Socially awkward, huh? Shadow figured Shakira's comment made sense, given the context. In a way, it was kind of adorable. If Callahan was really trying to flirt with her, maybe she could get a bonus out of this once he was debriefed.

"Oh, is that a manual transmission?" he asked as she started the engine.

"Yep."

"Don't see many of those around these days."

"Yeah. I think a few manufacturers still make them for people who prefer the stick." She waited for him to buckle his seatbelt, then she accelerated gently and shifted up to second gear. "I used to prefer automatics, but once I got used to the stick, it started growing on me."

He grinned suddenly and a few seconds later it sank in.

Oh. Right. Stick. Growing. Oops. She laughed softly, shifted up to third, and drove on in silence while waiting for the safe house's location. When the silence stretched out and turned awkward again, she turned the radio on.

"Oh, that's Cheap Trick," Callahan said. "'Reach Out,' right?"

Shadow glanced at the screen above the radio and nodded. "I was never a big fan of them, but I like that song."

"One of my grandfathers listens to all sorts of classics from the previous century and got me hooked on a lot of them. I grew up listening to stuff mostly from the 1980s because he and my parents are way into it."

"A lot of that music has a certain charm, definitely. You got a favorite?"

"Duran Duran, a bit of Gary Neumann, Bonnie Tyler, Pat Benatar, some of Bruce Springsteen's stuff." He laughed and his face took on a hint of red again. "One of my all-time favorites is the Neverending Story theme."

"Interesting. Don't think I've heard that one." She reached out to the screen, tapped the search icon, and returned her gaze to the street ahead while telling the stereo to find the song. It came up a split-second later and Shadow touched the play icon. She listened for a moment and smiled. "Catchy tune. I like it."

"Awesome." He flicked a sidelong glance at her, worked his mouth for a moment before he could say anything, and then he gave her another brilliant grin. "There's a diner not far from my house that has an '80s theme. They have a karaoke night every Wednesday. We should go on stage sometime." He blushed again and shrugged. "Just for the hell of it."

"That sounds like fun, actually."

"Cool. So, that'd be, like, a date, then?"

Huh. Sure, what the hell. "Yeah. It can be, I mean." She activated her comm implant and sent, [Still waiting for the safe house location, guys.] To Callahan, she said, "When you said you didn't have any experience with bioengineered people … well, you've been acting like you're okay with me not being human, but I've run into a lot of humans who are still freaked-out by us."

"Nah, I'm okay with it. I mean, it was a surprise at first. I didn't know Darius knew any. But we're getting along nicely." He winced. "Um, aside from that rough start at the picnic table."

"Aw, don't worry about that. Just a misunderstanding. You're doing fine." She realized she still hadn't gotten a reply from Machiko or the others. She pinged their comm implants and got nothing back. Huh. She slowed as they approached a red light and tapped the icon for the phone app on the console screen.

A no-signal error appeared. Frowning, Shadow pulled her phone out. No signal there, either. She tossed Callahan a sidelong glance.

"Is your phone working?"

He raised an eyebrow, dug his phone out, and checked it. "No." He glanced around. "I've been in this area lots of times. The reception's always perfect. Both of our phones couldn't have been turned off at the same time."

"Yeah, that can't be a coincidence. My boss was gonna send me the location of a safe house, but I haven't heard from her." Shadow glanced at the radio. It's still playing music, but maybe that's only because the next few songs were already buffered. "I think someone's using a jammer."

"Wait -- safe house?" He stared at her.

"Yeah. That's where I'm taking you. Or, would be if I had the address."

He kept staring at her and she frowned back at him.

Why did he just look at me like he thinks I'm a serial killer? She looked into the rearview mirror and spotted a black SUV four car-lengths behind them. Ugh. Why do those assholes always use the exact same vehicle?

Callahan seemed to notice her staring into the mirror. He turned to glance out the rear window.

"Easy, there. Keep your head out of sight." The traffic light turned green and Shadow accelerated at a casual pace, just keeping up with the other traffic, not wanting to tip the potential pursuers off that they'd been made. She took in the street ahead, noticed an alley coming up, turned down it suddenly, hit the breaks, then moved forward again, then flipped on her turn signal, hoping she looked like an idiot rather than someone who was trying to lose a tail.

Callahan braced a hand on the dashboard and threw a wide-eyed glance at her. "What are you doing?"

"Just seeing if we're being followed. If we are, the last thing we want to do is get into a high-speed chase with all these bystanders around. I should be able to lose 'em if I keep driving like a dumbshit until they make a mistake." She glanced into the mirror and found the SUV darting into the alley and staying behind her. "Yep, looks like at least one vehicle is tailing us."

"Oh, hell," Callahan moaned softly. "What have you gotten me into?"

″Me?" She shook her head. You're the one who wanted to … oh, never mind. She followed the alley until it intersected with another street and made a right turn. A glance into the mirror showed her that the SUV was still behind her. At least she was approaching a residential area, so there wasn't as much traffic as before. On the other hand, that meant fewer witnesses if they started shooting.

She came to a stop sign, signaled for a right turn, and turned left instead. The SUV started to turn right, then lurched to the left and kept following her. She slowed, whipped the car into a sudden U-turn, and caught a glimpse of the SUV's driver in the corner of her eye gaping at her. She did her best to put on a confused expression and hoped he'd think she was just discombobulated in an unfamiliar neighborhood.

In the side mirror, the SUV hung a U and kept following. Shadow sighed.

Jesus Christ. Really?

Callahan flicked another utterly confused glance at her and mumbled, "What the hell is going on?"

How can he not know …? In the mirror, three more SUVs joined the first and lined up behind her. Oh, come on!