Chapter 17: Drive

There was one big problem of course.

“Can you drive?” Mia asked Paul.

“Not really,” he gave a little grimace.

“But you know about lanes and signs and lights and everything like that? Where we’re supposed to go?”

“Yeah I guess so.”

“Okay,” Mia was more decisive than ever as the tension rose. “We’ll do it between us. Grace you’re driving, as long as the seat goes forward enough for you. You just work out the controls. It’s an automatic at least. Paul you go in the passenger seat telling Grace where to go, which lane, and pointing. I’ll be in the back, with Google Maps and working out where to head for, once we’ve got clear, and if anyone hassles us. Now we just need not to find any CIA guys hanging around...”

Grace gulped. She’d never driven at all. She’d watched her mum of course, and her mum had gone on about it while she risked life and limb rocketing them about in her BMW roadster. So Grace knew about apexes and racing lines and revs and irrelevant stuff like that. Though she also knew which way the wheel went obviously and that the right pedal was the accelerator and the next one the brake.

The lift slowed and stopped. The doors slid open, exposing them to the dim parking garage with cars and concrete columns for people to hide behind.

Grace took Claude’s and Mo’s hands and followed Mia and Paul out of the lift. As she walked her ‘nine millimeter automatic’ poked her in the abdomen, where it was shoved into the waistband of her jeans, under her jacket. Was she EVER in freaking America! Mia and Paul had the four cases in their hands, so if someone opened fire she’d have to drop the guys’ hands and do a quick draw...

Mia scanned the grey concrete space with all the bays taken, hoping she’d remembered where their car was. She wished her hands weren’t full, and Paul’s and Grace’s. There it was. Their red minivan, facing out. Dodge.

Paul stood watch at the front while Mia loaded the cases into the back and Grace herded Claude and Mo into the third row of seats, right at the back, and belted them in.

THERE! Paul saw a woman watching, and a man with her - about fifteen cars away on the right and one row over. Now turning away as though they weren’t interested. They seemed to be having an argument though ... the woman big, six foot maybe; the guy in his late twenties, and quite big too, with something aggressive about him. Short hair.

“Guys...” Paul murmured. The man was coming over, with the woman following. Paul did a quick look around - there was no-one else in sight.

Mia closed the tailgate and put her hand on her gun inside her jacket side pocket.

Grace knew what she had to do - leave Mia and Paul to deal with the agents and concentrate on her job. Which was to drive them out of here! She slid into the driver’s seat. She found the seat adjuster and moved the seat forwards as far as it would go. Yes her feet could reach the pedals!

She’d seen Claude selecting gears with the big knob on the dashboard, and a display showing which gear it was in. Accelerator. Brake. She wiggled the steering a bit. Where did the key go? It wasn’t really a key, more a weirdly shaped little remote control. There, that slot matched. It went in and the dials lit up. Now what?

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a group of people come into the garage! Ordinary people, not taking any notice but they certainly would do if any shooting began. She had the time, until they got in their car and drove off, to get this car started and drive off along with them. What next? Was there a Start button like in her mum’s? Why hadn’t she noticed what Claude did?

She glanced outside. The woman and the man had stopped a few away, on the passenger side. Mia was at the open sliding side door in a kung fu type stance towards the woman, who was a huge blonde of their parents’ generation, late thirties perhaps. It was a big face-off with Mia. Mia actually looked quite small by comparison.

Paul was pointing his gun at the guy, shielding it from the new arrivals with his body. Grace was pretty sure that normally the agents would just have rushed up and grabbed two teens, but the four dead and wounded guys from the lift had made them nervous. And perhaps now there were only these two agents left, from their mega secret faction.

They couldn’t start shooting either, so they were stuck. At the same time Grace could see they thought they shouldn’t just let their targets drive off, and also they didn’t like losing to a bunch of teens.

Ah, it came to her: the reason she hadn’t noticed what Claude did must be that it wasn’t a separate thing. Just something very quick ... with the key? She gave it a twist. It turned and the car rocked! She let go in fright but the engine kept whirring and it started!

Paul got in the front, while Mia got in the sliding side door at the back, leaving it open. “Bye Honey,” she was mocking as she sat down in the seat. She had her gun out now. Grace had an idea Mia wouldn’t mind catching up on the girls-with-guns thing and shooting some agents herself! In fact that was probably part of why she’d told Grace to drive - so that she herself could ride shotgun. The agents were standing there, looking frustrated. Well Mia really would shoot them and they could tell.

Grace pressed the accelerator a little bit - nothing happened. God, come on. They had to get out of here. She pressed a bit harder and the engine roared. Shit. Somewhere in between. Okay, like that. She moved her foot to the huge, high brake pedal and pushed the outsize knob on the dashboard. She needed ‘D’ didn’t she? There.

She took her foot off the brake and the car started to move! Christ it seemed quick.

“Left,” Paul was pointing. Grace turned the wheel, then some more, and some more. The huge car was out of the bay, into the aisle already. It was moving quite quickly and she wasn’t even using the accelerator! Okay it wasn’t quickly really. In fact there was a car right behind, with those people who’d come in, that she must be holding up. It just seemed fast with it all being new. She pressed the accelerator and the car speeded up. She made herself stay on it.