Thunder was driving them through the forest like a madman, as though his enhanced speed extended to driving a vehicle.Despite their speed, the man was navigating with an expertise that could have gotten him a job as a racecar driver.
Ridge hadn't gotten much of a head start, a minute or two at the most, so Steel was tense, expecting to see the other vehicle at any second. He wasn't sure how things would play out. Dr. Gardner didn't seem like the kind of guy who would rather end his own life than be captured, he was too arrogant for that. But nor did he seem like the kind of man who would give up even if the facts were that he was outnumbered and outgunned.
Using Rose as a bargaining chip was the most likely scenario, because the scientist had surely figured out by now that Rose was working against him, that she’d teamed up with them. While Steel knew that Dr. Gardner considered he and his team nothing more than monsters, carefully created killing machines without consciences, he was starting to accept that he was so much more than that.
He was pretty sure, if it came down to it, he would let the doctor go to save Rose’s life.
More than that, he was pretty sure his team would agree with that decision because they all accepted that Rose was his.
Beside him, Blade suddenly stiffened, and Steel quickly followed. If the man had heard something, it wasn't good news.
Likewise, Dragon’s head went up, his nose sniffing as he obviously caught a whiff of something he wasn't pleased with.
“What?” he growled.
“Sounded like a car crash,” Blade replied, shooting him a worried glance.
“Smelled like it too,” Dragon added.
“Thunder—”
“Go faster, I know,” Thunder said, cutting him off and sending the car careening forward as it picked up more speed.
Less than two minutes later, he saw it.
The vehicle Ridge had thrown Rose into and taken off in was leaning precariously against a tree at the top of what he was sure as hell hoping wasn't a very steep decline.
Out of the vehicle before it even stopped moving, Steel rushed toward the other car. He had no idea if Ridge Gardner was armed, but even if he was, the man had to be injured, there was no way he was going to just open fire on them. Probably didn't even know how to shoot a gun, after all, Dr. Gardner designated all tasks he deemed beneath him to other people.
“Careful,” Lion warned as his team moved at his back. “We don’t know how unsteady the car’s position is.”
“One wrong move and we could send it down there,” Voodoo added, moving cautiously to the edge of the drop.
“How far?” Steel asked.
“Thirty feet give or take,” Voodoo replied.
The way the car was balanced would make getting a good grip on it difficult, but not impossible. All he had to do was find the best way to get a hold of it, and then he could lift it back up so it had all four wheels firmly on solid ground.
Before he could decide on the best spot to grab onto, a startled squawk came from inside the vehicle, and it swayed a little. The sound was distinctly feminine, but the windows of the car were tinted so dark that he couldn’t get a clear picture of what was happening inside.
At least he knew Rose was still in the vehicle and not lying dead at the bottom of the cliff.
“I only see one person in there,” Lion told him.
Another moan came from the vehicle, and it wobbled a little more. It had been stopped by a dead tree trunk that had fallen sideways, landing partially over the edge. Some of the tree’s roots were still buried in the ground, but he had no doubts that a dead tree could only hold up the weight of a car for a short time.
They had to get Rose out of that car, or that car pulled back away from the edge.
“Door’s partially open on this side,” Thunder called out, standing on the driver’s side of the car.
Moving so he could get the same line of sight, Steel got as close to the vehicle as he dared but was careful not to bump the car in any way. He had the strength to lift it and move it safely away from the cliff, but to do that, he needed a good hold, and until he could find one, he wasn't going to risk sending Rose over the edge.
“Little ladybug?” he called out. According to Lion, only one person was in there, and the voice he’d heard belonged to a woman, he was sure of it.
Maybe Rose had been trying to make a break for it when the car crashed, and that’s why the driver’s side door was open. Dr. Gardner had fled in a rush, so it made sense he hadn't buckled himself in. If the door had been open when the car crashed, he might have been thrown out of the vehicle.
While the doctor didn't deserve a quick death after everything he’d done to Rose, to him and his team, and to who knew how many other innocent men and women, Steel cared more about the man being dead than him suffering first.
