“They’re fifteen out,” Celia answers.
“Any other points of entry?” Ryker turns off the car and unbuckles his seatbelt.
“Affirmative,” Tatiana responds. “On the north side.”
Ryker nods. “I’ll head in that direction and get eyes on it. You stay here and wait for backup.”
My eyes narrow at him. “I know, I just know after everything we’ve been through, you didn’t try tolittle ladyme.”
“Everything you’ve been through?” Celia squeaks in the speakerphone.
“I’ll call you back,” I hang up.
Ryker holds up his hands. “That’s not what I meant.”
I glare.
“You’re injured. I don’t want you hurt more than you already are.”
I glare harder.
“Fine,” Ryker huffs out. “Do you want to hike over to the other side of the property and stop a runaway car if that’s what happens?”
I move to get out of our sedan and my shoulder, that traitorous bitch, decides to shoot teeth-clenching pain down my arm.
Motherfucker. I forgot to take some sometimes helpful, mostly ineffective, over-the-counter painkillers.
Ryker is suddenly in front of me. Damn that Native American Ninja.
“Kitten?”
“I’m fine,” I grind out. “Fine. Go gallivanting over to the other side of the forest. I’ll wait here, like a goodfemale.”
Ryker rolls his eyes then disappears into the trees.
Maybe he is channeling the Aztec gods for his stealth?
My phone buzzes.
Tatiana: If you two are done rolling in the hay, you’ve got incoming.
I hear the gunning of an engine and the thumping of the tires as a vehicle heads too fast down the lane in my direction. Our car is blocking the exit point, but it wouldn’t take much for a truck or off-road vehicle to drive around that. Which means I’m the last woman standing.
I run for the nearest tree and take a position behind it. I brace my weapon hand on a branch and aim toward the dirt road. I don’t know how much time I’ll have to stop our fugitive if that’s whom we have, but I’ll do my damn best.
A beat-up Ford pickup truck appears in a cloud of dust, hauling ass down the road. I can’t see who’s driving, but it doesn’t matter. If this is one of the places mentioned in a prison break, this jackass is a person of interest.
I squint and aim at the engine block when a dark figure pops up in the truck bed behind the driver. My mouth hangs open as I watch Ryker punch through the driver’s window and stab the man in the arm. The truck jerks to the opposite side of the road, running up on a boulder and flipping over.
I’m running toward the truck before I can stop myself.
“Ryker!”
I didn’t see him jump free, and my heart was in my throat. All I can think about is when Dakota Helfinger ran my car off the road, and I was trapped inside. It’s a miracle that Cam and I survived that.
I prayed to whatever deity was on call that day to keep Ryker safe.
As I neared the crash, I smelled gasoline. The rear wheels were spinning. I cautiously approached the driver’s side to find blood smears but no one inside. I stop to listen to the woods around me. I hear no nature sounds, and that sends ice down my spine.
