Not a chance. Just car after car.
I swerved back into my own lane.
Crap, crap, crap!
“I’m taking care of this.” His voice was way too matter-of-fact.
“Jack, don’t do something dumb.”
“I never act precipitously.”
I swerved out again, shoulders hunkered down. “I got this. I’m going to shoot the gap here.” I gestured to a small break in traffic. I could do this.
“Do what you have to, but I can’t be hurt. You, however, can. I’m leaving now. Pull onto a side street when you feel you are no longer in danger and I’ll find you.” A pause. Another pinging bullet. “Be careful.”
I met his eyes in the rearview mirror. “You too.”
He grinned. Of course.
Men.
I punched my accelerator, moving into oncoming traffic.
Jack launched himself out the back window.
And onto the hood of the car behind me.
Jack
The startled terror in the murderous driver’s eyes was priceless.
It had to have looked like something out of a horror movie. A shadowy form suddenly flying out of the boot of the car in front of him and landing on his hood.
I glanced behind me just in time to see Chiara fly between an oncoming car and the front of the lorry. I breathed a sigh of relief. For now, she was out of range of these ruffians’ bullets.
And ruffians they were. I stared them down through the windshield, noting their guns, leather jackets and oozing macho attitude.
These guys were professionals.
Though, judging from how the car was swaying back and forth, not to mention their panicked looks,professionalmight have been a bit of a stretch.
I still didn’t quite understand how my physicality worked. But basically, if I thought myself as beingonsomething, I stayed on it. Floors, chairs, tables, beds . . . and, as it turned out, the hoods of fast moving cars.
Beyond that, the general laws of gravity just did not apply to me.
So when the driver lurched the car from side-to-side in an attempt to dislodge me, I grinned at him and pushed half of my body into the hood, just to freak him out. Being a ghost did have a few benefits.
It worked. The passenger fired off more bullets, all of which passed harmlessly through my face and embedded themselves in the back of the lorry. I may have laughed and taunted them, motioning with my hands for them to come get me.
The men yelled at each other, each gesturing wildly.
This was surprisingly more fun than I had anticipated.
I puffed myself up and lunged forward, moving straight for the driver’s head. Predictably, he screamed and swerved, sending us all off the road.
The car flew down a short embankment before colliding with a stone wall. The airbags deployed but the driver’s head still hit the windshield, knocking the man unconscious.
The passenger fared better, but the car was wedged against the wall, pinning that side of the car shut. The passenger with his gun was trapped for now.
