CHAPTER 1 – JUST DRIVE

The yellow cab was parked at the curb, engine idling, its roof light dark.

Emily sat behind the wheel with one elbow resting on the door, fingers tapping lightly against the steering wheel in time with the music spilling from the radio. An old song. Slow. Familiar. The kind that made the city outside the windshield blur into lights and shadows instead of noise and chaos.

The sign was off. 

She leaned back slightly, letting the seat cradle her shoulders, eyes half-lidded as the melody carried her somewhere softer. Somewhere quieter. For a moment, she could almost pretend she was just another woman in the city, killing time, listening to music, waiting for nothing at all.

The back door flew open.

Emily flinched, hand tightening on the wheel as someone slid into the seat behind her. The door slammed shut with sharp finality.

“Drive.”

The voice was rough. Strained.

Emily turned her head slightly, annoyed more than startled. “Sorry, sir,” she said calmly. “I’m off duty.”

She lifted her chin and nodded toward the windshield. “Light’s off.”

“I said drive.”

She sighed and turned more fully, irritation bubbling up. “I’m not working. You’ll have to find another…”

She stopped.

The man in the back seat was hunched forward, shoulders tight, both hands pressed hard against his left side. His fingers were slick with blood. Dark red. Too much of it. It soaked through his shirt, spreading fast, staining the fabric and dripping onto the seat.

Emily’s breath caught.

“Oh my God,” she whispered. “You’re bleeding.”

“Drive.”

Her heart started pounding, the calm she’d been floating in evaporating instantly. “What happened to you? You need a hospital.”

“No,” he said sharply. “You need to do as I say…. Please.”

She stared at him, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. His face was pale, jaw clenched so tightly his teeth ground together. Sweat beaded along his hairline. Whatever happened to him hadn’t been small.

“I told you,” she said, voice firmer now, “I’m not working.”

“I’ll pay,” he snapped. “Whatever you want.”

“This isn’t about money,” she shot back. “Are you some kind of criminal? Because I’m not….”

“You’re wasting time,” he said again, weaker this time. “Please drive before they come out.”

Something in his tone made her pause. Not desperation alone. Control. Like pain was something he was used to managing.

Emily glanced at the side mirror.

Three men stepped out of the building behind them.

“Shit,” the man muttered. “You can’t let them see me.”

He sank lower into the seat, shoulders folding inward, trying to make himself smaller, invisible. One hand stayed pressed to his side, the other braced against the floor as if the car itself might hide him.

Outside, the men moved slowly at first, scanning the ground. Emily watched as one of them crouched, fingers brushing against something on the pavement. Blood. He looked up and followed the trail with his eyes.

Straight to the cab.

Her stomach dropped.

The men straightened. One of them pointed.

They broke into a run.

“Get down,” the man in the back seat said hoarsely.

Emily didn’t think.

Her foot slammed onto the gas.

The cab lurched forward just as one of the men reached for the door handle. Tires screeched. The city surged into motion around them, lights streaking as she swerved into traffic.

“What the hell is going on?” Emily shouted, hands tight on the wheel.

“Just drive,” he said through clenched teeth.

“I’m driving,” she snapped. “Who are those people?”

He groaned, bracing himself as the car surged forward. “I have no idea.”

Emily glanced at the mirror again.

The men were already in a car—black, fast. It peeled away from the curb and fell in behind them with terrifying ease.

“They’re following us,” she said, heart pounding. “You’re telling me you don’t know the people chasing you with guns?”

He didn’t answer right away.

“They’re willing to do all this just to get to you,” she pressed. “And you don’t know who they are?”

His voice came strained. “Maybe they have the wrong person.”

Emily shot him a sharp look. “What do you mean they have the wrong person?”

Silence.

Her grip tightened on the wheel. “You don’t get to be quiet right now.”

He exhaled sharply, pain cracking through his composure. “What do I have to say to make you believe I don’t know who these people are?”

She hesitated, then asked, “Did you take something from them?”

“No,” he said quickly. “Of course not.” He paused, then added, almost bitterly, “Do you really think that matters in a situation like this?”

“It matters to me,” Emily snapped. “You just dragged me into this.”

The car behind them closed the distance, headlights flaring in her rearview mirror.

“Where am I supposed to go?” she asked.

“Anywhere,” he said. “Just lose them.”

Emily swallowed hard and turned sharply onto a side street, tires squealing as the cab cut through traffic. Her pulse roared in her ears, instincts snapping into place. She took another turn, then another, weaving through narrow roads and parked cars.

The city blurred.

“They’re still there,” she muttered.

“Keep driving.”

“I can’t outrun them in a cab!”

She pushed harder anyway, foot heavy on the pedal. The engine protested, but she ignored it. Her hands moved with surprising steadiness, muscles remembering something her mind refused to name.

The man behind her drew in a sharp breath, blood slick on his fingers. “Find somewhere quiet,” he said, voice tight with control. “Drop me off, and you can be on your way.”

Emily glanced at him in the mirror, then twisted in her seat just enough to look back. His face had gone pale, jaw clenched, eyes glassy with pain.

“Shut up,” she said. “Just make sure you don’t die on my backseat.”

She turned her eyes forward just as a car suddenly burst out from a side street ahead of them.

Emily barely had time to register it.

“Shit…”

She yanked the wheel hard to the right.

The cab skidded, tires screaming as metal screamed louder. The world tilted. Glass shattered. Gravity vanished.

Then everything slammed down at once.

The car crashed into a ditch, the impact throwing Emily forward as the airbag exploded in her face. The sound was deafening. Crushing. Final…