“I’m on my way, Ingram,” he said. “Are you armed?”
“Yes. Affirmative,” I corrected. “But there’re civilians everywhere.”
I heard doors opening and closing way faster than humans could do it. Over the earbuds, I heard nothing after that, no feetrunning, but FireWind moved silent as the wind, so I didn’t really expect to. “Ingram, can you see the driver?” he asked.
“Negative. Haven’t been able to see the license plate either.”
“Jones?”
“Negative. Not yet.” The sound of tapping was rapid-fire over the comms.
At the next crossing I said, “The Chevy isn’t there. Oh. Wait. I think it’s in front of me, stopped at the light.” The light changed green. “I think—” I remembered my earlier thought.Drive-by...
I was in danger. Not passive hazard like on the case, but beingchased. As I had been all my life. I was under attack. Instinctively, I knew there was no greenery anywhere, no bare earth for me to stand my ground. My heart sped. Something stirred deep inside me.Soulwood...
My magic was rising. My leaves sprouted. Rustled.
“I have you on camera,” JoJo said.
“I see you ahead,” FireWind said, his words without strain, his breathing even.
“There’s a coffee shop half a block to your right, Ingram. It has a back door,” Jo said. “See it?”
“Yes.”
Ahead of me, the blue truck revved its engine. Sped forward.
There were people on the streets. I had a weapon, but if the driver shot at me, there could be collateral damage. A mother and childthere. An old ladythere.
No ground. No earth.
“Run!” FireWind commanded. “Get into the building.”
I dashed into a sprint and threw open the door of the coffee shop. Glanced back.
The truck turned sharply across traffic. Accelerating.
Heading directly at me. Fast.
It wasn’t trailing me for a drive-by. It was trying to ram me. I had nowhere else to go.
I screamed, “Car! Get back!”
Grabbed people at the table nearest the door. Shoved hard.
“Get back get back get back!” Racing. Jumping over the bar, sliding across it.
I dropped behind the bar, slamming into three baristas ahead of me. “Go!”
The truck crashed through the glass front. Engine roaring.
Glass panes shattered, shooting inward like rounded pellets and small slivered knives. Skimming across my arm, back, neck.
My blood splattered on the wall, a thin trace. Everything slowed. In an instant, my bloodlust rose. Soulwood reached out to me.Needflooded through my body as if a dam had broken, jaggedwanttearing through me like a flood.Hunger... Soulwood knew my blood had been spilled. It wanted to be fed with the blood of my enemies.
The truck hit the bar. Shattering wood, plastic, glass. Coffee exploded from bags everywhere. I shoved off the bar top. Dived along the narrow bar alley. The bar and the truck hit the back wall. Missed me by inches. Bottles of flavorings crashed down.
The truck came to a stop, the engine still racing, shoving at the debris and the narrow space where I had landed on top of the baristas. One was bleeding.
