"I hate you!" I scream back, tears streaming down my face. "I hate you for this!"
"Use the hate!" he roars. "Hate keeps you warm!"
He fires again. The lead SUV takes a hit to the radiator. Steam erupts from its hood. It slows down, blocking the car behind it. "One down," Alaric pants. He pulls himself back inside and rolls up the window. He slumps against the door, the gun falling from his hand. The adrenaline dump is hitting him. He’s fading.
"Alaric?" I reach over and touch his leg. "Stay with me. Don't you dare close your eyes."
"I'm here," he whispers. His voice is barely audible. "Turn on... the scanner. The radio."
"Why?"
"I want to hear... who ordered the hit."
I fumble with the console. I find the scanner button. Alaric programmed it. Static fills the car.Krrrschhhhh.Then, voices. Distorted. Coded. But clear enough.
"Target One is damaged. Director Graves is hit. Repeat, Director is hit."
"What about the Asset?"A new voice cuts in. Deep. Synthetic.
"The Asset is driving. She’s hostile. She took down Operative 4."
"The girl killed him?"The deep voice sounds amused."Excellent. Her value just went up."
My stomach churns.The Asset.Her value.They are talking about me like a stock option. Like a racehorse.
"Bring her in,"the voice commands."Do not damage the merchandise. Aim for the driver. Put Graves in the ground. Secure the girl."
"Copy. Engaging."
Alaric lets out a dark, wet chuckle. "Did you hear that,petite?"
"They want me alive," I whisper.
"They want the product," he corrects. "But they underestimated the packaging. They don't know you have teeth." He coughs, blood bubbling past his lips. "Listen to me. There is a turnoff. Three miles. Old logging road. It’s unmarked."
"I see it on the GPS?"
"No GPS. Maps are for people who want to be found. You have to find it... by instinct. Look for the twin pines."
"Alaric, if we go off-road in this snow, we’ll get stuck."
"This car... doesn't get stuck," he slurs. "And if we stay on the highway... they have a roadblock waiting. I know their playbook. I wrote it."
His head drops to his chest. "Alaric!"
"Twin... pines..."
I look at the road. The snow is mesmerizing, hypnotic. The white lines are gone. Behind us, the second SUV has maneuvered around the disabled one. It is closing the gap. I see the grille in my mirror. It’s massive. A ramming bar. They are going to run us off the road.
Aim for the driver.They are going to kill Alaric and drag me out of the wreckage.
I see it. Ahead. On the left. Two massive pine trees, leaning toward each other like an archway. Between them, a wall of snow. If there is a road there, it hasn't been used in years. If Alaric is wrong... I’m driving us into a tree at ninety miles an hour.
The SUV behind bumps us.Thump.The impact jars my spine. They are trying to spin us.
I grit my teeth.Show me the monster.I don't brake. I accelerate. I yank the wheel hard to the left.
We leave the highway. We hit the snowbank. It explodes. A cloud of white blinds the windshield. For a second, we are airborne. I scream.
