”

“Yes. We’re late. Need to get somewhere fast or we’ll lose our reservation.”

Jordan pulled open the car door, and the boys both hurried inside.

Roth glanced to the side and saw someone racing toward them, a man with a leather trench coat and a trim beard. His eyes blazed with anger as he sprinted toward the family.

“Go, go, go!” Roth shouted, climbing into the vehicle.

Jordan noticed the man coming too and hurried into the passenger seat.

“What’s wrong, man?” asked the driver in confusion.

“Move! Now!” Jordan barked. He put away the phone and reached for his Glock.

“Dude, I’m just an Uber driver!” exclaimed the stranger, holding up his hands.

“Step on it!” Jordan roared.

The driver looked panicked, but he obeyed the order. He pulled into the street and began to accelerate. A car honked and swerved to avoid hitting them.

“Seat belts,” Roth said, scrambling to secure his own. The chase on the autobahn was still fresh in his mind. They could have died. And this time they didn’t have Suki to dispel any magic wards that might be summoned against them. Twisting around in his seat, he looked out the back window of the Tahoe. The man was still running. And gaining on them.

They’d been accelerating down Constitution Avenue, but the driver hit the brakes.

“Go!” Jordan shouted.

“Red light!” the driver said helplessly.

“Run it!”

“Pedestrians!” the driver wailed.

Some pedestrians had triggered the crosswalk light, and Roth could see them passing right in front of their SUV. As soon as they’d cleared the vehicle, Jordan ordered, “Go! Go!”

The driver gunned the engine, and the Tahoe lurched through the intersection.

“I could get arrested,” the driver protested angrily. “This is nuts!”

“Someone’s chasing us,” Jordan said. “They’re back there, going faster than us.”

“Who, the cops?” the driver said with some snark.

Roth’s heart was beating furiously. Looking back and forth was making him carsick, but he couldn’t help himself. Their pursuer was moving faster than he should be able to. He was moving like a jaguar priest. The driver accelerated, gaining distance. Roth put his hand on the back of Jordan’s seat to brace himself as they sped toward the next intersection. The Capitol building loomed on their left, its majestic dome an inspiring sight. Usually. Right now, it was just another building. It couldn’t save them.

Roth looked out the back window, his stomach lurching again, and didn’t see the man anymore. “He’s gone,” he breathed out in relief.

“No, he’s changing!” Jordan shouted with fear.

Roth turned his head and shoulder the other way to see out the side window instead—and immediately wished he hadn’t. Their pursuer was running alongside their vehicle, but he was loping like a wolf, using his arms and legs to propel himself. It was a bizarre, disturbing melding of man and beast that reminded him of the ghost stories Moretti’s dad used to tell about the Navajo skinwalkers, the yee naaldlooshii. The look of hatred on the man’s face as he glared at Roth through the window was so intense, so absolute, that Roth feared he would pee himself. He froze in panic, unable to talk.

Jordan reached over and cranked the steering wheel. The driver let out a startled cry as the Tahoe rocked and swerved. Confusion, motion sickness, and terror all slugged it out inside Roth’s gut. The half-man, half-beast was struck by the vehicle and sent tumbling away before he collided with a parked car on the side of the road.

“Faster!” Jordan bellowed. “He’s ... he’s shaking it off. Faster!” He was looking out the side mirror, eyes wide with panic.

The boys were gripping the seats in front of them in terror. Roth had seen it in their faces before, and it would haunt his dreams forever. He’d put them in harm’s way again. Would this nightmare never end?

The driver was trembling with fear. It was good he couldn’t see what was behind them. He planted his foot on the gas, and the Tahoe roared ahead. They went through the intersection at full speed. Cars honked. They were lucky they didn’t hit any other vehicles.

The road bent hard to the left, then met almost perpendicular with Pennsylvania Avenue, which led away from the Capitol building at an angle. Going straight wasn’t even an option because the National Gallery of Art blocked the way. The driver didn’t even ask, he just took the right, swerving around another car that had stopped at the red light, and entered the intersection. Car horns blared at them from oncoming vehicles.

Roth nearly lost his lunch all over the seat and floor. He only kept it down by sheer force of will.

“I don’t see him,” Jordan declared. “Left on Fourth, left on Fourth! Now! It’s clear!”

The tires of the SUV screeched. Roth felt dizzy, his ears ringing, his stomach feeling even worse. The Tahoe passed across the lanes of traffic and then turned left in response to Jordan’s pointing. Roth shut his eyes, unable to bear the ride. He felt Lucas patting his arm.

“Past Independence,” Jordan said.

“You guys are freaking insane,” the driver muttered.

“This family is in the witness protection program,” Jordan said. “You’ll be reimbursed.”

“You a Fed?”

“Sort of,” Jordan said. “Pull into that parking garage. On the right. Let’s get out of sight.”

“Are you going to shoot me?” the driver demanded.

“No, bruh. I’m going to pay you the biggest tip you’ve had in your life.”

“Really?”

“This family is rich. You just saved their lives. I hope you take crypto.”

“I love crypto!” the driver said enthusiastically.

“Pull in here, then call the police to report the accident. I’ll call the FBI. It’s all good.”

Roth felt the SUV slow and turn as they went into an underground parking garage. The tires squeaked on the smooth cement. His stomach was starting to settle, but the aftertaste of bile in his mouth was terrible. The jaguar priest had pursued them instead of attacking. That meant he was determined to catch them. Alive. If Jacob had wanted Roth and the boys dead, he probably would have made their vehicle explode.

He wants revenge,Roth thought with dread. He remembered the sound of Eric Beasley dying in the arena. His anxiety kicked into overdrive.

The Tahoe stopped, and Jordan climbed out and opened the door. Even the stale air of the parking garage was a relief. Jordan helped Roth climb out. The boys got out too, both of them pale with fear.

Jordan pulled out his cell and made a call. “Hey, Monica. You okay? No, we just got attacked by one of Calakmul’s goons. We’re okay now.”

The sound of police sirens could be heard in the distance, echoing strangely in the parking garage.

“The police are probably looking for us since we ran a few red lights. It was weird, like that guy who attacked us at the cabin. He hadn’t transformed totally, but he was running on all fours. Seriously, we hit him with the Tahoe.” He paused, looking back up the garage ramp. “I don’t hear anything. See anything. Maybe he’s too injured to make another go at us right now.”

Roth looked at the side of the Tahoe. It was dented in as if it had been struck by another vehicle. The driver came around the back, and when he saw the damage, he held up his hands and walked away in disgust.

“We’re pretty close to the new hotel. I’ll have DoorDash bring us dinner. But I wanted you to know in case the news of the chase reaches you. We’re okay. Thanks. I appreciate it.” He paused again and smirked at the boys. “Yes, I love you too.”

Brillante and Lucas exchanged a look and then rolled their eyes. “She’d already hung up, bruh,” Brillante said, unconvinced.

“She’s crazy about me,” Jordan said, wagging his eyebrows. “That was intense! I loved it! Let me get the driver calmed down, and then we can walk to the new place from here. It’s not that far.”

Roth nodded again, sitting down against the wall of the parking garage. His sense of hearing was distorted by the thrum of the SUV’s engine, the wail of sirens, the echoes of rubber tires squealing as cars left the parking garage. He began to shiver.

After making arrangements with the driver, Jordan returned to their little huddle. “Let’s get going. And if you see any more of those invisible warning eyes, let me know, okay?”

“How much did you tip him?” Lucas asked.

“Five big ones.”

“Five bucks?” Lucas said with disappointment.

“Five hundred, little guy. Like I said, he’ll never get an Uber tip like that again. And we have decent collision insurance. He’ll be okay. Our office will handle the paperwork.”

Jordan reached down to help Roth stand. “You okay, boss?”

“I think so.” He felt terrible that he’d put his family in danger by pushing things with Calakmul. He could have done nothing and let the man wreak his vengeance on the world. But he’d felt compelled to try to stop it—by publishing that book, by going to Dresden to see the codex. Even now, he didn’t regret that. If he was going to die, he was going to die fighting for a better future.

It was time to relaunch his book with Calakmul’s name printed inside it and his own name printed on the outside. To expose him for who he was and what he was doing. He’d hesitated because of Suki and Sarina, but they were safe—or at least safer—and it was time to expose Calakmul to the world. He knew enough about the publishing world to quickly make the changes and attach the independently published book to his own name.

He pledged to himself that there’d be no more waiting. He’d do it tonight.

They walked the rest of the way to the new hotel, which was near the Smithsonian buildings. He had no idea how they’d gotten there, but Jordan knew his way around DC, and the Uber driver would be clueless as to where they’d gone.

With relief, Roth entered the lobby. Jordan went to the main desk and checked to make sure their stuff had arrived at their room. Then he went up first to make sure nothing was wrong. It was a decent suite with two separate bedrooms and a common living room area with a tiny kitchen.

“Still feel like cheesecake for dinner?” Jordan asked the boys.

“Sure, that would be nice,” Lucas said, rubbing his stomach. But it looked like he was putting on a front. Brillante was hanging his head, exhausted and worried.

Jordan turned to Roth. “I’m sure Lund will call once he gets to Florida and has the others. Hopefully by tonight, okay?”

“I hope so,” Roth said. Naples, Florida, felt very far away, but it was a short flight. Still, how would Lund get them back if they didn’t have ID? Surely Calakmul would be watching the airports.

But Lund was a pretty clever guy. Roth was sure he already had a plan in motion.

Jordan gave him a nod and then left. “I’m going to stay in the lobby a while, make sure no one followed us. I’ll call in reinforcements too. Stay up here.” Roth nodded and used the security deadbolts to block the door, but they felt woefully inadequate. He went to the little bathroom by his master suite and splashed some water on his face.

He heard Brillante ask Lucas if he wanted to play video games.

“No. I just want it to be quiet for a little while. That was pretty scary.”

“Totally,” Brillante agreed.

Roth listened to the brothers comfort each other. He looked at himself in the mirror, his emotions churning. Sarina and Jane Louise were alive. They’d helped Suki escape. Relief overpowered his feelings of despair. The determination he’d felt in the parking garage hadn’t left. Up until that moment, he’d toed the line. It was time to vault across it.

That was good because tears wouldn’t stop Calakmul. He thought about the book he’d written of his family’s experience in the death game. The trip to Cozumel. He had another version with the correct names and locations, which would expose Jacob Calakmul and his insiders. He had an ad campaign set up with Amazon as well, which if triggered, would cost twenty thousand dollars a month to help boost the signal. There was no chance that Jacob and his henchmen wouldn’t learn about the book. Even the simplest Google saved query would catch it.

Roth looked himself in the eye. It was time to send it out into the world. He walked over to his computer bag, pulled out his laptop, and powered it on.