Phantom’s two hundred plus pounds lands on top of me and we huddle on the ground until the blast of weapons stops and the shouts of men take over. It takes everything in me not to scream for him to get off me so I can breathe, but I also like not being hit by someone’s bullet.
Phantom hauls us both off the ground the second the bullets stop.
“Let’s move!”
I gulp air the second his weight is off my body.
Nausea churns in my belly at the stench of blood from the Vulture bodies littering the muddied snow. I’m a lot of bravado in a small package, but I can’t handle blood. Not so close up. Something cold sinks into my chest as realization takes hold. Myfather doesn’t care about the chaos his crimes bring about. As long as he walks away with power and money, let the blood flow.
He has to be stopped. No matter what.
I don’t really pay attention when Phantom releases me or how I get my feet to move, but move they do. I’ve never run so hard and fast in my life.
We do a major knees to chest sprint but the snow is only getting deeper or I’m getting shorter because I’m not making as much progress as Phantom.
He grabs my hand and hauls me in front of him.
“Move woman!”
“I’m trying!”
He hauls me over his shoulder and then we double time it up a mound that paints a bigger target on our asses.
And the bad guys take notice of the behemoth making a mad dash across open space. Bullets pelt the snow at our feet.
“Keep it moving, big guy! They’ve found us!”
“No shit!” He howls and puts as much distance between us and them as he can.
We crest the top of the mound and then skid down the other side toward the area. There’s one more mad dash needed to get us from here to where we all ditched our cars.
And it's all open space.
Phantom comes to an abrupt stop behind another pile of discarded crates and plants me on the ground. I edge around thecorner. I can just make out the bad guys and the dope crates in the distance. But I can't find Micah. Damn it. Where the hell did he go?
Phantom catches my chin and pulls my attention back on him. “Hey, pay attention. Whatever you do, we don’t stop moving from here”
He locks his eyes with mine as if making sure I read the promise in his dark eyes. And then Phantom grabs me, hauls me in front of him and we both don’t stop until we have a bullet-proof building between us and the gun-happy Vultures. The small building sits on the edge of the railway property and is the perfect place to find my heart again because I think it dropped out of my chest with how hard it’s beating.
I lean over and grasp my knees. Fuck me. I need more cardio in my weekly workouts. I gasp and cough as the frozen air hits my lungs with every harsh inhale.
Phantom regards my rickety breathing. “Sorry, but you can breathe later, Everly. Keep moving. I’ll cover you while you get to your car. I’ll catch up with you,” he tells me fiercely.
And I believe him.
I eye the distance we still have to go. It didn’t seem I had to walk that far when I got here, but then again I didn't have assholes shooting at me.
Phantom hauls me to him and the kiss he sears across my lips fortifies me again and pushes the second incoming panic attack out of mind.
I nod and half crab walk and half belly roll across the space between the train station and where I left my car parked. TheSavage SUVs nearly block me in, but I have a slim opening just large enough to squeeze my small two-door sedan through.
I palm my keys, crank the engine and pray the cold weather doesn’t lock the motor up.
The second the tin engine purrs, I punch the gas and fishtail my way back onto the main road. For the first time in my life I take curves like I was born with Evel Knievel's blood in my veins instead of a drug kingpin’s. I don’t stop until I’m fifteen miles away and outside an old family friend’s house. There are very few people who know I walked away from the family and even fewer friends who want to help take down my father.
Chloe is one of those special people.
I pull down a small dirt road that is half ice and half mud. The second I clear the tree line and the house comes into view, I slam on the brakes and kill the engine. I’m out of the car and inside before I can convince myself no one followed me back here. I shut the door and peer out the curtains but it’s only snowfall and darkness that stares back at me.
