She eyed her rearview, the Bronco quickly filling it as they headed back toward the main road. The opposite of what she’d wanted. Not that she had time to worry as they neared the roadway.
Bodie’s grip tightened, his gaze shifting to her when she kept the speed up. “Rowan?”
She checked her mirror, again, edged right, praying she hadn’t set them up for an epic fail. Cars and trucks whizzed past, her skid marks from earlier glaring at her. She sucked in a breath, looked left, then gauged her entry, jostling onto the road between a sedan and pickup. The truck honked, hit the brakes as she slid into the space, following for all of fifty feet before reefing up on the parking brake — spinning into an opening going the other direction.
More horns, a few cars pulling over onto the shoulder as she took the exit ramp — headed for the intersection. Another Suburban followed her, kissed her bumper, jerking the vehicle ahead. She cursed, blew right through the stop sign and onto the road, following it down to the bridge.
Lights flashed at the entrance lanes, the two sides of the drawbridge ahead of them slowly closing. The old machinery clanked in the background, a high-pitched alarm sounding beyond the vehicle.
Bodie grunted, inching closer. “Rowan. I don’t think…”
She slalomed around the gate — some guy waving his arms, that Suburban hugging her bumper — and headed up the ramp before spinning the vehicle a full one-eighty as the other SUV tried to clip her bumper, again. The tires squealed, a puff of smoke billowing out around them as the Suburban screeched past, wheels locked, the slick surface carrying the weight the last several feet up the ramp. It hit the lip, the front tires falling over the edge as the vehicle rocked to a halt.
Rowan glanced over her shoulder as she shot back down the bridge, hopping the curb at the bottom and turning right as the Bronco caught up, tailing them along a narrow service road that snaked along the water. The surface shimmered up ahead, half-flooded from the recent rain.
She didn’t slow, clawed her way through the water as it sheeted over the windshield, obscuring everything for a few moments before they popped out the other side. The Bronco followed, hydroplaned across the road. The driver managed to regain control before colliding with a cement breaker, but she’d already turned left — started up a winding section to the top of the ridge.
They reached the summit and kept going, flying along the old road as it followed the shoreline, the ocean an angry gray mass on their right. The first wisps of fog threaded along the cliffside, gulls crying overhead.
Rowan glanced in her rearview, then over to Bodie. “Well?”
He sat sidesaddle in his seat, gaze focused out the back. “Nothing, yet.”
“I think this road will take us the rest of the way… damn.”
Headlights reflecting off her mirror. Bearing down on them in the middle of the lane. Some guy leaned out of the Bronco, rifle aimed their way. Dull thumps hit the back of her Tahoe, a spiderweb of lines cracking across her rear window.
She veered left, then right, trying to shake the guy loose, but the vehicle gained on them, the driver taking the turns way too fast.
Bodie motioned to her with his fingers. “Your service weapon.” He huffed when she looked over at him. “I’d just slip it free, but you’re a lefty, and I don’t want to lean in front of you in order to reach it.”
She shook her head, then grabbed her Sig. “Just don’t drop it out the window.”
“You’re funny.”
He cleared the chamber, cycled a round and leaned out, firing a couple shots into their grill. The Bronco swerved left, tires bouncing along the gravel shoulder as smoke poured out of the hood. A few more shots ricocheted off the quarter panel before she left the other SUV behind.
Bodie settled back in, her gun resting in his lap as he ran through the mirrors, still staring out the back. She slowed a bit as more fog rolled across the road, bouncing her lights back at her.
They reached the end, turned right and made a few loops through town, still checking for a tail before Bodie finally gave her the directions to his place. They passed the Raven’s Watch hangar, the chopper just landing as they drove past and continued to the end of the pier next to it.
A two-story building materialized out of the gray, what looked like a collection of shipping containers turned into a sleek combination of office and living space. Warm lights brightened the entrance, the interior nothing but dark windows spanning the sides.
Rowan stopped out front, glancing at the street for a few moments before shoving the shifter into park. “We still good?”
Bodie nodded. “Nothing for the last twenty minutes. We should park your Chevy in the garage, though, just to be safe. With this group’s resources, I wouldn’t be surprised if they had drones.”
He opened his door. “Wait here a second and I’ll open the garage.”
“Your leg.”
He snorted. “I think I can hobble a few feet.”
He limped to the front door, touched the keypad on the right, then disappeared inside. She waited, heart tapping, breath held until the far door rolled up, Bodie waving her over.
It only took a minute to tuck the Chevy inside and shut out the rest of the world, the door hitting the floor with a resolute thud.
Rowan jumped out, accepting her weapon as Bodie held it out before handing him the gym bag. “Thanks.”
