Point of Control by L.J. Sellers Page A

just a scrape.”
    “Good. I’m going after them.” She took off running.
    His father was suddenly there, a gun in his hand. “Everyone okay?”
    Without bothering to answer, Garrett bolted down the sidewalk after Bailey, ignoring the pain and his distrust of the prosthesis. If she was going after the people who’d taken his mother, so was he. Her car had to be near the corner, as he’d expected.
    Garrett caught up as she reached it. As she hopped into the driver’s seat, he charged toward the passenger door and climbed in just as she started the engine.
    “No!” she yelled, without looking at him. “Get out.”
    Garrett didn’t budge. “Let’s go! They’re getting away.”
    “Oh hell.” She slammed the car into gear and gunned it into the street. “Did you see where they went?”
    “No, but the only way out of this neighborhood headed this way is Queen Anne to Highland or Mercer.”
    “Left or right?” she shouted.
    “Right at the corner, then right again in two blocks.” He barely recognized his own voice, so he pulled air into his lungs, trying to calm his pounding heart. “We have to get them alive. If they die, we’ll never find my mother.”
    “I know that, but the Seattle police don’t. I’m sure someone in the neighborhood reported the gunfire.”
    Bailey still sounded calm, as if unaffected by her near-death experience, but Garrett’s mind was spinning, and his heart felt like it would burst through his chest. The thought of the cops chasing down these guys freaked him out. Cops operated in shoot-to-kill mode. God knew he wanted those bastards dead, but they might be the only link to his mother’s location.
    Garrett glanced over his shoulder, expecting to see his father’s car behind them. But no headlights appeared. They were already racing through the neighborhood at a speed that terrified him, but he clenched his jaw and held on to the oh-shit bar. They had to get to the kidnappers before the police did.

    Bailey loved the thrill of the physical chase! Lacking normal fear, she craved high-intensity situations, but rarely experienced them anymore. Adrenaline shot through her veins, making her body hum with pleasure. The young man in the car also excited her. She hated to admit it, but by following her and shouting for help, he might have saved her life. Knowing that only drew her to him more strongly. She would have expected the opposite effect. Intellectually, she understood the concept of gratitude—just as she understood empathy and regret—but she didn’t usually experience those emotions unless she focused and made herself feel them. Most of the time, there was no payoff, and her mind quickly turned to something else. But she was feeling something intense toward Garrett now.
    She careened the car around the corner, tires squealing. Taillights appeared at an intersection in the distance. Yes! She had the shooters in sight.
    “There they are!” Garrett shouted.
    The SUV continued through the intersection and stayed in sight. Bailey floored it and raced after them, shooting past quiet homes on the dark street. The two men were obviously amateurs. If her gun had worked properly, the tall shooter would be dead, and the one who attacked her would be in custody, telling her where to find Dana Thorpe. Logic told her they were both hired hands. The mastermind behind the kidnapping-for-research scheme was some tech CEO who was unlikely to get his hands dirty unless he was pushed into a corner. But she was about to push him there. Even sooner than she’d expected. Don’t let your ego get in your way. Her father’s voice echoed in her head. He’d coached her from an early age about how to handle herself and not let her peculiar mind land her in jail or the morgue.
    The SUV hit the next intersection and turned left without stopping. Still riding the accelerator and pushing the car to its limit in a short stretch of residential road, Bailey let off the gas to make the corner but