The Sixth Seal

The silver BMW rocketed out of the parking garage, crashing through a fiberglass crossing arm. A shower of tiny fragments rained down on the hood and windshield. The engine growled eagerly as Lee laid on the accelerator. Ana shielded her eyes as they transitioned from the dim garage into the bright afternoon daylight.

“Better put on your seatbelt.” Lee gave her a sideways look.

She nodded and fumbled with the buckle. “Do you think they’ll follow us?”

“After the shit they just pulled in the airport, I have no doubt we’re in for a rough ride.” He glanced in the rearview mirror. “Keep the gun handy.”

“Do you see any of them?” She scanned the outdoor lots as they whizzed past.

“Not yet, but they’ll be on us shortly.”

“Why are they in such a big hurry? Wouldn’t it be easier to track me to the book, then grab us?”

“I don’t think it’s the book they’re after anymore.”

“What do you mean? Why wouldn’t they want the book?”

“I think they already have it.”

She gave him a quizzical look. “And what makes you think that?”

“Like you said, it would be easier to just track you to the book. Their brazen actions tell me that they already have it, and now all they need is you to unlock it.”

He slowed the car as they approached an intersection. He turned to the right and brought it back up to speed, veering left onto the entrance ramp to the highway that connected the airport to Frankfurt proper.

“Just me? I thought they need all of the protectors to open the seals.”

“They do. Which leads me to another unsettling conclusion.” He tapped his fingers on the wheel and merged into traffic.

“Which is?”

He chewed on his lower lip for a moment before speaking. “Remember how I said I was having trouble locating any of the other protectors?”

She nodded.

“I think the Horsemen have all of the protectors too. Besides you anyway.”

“How can that possibly be?”

“I don’t know, but it’s the only explanation for their aggressive action here.”

He guided the BMW to the far-left lane. The road rose up out of the dense forest that surrounded the airport. Soon they were racing on a thread of pavement between the treetops.

“What are we going to do now?”

“I’m not sure. I need some time to think and come up with a new plan of attack. I hadn’t anticipated this development.”

“We must get the book back from them. At any cost.”

He placed a hand on her knee. “Don’t worry. I have a safe house in Berlin. We’ll go there and assess our options. I might be able to call on some old friends who can help us with the agents of the Horsemen.”

She put her hand on his, feeling the connection between them. He looked at her as though he was going to say something else. Then his eyes went wide.

She turned back to the window just in time to see a large, black sedan come even with their car. The windows were dark, but she had no doubt who was inside. More agents.

He pressed down on the accelerator again and they briefly pulled away from their pursuers.

“Shit! There’s another car behind us.”

She twisted around and looked out the back window. Another black sedan, a Mercedes, lunged toward them. Something stirred deep inside her. It wasn’t fear or nervousness. It was unbridled anger. The same anger she had felt in the parking garage when she stepped on that man’s throat. It consumed her and a part of her welcomed it, gave into it.

“Hit your brakes!”

Lee looked at her in disbelief.

“Do it!”

The tires squealed under the intense pressure, and she braced herself as the car reacted to the sudden change in momentum. The Mercedes behind them swerved to the right to avoid rear-ending them, but it over-corrected and grazed the concrete barrier wall sending up a plume of sparks. The car that had been beside them was now in front of them. She rolled down her window and fired at the black Mercedes. The rear passenger window exploded. The man sitting in the back seat slumped over.

Lee wasted no time. “Hang on!”

He gunned the BMW once more. The car pressed down on the roadway and sprang into action. Lee guided it over the center median into oncoming traffic. Cars swerved wildly out of the way, slamming into each other and the opposite concrete barrier. A twisted symphony of blaring horns fought for dominance over angry tires and the harsh contact of metal on pavement. When they passed the two black sedans, now side by side in the middle of the road, he whipped the BMW back across the median.

She threw her thumb back over her shoulder. “They’re coming for us again.”

“I know. We need to get over the river and into the city. I think I can lose them there. Then we can find a new car.”

“How much ammo do you have for this thing?”

He pointed to the glovebox. “Should be a few more clips in there.”

She nodded, then looked in the side mirror. Both black sedans loomed larger. He was right, she thought. The BMW stood a better chance of losing their pursuers in the city, where the narrow streets and tight corners would play to its strengths.

He kept his hands low on the wheel, making short, rapid movements, weaving the car in and out of traffic. She was definitely glad he was driving. He seemed to be completely focused on the task at hand, never a wasted effort or motion. She was so mesmerized by his skill she nearly missed the car now flanking their rear fender. In fact, if it hadn’t been for a quick dart of his eyes, she might have missed it entirely.

They were going too fast now for her to turn around and shoot. Instead, she switched the gun to her left hand, aimed with the side mirror, and then squeezed off several rounds. She only managed to knock out a headlight, but it was enough to make the car slow and swerve.

A second later, she grabbed onto the door handle as Lee turned the wheel sharply. In the same instant, the engine made a low growl and the tires protested the sudden change in direction with violent screeching. The next few moments played out in slow motion. The BMW was almost completely sideways now across the roadway, and she noticed that one of the black sedans was coming straight for them. The other sedan was to the right and several car lengths behind it, but still coming on strong. She stared directly into the window of the first sedan. Her eyes locked on the driver and she flashed him a devilish smile. She wondered briefly what surprised them more, her smile, or the three shots she fired through the windshield.

As Lee expertly maneuvered the BMW off the highway, down an exit ramp, the bullet-ridden sedan pitched to the left, jumped the median, and careened over the concrete barrier into oblivion. The driver of the other car anticipated his move, and barreled after them down the ramp.

Lee flew through an intersection. Cars slammed on their brakes, leaving just enough of an opening for the black sedan to squeeze through.

He hit the brakes again and whipped the wheel in the opposite direction. The car skittered around the nearest corner, coming within inches of the curb. He quickly straightened the wheel and punched the gas, forcing the car down the narrow side street.

She glanced back out the window. “Damn, they’re still on us.”

He turned at the next intersection, barely letting off the gas.

She steadied herself and waited until they were on a straight trajectory before dropping the used clip out of her gun and replacing it with a new one.

“They still back there?”

“Yes.”

He nodded. “Okay. Hold on. This could get bumpy.”

He punched the brakes, cut across oncoming traffic, and funneled the car into an impossibly narrow alley.

She held her breath while a blur of brick rushed by her window. The tight space changed the pressure in the car, and her ears popped.

“Did they make the turn?”

She turned to look out the back window. The BMW was kicking up a whirlwind of dust and debris in its wake.

“I don’t think so.”

“Good. They’ll probably try to cut us off at the next intersection.”

Lee let off the gas a little. The wind coming through her open window whipped her hair across her face. When she finally pushed it away from her eyes, she had just enough time to brace herself as he hit the brakes and whipped the car down another alley. This one was even narrower. She screamed reflexively when her side mirror made contact with a stucco wall. It shattered and threw plastic and glass shrapnel into her lap and onto the floorboard.

A second later they hit a trashcan, launching it into the air. She heard it hit the ground behind them. She tried to get control of her breathing as they erupted out onto a city street, nearly plowing into a tiny red Fiat. The blaring of horns drowned out the driver’s curses. She watched Lee. None of it appeared to faze him. He merged in with the flow of traffic, signaled, and then turned right at the next intersection.

He looked in the rearview mirror, slowed the car, and settled back into the seat and loosened his grip on the wheel.

She turned to him. “Do you think we lost them?”

“I think so, but once they realize they went past us, they’ll double back.” He scanned the side streets as they drove by. “We need to find another car.”

“You mean steal one?”

He laughed. “Of course. Unless you have a better idea.”

Her reply was interrupted by gunfire. In an instant the black sedan was at Lee’s side, windows down, agents firing. She was pressed back in her seat when he punched the gas. Again, they were racing through the streets, weaving in and out of traffic. The Mercedes unable to maneuver the tight corners as quickly as the BMW, fell behind.

“We need to turn off this street while we still have the lead.” She pointed to a road that curved to their right.

When Lee shot past it, she looked back to him. “Why didn’t you take that street?”

He didn’t answer. He just kept looking ahead. She rechecked the back window. Their pursuers were gaining on them. At the next intersection she screamed at him and grabbed the wheel, turning the car sharply to the right. He struggled to keep the BMW from hitting the tree-lined center median.

“Keep going, Lee.” She watched out the back window as the black sedan shot through the intersection. “They missed the turn, but they’ll be back.” She turned back to him. “Take another side street.”

He nodded. He coughed and winced as he slowed the car and steered into an alley. He parked halfway down and turned off the engine, his hands dropped from the wheel into his lap.

She opened her door and climbed out. “Come on, we’ve got to go. What’s wrong?”

He coughed again, and for the first time she noticed the blood at the corner of his mouth. Then her eyes moved to the dark spot forming on his shirt, near his side.

“Oh my god! You’ve been shot.” She climbed back into her seat and pressed her hand firmly against the wound, feeling the warm blood pooling beneath her fingers.

He put his hand up to her cheek and looked into her eyes. “I’ve failed you again, my love.” His words were raspy and wet, his breathing labored.

“Don’t say that. You rescued me. You believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself.”

She brought his hand to her lips and kissed it gently. He managed a gentle smile.

“Go to Berlin. There’s an address in the glovebox.”

Warm tears streamed down her face, blurring her vision. “Don’t leave me. I love you. I can’t do this without you.”

He coughed again, dotting her cheek with tiny droplets of blood. “Take the eye...” He sputtered and gasped.

She looked into his eyes. “Take what?”

“The eye of Jupiter.”

She watched the light behind his eyes go dark. She was alone again.