“So today I learned an interesting fact from Johnny Boy, Spencer. Did you know AirDrop leaves no trace? Everything else, calls, GPS, emails, internet searches, can all be checked. Not AirDrop though. I could AirDrop you something and no one could ever prove it.”

A phone pinged. The car moved as McGrath extracted his phone from his pants. “OK, Spencer, we’re gonna have ourselves a little fun. The AirDrop in Denny’s phone’s on. We want to see if you can follow him close enough for Eddie to pick up the signal without Denny seeing you.”

Spencer thought for a moment about what he had going on in his life. About the six hours of technical or tactical or however you wanted to call it driving he’d already done that day.

“Are you serious?”

“Yep,” said Johnny Boy. “And give it your best shot. Dom and I’ve got money riding on you.”

As they waited in silence, Spencer’s mind churned. Why were they testing him?

Suddenly the barrier swung up and Denny turned right onto Noble.

Spencer pulled away. He left his headlights off for the time being and kept his distance from the truck as he got a feel for Denny’s driving. Denny was certainly being cautious. But a random stop or U-turn didn’t really work on a tail that was keeping far enough back. They headed northwest.

By the time they crossed Chicago Boulevard by the sprawling Gothic Revival that was Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Spencer was ready to move in. He worked gears and lights fluidly, switching off his lights on dark, empty streets, switching them on again to mingle with traffic in busier, lit streets. A necromancer of the roads, working dark driving magic.

When the moment was right, Spencer would go really close, so close that the Subaru and truck moved as one: a strange articulated vehicle, its front portion bred for load carrying, its rear for performance. Spencer would always favor the nearside of the truck, to lessen the chance of Denny noticing the glint of lights on the Subaru’s body, except when they were making a right, in which case Spencer would move to the offside.

It was classy, subtle work and, with a self-satisfied smirk, Johnny Boy watched McGrath watching Spencer. Eddie watched his phone, but every time it seemed they were as close as it was possible to be without risking a collision, Eddie would shake his head.

“You sure you’re not getting it, Eddie? We’re almost committing sodomy on the guy,” said Johnny Boy.

“Nope.”

“You sure your AirDrop works?” asked Spencer.

“New phone, works fine.” As usual, Eddie was difficult to read. But then, out of the corner of his eye, Spencer saw him give the quickest of looks back at Johnny Boy. Told you so.

Spencer fell back into traffic.

Fuck you, Eddie. Think of something else to do. This is what I do. I drive.