“But you shouldn’t feel uneasy about that. God’s got it. He’s got you.”

Her impassioned words struck a chord with him. Maybe he had been too boneheaded about his relationship with God. Thinking that he could just muddle through. Hearing what she’d been through and seeing how she handled herself made him rethink things.

Movement behind them caught his eye. A car was quickly gaining on them. “They’re back. Another vehicle.”

“This makes no sense. How could that be possible?” she asked.

A thought occurred to him. “I checked the inside of my vehicle for surveillance equipment, but I didn’t check externally for a GPS tracker.”

“That has to be it. Which means we’re like a homing beacon. We’ve got to get to a Metro station, dump the car, and move.”

Once again her quick thinking was coming in handy. He’d have come up with something, but her plan was better. “If they get too close, fire a warning shot. If they’re just surveillance, they’ll back off.”

“Roger that.”

“We’re in between Clarendon and the Virginia Square-GMU Station. We either circle back to Clarendon or go forward to GMU. Any preference?”

“Clarendon gives us more options. Circle back.” She rolled down her window, readying for anything. “ETA is probably ten minutes.” She looked behind them. “They’re gaining.”

“Take the shot if you need to, but wait until the last minute. We need to preserve ammunition.”

“I’ve got an extra clip.”

Of course she did.

“And, Hunter, my gut is that these guys are not from Langley. This has to be the cartel.”

“Got it.” Deep down he’d felt the same way, but hearing her say it was chilling. The Agency would only go so far at this point, given the early stage of the investigation against Layla. But the cartel was a completely different story. The men they hired didn’t care about human life. They had zero moral compass and thought nothing about killing in cold blood. And right now they were barreling down on them.

“They’re getting closer. Can you go any faster?”

“Yes.” He pushed his foot down on the accelerator. “Once we get off the highway, though, it’s going to be tough to keep up this speed. We need to shake them.”

“I’m a really good shot. I can probably take out a tire.”

“Okay, you just tell me when. I’ll slow down when you’re ready to get you closer.”

“Let’s go a little farther.” She turned to face the rear of the car, getting ready to lean out the window.