The small café near the company building was almost empty.

Ege and Ada sat side by side, with Miray opposite them. Napkins had been wrapped around a cold bottle that Ege held against his stomach. The swelling at the back of his head was becoming more pronounced by the minute.

Two fingers on Ada's right hand had turned red. Beneath the table she flexed them from time to time, testing their movement.

The glass of water before Miray remained untouched.

"His name is Sami," Ege said. "A smuggler we helped have arrested a few months ago."

Miray's gaze moved between them.

"Are you police officers?"

"No," Ada said.

"Then why are you helping to catch a criminal?"

Ege shifted the cold bottle to another tender place on his stomach.

"Civic responsibility."

Ada looked at her brother.

Ege sighed.

"It's a long story."

Miray leaned back in her chair.

"Three men just tried to kill us. We have time."

Ada placed her hand on the table.

"You first."

Miray frowned.

"Me what?"

"Why didn't you turn back?"

"I told you."

"You brought the phone. You heard a gunshot. Then you picked up a club and crept behind three armed men."

Miray was silent for a few seconds.

"I caught them off guard."

"That isn't an answer."

Ege cut in.

"Ada."

"Saving our lives means I can't question her?"

"At least thank her before you interrogate her."

Ada turned to Miray.

"Thank you. Now answer me."

Miray's eyes did not harden. On the contrary, a fleeting weariness passed over her face.

"If I hadn't helped, they would have fired."

"You risked your life for two strangers."

"Yes."

"Why?"

Miray parted her lips, but before she could answer, Ege's phone rang.

Rüzgâr's name glowed on the screen.

Ege answered.

"Father tore strips off us because of you. I hope it was worth it."

No answer came from the other end.

Only the growl of an engine and ragged breathing.

The smile vanished from Ege's face.

"Rüzgâr?"

"I'm all right."

His voice tried for calm, but his breath betrayed him.

Ege put the phone on the table and switched to speaker.

"Where are you?"

"Behind the industrial estate. Two cars have been on me for fifteen minutes."

Ada leant forward.

"Are you sure?"

"I've changed my route three times. Driven down the same street twice. They're still there."

Ege and Ada looked at one another.

"Sami," Ada said.

After a brief silence, Rüzgâr spoke.

"Sami is in prison."

"He escaped."

Only the rising pitch of the engine answered.

"They cornered us too," Ege said. "Three men."

"Are you hurt?"

"We're fine."

Ada glanced at the bottle pressed to Ege's stomach, but did not contradict him.

Rüzgâr's voice grew harder.

"Where did this come from?"

"We don't know," Ada said. "But someone must have helped him."

Rüzgâr checked the mirror behind him.

"That's what I'm thinking."

Ege stood.

"Send your location. Update it every five minutes."

"Do you have a plan?"

Ege picked up the phone.

"Not yet."

Ada rose as well.

"We will."

Rüzgâr's voice rose.

"That answer inspired no confidence at all."

"Trust us," Ege said.

"Last time you said that, we jumped off the municipality building."

"And survived."

"By chance."

"The method doesn't matter. The outcome does."

Ada slung her bag over her shoulder.

"Stay off the busy roads. Keep to the service lanes behind the industrial estate. Call when you get close to traffic."

"All right."

As Ege ended the call, Miray was watching them.

"You need to go," she said.

Ege turned to her.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

Miray's gaze shifted to Ada.

"I delivered the phone. I'll go back to work."

Ada studied her for several seconds.

"Tell no one what you saw today."

Mild surprise appeared on Miray's face.

"I'm not sure I know what I saw."

"Better that it stays that way."

Ege touched Ada's arm.

"Come on."

As he headed for the till, he turned to Miray.

"Thank you again."

Miray nodded.

After Ege and Ada left the café, Miray walked to the window.

She watched them hurry away along the street.

Then she took out her phone.

A map was already open on the screen.

It marked two known warehouses belonging to Sami, one house and an old workshop beyond the city.

Miray thought for several seconds, then left the café.

Rüzgâr had lost count of how many times he had checked the mirrors in the last ten minutes.

Each time, he found the same two cars.

A dark saloon was directly behind him. A white four-wheel drive followed several car lengths back in the right-hand lane. When Rüzgâr accelerated, they accelerated; when he slowed, they kept their distance. They no longer felt any need to hide the fact that they were following him.

Keeping his left hand on the wheel, he sent his location to Ege for the fourth time.

Message delivered.

No reply.

Ahead, two lanes stretched between rows of warehouses. Several hundred metres farther on, roadworks began and the left and right lanes narrowed into one. Once he reached them, there would be no room left to manoeuvre.

Rüzgâr looked in the rear-view mirror.

The saloon had drawn closer.

"Come on, then," he murmured. "You may as well sit on my bumper."

His phone rang.

Ege.

"We're close," Ege said, the hum of an engine behind his voice. "Stay in the left lane."

"I'm already in the left lane."

"Bring your speed down to forty."

"Have you forgotten the men behind me are trying to kill me?"

"I haven't."

"If I slow down, they'll catch me."

"That's what we need them to do."

Rüzgâr frowned.

"You're smiling as you say that, aren't you?"

Two short blasts of a horn sounded from his right.

Rüzgâr turned his head.

Ege's car was travelling beside him in the right lane at precisely the same speed. Ege was driving. Ada sat in the rear seat on the left, looking at him through the open window.

Ege put the phone on speaker.

"Can you see us?"

"No," Rüzgâr said. "I thought the car beside me was driving itself."

Ege's mouth curved.

"You can still make jokes. You must be fine."

"I'll be better once you get me out of this."

Ada leant forward.

"The lanes merge ahead. We have to abandon your car before we reach that point."

Rüzgâr looked at Ada, then at the left rear door of Ege's car.

Understanding dawned. His face hardened.

"No."

"We haven't even explained the plan," Ege said.

"You don't need to. It's written all over your face."

"We have no other choice."

"We do. I keep driving."

Ada looked in the mirror at the cars behind them.

"The man in the saloon has opened his window. He has a gun."

When Rüzgâr checked his mirror, he saw the man's right arm reaching out through the window.

"All right," he said. "What's the plan?"

Ege edged his car closer to Rüzgâr's. About a metre and a half remained between them.

"I'll hold our speed in the right lane," he said. "You move across from the driver's seat to the right."

"While the car is moving."

"Yes."

"Who holds the wheel?"

"You do, until the last moment."

Rüzgâr closed his eyes and took one second to breathe.

Ada continued:

"I'll open the rear door on the left. You'll come out of your front passenger door and climb into our back seat."

"Climb," Rüzgâr repeated. "As though I'm changing between two chairs."

"The road is straight," Ada said. "We'll slow to thirty-five. Ege will hold the gap."

Rüzgâr looked at the roadworks approaching ahead.

The flashing amber lamps were clear now.

"How long do we have?"

"About forty seconds."

"Wonderful."

The man in the saloon pushed his arm farther through the window.

Ada's voice sharpened.

"Get ready."

Ege slowly reduced his speed. Rüzgâr lifted his foot from the accelerator and matched him.

Forty-five.

Forty.

Thirty-five.

The saloon began to close the distance rapidly. The white four-wheel drive stayed in the right lane, drawing up behind Ege's car to seal off their escape.

Rüzgâr released his seat belt.

He twisted his body to move across the automatic gear lever towards the passenger side. His left hand remained on the wheel. As his right knee came onto the centre console, the car drifted slightly left.

He corrected the wheel.

"Closer," he said.

Ege moved a few centimetres nearer to Rüzgâr's right side.

Ada unfastened the left rear seat belt. With one hand she reached for the grip behind the front seat; with the other, she closed her fingers around the door handle.

"I'm opening it."

The rear door swung into the narrow space between the moving cars.

Ege held the car as steady as he could. His eyes did not leave the road, every minute turn of the wheel precise and controlled.

Rüzgâr unlocked the front passenger door.

At that moment, the gun fired.

The rear window shattered with a vicious crack.

Glass scattered across the back of Rüzgâr's neck and the seats. He ducked instinctively. His hand slipped on the wheel, and the car veered towards the line at the left edge of the lane.

"Rüzgâr!" Ada shouted.

Rüzgâr straightened the wheel.

"I'm fine!"

The second bullet struck the metal of the boot.

The saloon was only a few metres behind them now.

Ege held his speed.

"You have to do it now!"

Rüzgâr left the driver's seat completely. He put his right knee on the passenger seat while keeping his left hand on the wheel. His entire body was now on the right side of the car.

He opened the door.

The rush of air struck his face and narrowed his eyes. The tarmac racing beneath him made thirty-five kilometres an hour feel infinitely more terrifying than it was.

The open rear door of Ege's car was directly opposite.

Ada had stretched out an arm towards him.

"Get closer!" Rüzgâr shouted.

Ege turned the wheel left, millimetre by millimetre.

The distance between the cars fell below a metre.

Rüzgâr still had not taken his left hand from the wheel. He looked at the roadworks. Fewer than twenty seconds remained before the lanes merged.

The man in the saloon fired a third time.

The bullet destroyed the right wing mirror.

Rüzgâr flinched. The wheel twisted left in his hand, then he immediately recovered it.

"Ready?" Ada shouted.

"No!"

"Good. Jump!"

Rüzgâr looked in the mirror one final time.

The saloon was almost touching his bumper.

The white four-wheel drive was directly behind Ege's car.

Rüzgâr eased the wheel ever so slightly left, directing his car towards the plastic barriers along the outer edge of the lane. Then he lifted his foot from the accelerator entirely.

The car began to lose speed.

Rüzgâr let go of the wheel.

Bracing his right hand against the edge of his door and driving his left foot against the passenger seat, he hurled himself into the space between the cars.

His left hand found the frame of Ege's door.

His right caught the headrest.

But his foot missed the sill.

The lower half of his body remained outside. His right knee struck the lower edge of the door. For several seconds, the sole of his shoe scraped against the road.

Rüzgâr cried out in pain.

Ada caught his wrist with one hand and the shoulder of his jacket with the other.

"Don't let go!"

"I'm not!"

Rüzgâr fought to pull himself up with every shred of strength in his arms. Ada braced herself against the seat and hauled backwards.

Ege could not take his eyes from the road.

"Have you got him in?"

"Keep the car straight!"

Rüzgâr's hip struck the sill. His right shoulder jammed against the edge of the seat. Pain shot from his neck to his fingertips.

But more than half his body was inside now.

Ada gave one final pull on his jacket.

Rüzgâr lifted his feet from the road and rolled onto the back seat.

"He's in!" Ada shouted.

Ege turned the wheel right and pulled away from the abandoned car.

Ada dragged the door shut with all her strength.

The moment Rüzgâr's car was left without a driver, it began to lose speed. The wheel's slight left turn sent it drifting out of the lane.

First, it struck one of the plastic bollards surrounding the roadworks.

The bollard flew into the air.

Then the car's front-left corner scraped along a temporary metal barrier. The impact swung it to the right, leaving it crossways in the middle of the left lane.

The driver of the saloon immediately stamped on the brakes.

But he was too close.

The scream of the tyres lasted longer than the gunshots.

The saloon struck the rear-left corner of Rüzgâr's car. Both vehicles spun with the impact. The saloon ploughed into the barriers, its front end crumpling, while Rüzgâr's car turned half a circle and came to rest in the middle of the road.

The driver of the white four-wheel drive saw the collision at the last instant.

He braked hard.

The rear of the vehicle slid to the right. It missed the barriers, but the saloon and Rüzgâr's car, lying crossways, blocked the road completely.

Ege looked in the rear-view mirror.

Both pursuing vehicles had been left behind.

One was tangled in the crash.

The other could not pass.

Ege pressed the accelerator.

"It worked."

Rüzgâr lay sideways across the back seat, clutching his right shoulder. His breathing came in broken bursts.

Ada brushed shards of glass from his face.

"Is your shoulder dislocated?"

"I don't know."

"Move your arm."

Rüzgâr looked at Ada.

"Right now, I don't want to move any part of me."

Ege looked at him in the mirror.

"If you can talk, you're fine."

Rüzgâr rested his head against the seat.

"I'll be better once I've killed you."

A small smile touched Ege's lips.

"You'll have to join the queue."

Ada watched the crash through the rear window.

The men in the white four-wheel drive were beginning to climb out, but hundreds of metres now separated them.

"They may come after us again," she said.

Ege entered the narrowing lane ahead and accelerated.

"They'll have to get their car past the wreck first."

Rüzgâr closed his eyes.

Pain rose through his shoulder with every heartbeat. Yet as the sound of the engines fell away, his breathing gradually steadied.

Ege gave him one final glance in the mirror.

"Welcome aboard."

Without opening his eyes, Rüzgâr answered:

"If you ever make a plan like that again, I'll surrender to the people chasing me."