Chapter 12 · Traceless - Chapter 12: Every Tracker Wants Her

Cole moves before I can think. He grabs Evan by the collar and throws him against the wall hard enough that the whole room shakes. Evan's gun skitters across the floor. I don't pick it up. My hands won't stop shaking.

"You uploaded it." Cole's voice is flat. Dead. "You sent her location to every tracker in the city."

Evan wipes blood from his mouth. He's smiling. "I sent it to everyone who matters. HQ. The old families. Independent contractors. Hell, I cc'd the regional director." He laughs and it sounds wrong. "Forty trackers, Cole. Maybe more. They're already moving."

I look at the tablet on the table. The red dots are multiplying. They're closing in from every direction like a noose tightening. I count twelve new signals in the last thirty seconds.

"How long?" My voice doesn't sound like mine.

"Eight minutes." Evan pushes himself off the wall. "Maybe less if they run the lights. You want to live? You come with me. Now."

Cole doesn't let go of him. "She's not going anywhere with you."

"Then she's dead." Evan looks at me and his eyes are too bright. Fever-bright. "You think Cole can fight forty trained trackers?