We drove along in silence for a time, our four hangers-on loyally following. The freeway decreased from four lanes to two, but that merely forced Arnaud’s goons to slide in behind one another. The mountains closed in around us, snow clinging to the branches of the evergreen trees. What the plows had piled up along the shoulders hadn’t melted by much.
“Okay, we’re almost at the turnoff,” I said. “Take the exit and drive as fast as you dare.”
“What have you got in mind?” Magnus asked with a sharp glance at me.
“You’ll know.”
“Ay-yi-yi.”
He made the right turn at the signs to the ski resort high in the mountains. Naturally, our pursuers tagged along, one after the other. As I’d hoped, the narrow blacktop road twisted and turned around the side of the mountain. The higher we went, the steeper the drop to my right grew.
I looked ahead, searching for the right spot.There. Right fucking there.“Don’t stop, no matter what.”
“Jade, what the fuck are you doing?”
“You’re driving, so I’m gonna get rid of them.”
“Oh my God, you’re gonna do something really drastic, aren’t you?”
“Drastic is my middle name.”
I cracked the door open, bringing in a wash of icy air and setting off the Jeep’s open door alarm.
“Jade, don’t!”
I ignored him. The Jeep swung around a sharp curve, perilously close to the edge of a very steep drop off. I pushed the door open, my hair whipping into my face, my eyes, and braced my feet against the door’s edge.
I jumped.
The centrifugal force of leaving the speeding car sent me sailing well over the rocky edge. Spiked branches of dead trees, as well as needle covered live ones pointed up, ready to spear me. Still, I timed it perfectly.
Shifting, I flared my wings, turning my freefall into a soar. Banking around, treetops brushing my belly, I flamed.
The lead pickup tried to swerve away from my deadly fires, crossed into the other lane and slammed into the mountain. I dipped my right wing to fly past, then dropped into the valley again. While I’d stopped one, I still had three more to contend with.
And the occupants could also fly.
Work fast, girl. You don’t have much time.
I didn’t know if one of the passengers or drivers would try such a stunt. Hoping they’d feel the need to stop, get out, shift, and thusly taking extra time, I banked upward, flaming, my front talons out and ready.
I struck a black SUV with both flames and talons, seized it within my grip, and turned toward the prickly valley below. Though heavy, the vehicle came with me. I heard the panickedscreams of the occupants, burning within the flaming Chevy, as I let the thing drop.
Without time to watch it crash and burn, I banked around to come at the last two from behind. The rear sedan was far easier to set on fire and toss into the canyon, the resulting explosion a dim noise I paid little attention to.
A thug from the second SUV had climbed up through the sunroof, and crouched on top, swaying with the road’s twists and turns. He bared his teeth at me, then leaped into the air. As I did, he shifted mid-jump, and came at me, flaming.
Let’s dance.
My jaws wide, my talons ready to slash and tear, I met him head on. Of course, he went straight for my throat, his wings wide, perhaps hoping to pin me on the ground and rip me apart.
I dissuaded him of that notion.
At the final second before impact, I somersaulted over him, and seized his horns in both talons. My weight did the rest.
His neck snapped backward, his body flipping in midair. I let him go when he stared up at the sky, four legs up and wings down, and spun around him. He fell, unable to right himself at such a low altitude, and crashed onto his back in the middle of the road.
I should finish him off.
