Kendra Ironheart's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

Kendra drove the stolen cruiser hard through the dark, red and blue lights off now. The officer she'd thrown had radioed her in. Behind her, sirens climbed. The whole force hunted this car, and she still needed to crack a safe they would soon haul away. If they cornered her, the trail to the killer died tonight. She dialed the clerk. He picked up on the second ring, chewing something. "They're saying a woman stole one of our cars," Mr. Tom said. He sounded amused, not worried. "Fat lot of good it'll do you. That's a hot plate now." "I need the safe," Kendra said. "The one at the cannery. Where are they taking it?" "Impound lot. Tonight." He paused. She heard him calculating the price. "Five hundred, and I'll tell you the gate code." "Done." She wasn't paying for a code. She was paying to know where the safe would be, far from the murder scene swarm. Two cruisers swung onto the road behind her. Their lights filled her mirror. Kendra floored it, then yanked the wheel into a narrow service alley. The car scraped a wall and lost a mirror. She killed the engine behind a dumpster and dropped low in the seat. The two cruisers shot past the alley mouth. Their sirens faded. She breathed out slow. She couldn't keep this car. The plate had burned her. Kendra grabbed the shotgun from the back seat and wiped the wheel and door with her sleeve. She left the cruiser dead in the alley. Let them find it empty. Let them think the woman had run. On foot, she was nobody. On foot, no patrol had a plate to chase. She walked out the far end and found the impound lot by the clerk's directions. A chain fence ringed it. Inside, under a buzzing lamp, sat the scorched safe on a flatbed. The reinforced steel box. The killer had tried to burn it open and failed. Whatever was inside had stayed inside. Kendra climbed the fence. Her hands found the top rail and she hauled her weight over. She dropped onto gravel and crossed to the flatbed. Up close the safe was huge, bolted and blackened, its handle fused by heat. She gripped the wheel handle and pulled. Nothing. She braced a boot on the frame and threw her whole back into it. The metal screamed. The scorched bolt sheared. The door swung wide. Inside lay a single thing. A stuffed bear, dark red glass eyes catching the lamplight. Pinned to its chest was a note in careful handwriting. "For the next one. He was sweet, like you'll be." Kendra's hands went cold. The killer knew about her. The killer was leaving messages for her now. She tucked the bear under her arm and climbed back over the fence into the dark, hunted but closer than ever.