Ultimate Nyssa Glass by H. Burke (ebook reader browser txt) 📗

his mother used to leave puzzles for his father to solve. This had to be something like that. What number would be significant enough to Ellis that he’d expect her to know it? His birthday? The day they met? No, that wasn’t whimsical enough for Ellis. He liked his puzzles but also his jokes and puns … and pie.

A smile blossomed on her face. “Of course.”

She turned the dial to 3.14, and the case snapped open like a clamshell. Something clattered to the ground. She flipped the on-switch, but only static crackled on the view-screen.

“You got it open?” Hart asked.

“Yeah, but it’s not working. I think a piece of it fell off. Hopefully I can fix it.” She dropped to her knees and felt the ground. Her fingers met with cold round metal. A washer? She brought it up for examination, and her heart stopped. A diamond glistened from the golden band between her fingertips. “Oh … Oh, Ellis.”

“What is it?” Hart asked.

Nyssa somehow couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. She stared at the ring, their date night playing over in her head, the speech he’d given about never wanting to let her go, how he’d wanted the evening to be perfect. A tear rolled down her cheek, and her shoulders shook.

“Nyss, are you all right?” Hart’s voice sharpened. “What’s wrong?”

Oh, why did things have to go so wrong? I should never have let myself get separated from him. What if I never see him again? What if he never finds out that I would’ve said yes?

“Please, tell me what’s going on,” Hart said. “You’re scaring me a little.”

She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and stood up. “I’m going to see him again,” she whispered to herself. “And I’m going to be his wife.” She slipped the ring on her finger, the metal cold and strange against her skin. It sparkled there for a moment, and Nyssa smiled. “I’m fine, Hart. Let’s get started.”

Chapter Twelve

Ellis tapped his fingers against the arm of his chair as he waited in his lawyer’s parlor. Clarence had put them up overnight, after O’Hara had insisted it was too late to rouse her captain. Now it was mid-morning, and she’d yet to emerge from her room.

Funny, yesterday all she wanted to do was call her captain, and now that I want to go talk to him, she’s dragging her feet like a sulky child. Something’s up.

He reached into his pocket and took out the handheld. It still only registered static, but the five mile range didn’t encompass all of New Taured. Even Dalhart Manor would be just out of reach of the signal. Maybe instead of the police station, I should get closer to the Manor. If I could pick up the signal on my own, I’d at least know I was looking in the right place. I’ll only get one shot at Rivera. Once he knows I’m alive and in New Taured, things get more complicated.

The clock struck ten. O’Hara clomped down the stairs, her red hair sticking out at all angles from under her hat. “All right, let’s go.”

Ellis raised his eyebrows. “Clarence was going to call his driver around when we were ready. I’ll tell him that we are.”

They left the house through a back entrance and got into the waiting steam car.

The elderly driver smiled at them. “It’ll be a quick drive this time of day. Not much traffic.”

He was right. As they took main roads on their trip towards the police station, they didn’t encounter many other vehicles, though there was steady foot traffic along the raised wooden sidewalks. The car rattled beneath them, the steam from the engine intermittently releasing a hissing whistle.

O’Hara sat stiffly beside Ellis, dabbing at her forehead with her sleeve from time to time. The pale woman always seemed to be red-faced and out of breath.

After a bit, Ellis pulled out his pocket watch. They’d only been on the road for fifteen minutes, but it felt twice that. I wish the old man would drive a little faster.

As if in response the driver slowed, then sped up, then took a right onto a side street, glancing over his shoulder as he did.

Ellis frowned. “Is something wrong?”

“I’m not sure.” The old man straightened his cap. “It’s just with so few vehicles on the road, it seems unlikely that the one behind us would be taking every turn we do.”

Ellis turned around. A shiny black steam car chugged along behind them. The sun glancing off the weirdly dark windows made it impossible to identify the driver, and it didn’t have registration plates.

O’Hara narrowed her eyes. “Who would be following us?

As they turned back onto a wider road lined with shops, the black car sped up. Soon it rode nearly bumper to bumper with them.

Ellis leaned towards their driver. “You think you can lose them?”

The old man hardened his expression. “I can try.”

Momentum pushed Ellis against his seat as the car accelerated.

O’Hara clutched the cushions. “Who do you think it is? No one knows you’re here, right?”

“I didn’t think they did.” Ellis thought over his steps since arriving in New Taured. He could’ve sworn he’d stayed hidden. Everything had been done under assumed names, and he’d gone straight from the zeppelin to Clarence’s. No one should’ve seen him.

With a roar, the pursuing car pulled alongside them, but rather than passing, it immediately slowed to match their pace. Ellis hazarded a look. The windows were obsidian glass, opaque. Expensive, too. Got to be Rivera.

The black car veered away from them, still side by side, but with more space between now, going well into the other lane. With a whir, its wheel spokes detached from the rubber tires, spinning like a motorized fan. They extended towards Ellis’s vehicle.

“Get over!” Ellis shouted at the driver.

“Huh? To where?”

The thwap of shredding rubber grated against Ellis’s ears. Their car swerved to the side of the road. O’Hara shrieked and gripped his arm. The driver yelped. The line of stores rushed