Extreme Measures by Rachel Carrington

"Naw, he would have had us get out of the car if he’d known it was stolen. I doubt mom and pops even reported it.”
    His nerves were live wires, dancing with electricity. Not even a snout full of coke had given him such a high before. “That was intense.” He shot his cellmate a grin.
    “For now, I’ll let you do all the shooting.” Arlin twisted his skinny neck around to see where the cop lay in his own blood. “’Course, it’s only a matter of time before more big, bad pigs come looking for him. Might be wise for us to lay low once we ditch the car.”
    Stuart’s joy evaporated just as quickly as it had appeared. “We’re too close to Erin. I’m not stopping.”
    “You killed a cop. There’ll be road blocks and helicopters buzzing around within the hour.” Arlin sounded cross.
    “That’s why we’re getting rid of this smooth piece of machinery. We’ll find something else, but I ain’t spending one more night without seeing my dear, sweet sister’s face.”
    "Well, I vote for an SUV this time. More room."
    "We're not going car-shopping. We'll take whatever we can get." The collar of his shirt growing tighter, Stuart flexed his hands around the steering wheel. “As soon as we can get it.”
    "Hope it comes equipped with a couple of hot chicks. Those gals at the bus stop were okay looking, but they screamed too much."
    Yeah, Stuart had hated that, too, but at least they'd willingly given up the secret part of town where deals could be made. A couple shots of heroin had perked him up quite nicely.
    Arlin snickered, drawing Stuart’s gaze. “What’s so funny?”
    “Just thinking ‘bout that cop’s face if he could have seen what’s in the trunk of this car.”
    Stuart joined in the laughter. “Well, we’ll be sure and leave those ladies for the boys in blue to find. Them guys like finding dead bodies. They should thank us for giving them so much job security.”
     
    "Got some bad news." Jacob didn't mince words. Matt liked that about him...ordinarily. After the last couple of days he’d had, he could have used a lead-in. "Turns out one of O’Malley’s former cellmates was a surgeon doing time for executing his wife. A couple other guys on the block were nurses. I talked to the warden, and he’s going to see what he can find out from those three.”
    “Perfect. A surgeon would recognize a serious physical problem.” Matt knew before his boss returned his call the answer was going to be yes. Stuart was taking a lot of risks and not just those an ordinary escapee would take. He was leaving dead bodies behind while most convicts on the run wanted to lay low. Stuart clearly didn’t care.
    “That’s not all. Three other inmates followed O'Malley’s track out of Attica. One's already been caught, but the other two are on the run."
    Matt gripped the phone and turned his head away from Erin's curious gaze. "How in the hell are we just finding this out now?”
    “The Marshalls knew about it, but all of our focus was on O’Malley. We only got the news about Erin’s brother because he’s flagged in our system.”
    It made sense, but it didn’t make Matt any happier. “Those other guys, what were they in for?"
    "One was two months into a nickel for armed robbery. The other's a lifer."
    Matt's pungent curse had Erin squeezing his hand, drawing his attention back to her face. He held up one hand to silence her questions. "Any tracks?"
    "No. These guys have gone the way of the dodo."
    "Any indication they might be traveling with O'Malley?"
    Erin had gone a shade paler, and he squeezed her hand in return to offer support. If Stuart was coming with back-up, he couldn’t risk the chance the men would split up. "Nothing concrete. What are you thinking?”
    “That Stuart might have planned more than just an escape from prison.”
    A steady tapping accompanied Jacob’s response. “He has had a few years to put something together. We just didn’t consider he’d involve more than himself in any