We’re nearly to the gate , me behind the wheel and Luke in the passenger seat, while Brooks and Beau are in the back, when Dom’s men come after us.
I hit the accelerator and skid out of the driveway, onto the main street, and then take full advantage of the long, straight road, pushing my car to show its full speed and beat the men behind us.I’m in a fast car, and we’re drawing away from them when the road suddenly turns and I’m forced to slow, spinning out around the corner and fighting to make the turn.Dom’s men catch up and start shooting, and Luke boosts himself out the window of the car with the rifle and begins shooting back.
“Why the fuck is someone always shooting at us when I’m in a car with you?”Brooks shouts from the back seat.
“Because people are always trying to kill you!”I shout back.
I jerk the wheel to turn left, and then right, and when I hit another straight road I gun it for the end, shooting around the slower traffic and praying that we don’t hit anyone.
“Where the fuck are we going?”Brooks continues.
“Do you have to ask so many questions right now?”I ask.“I’m trying to drive, here.”
I hear her mutter something about people who can’t talk and drive at the same time, but ignore that.She’s always thought she’s a better driver than anyone else, and there’s no talking her out of it.
“Is he still alive?”I ask, ignoring Luke, who’s still shooting at whoever’s chasing us.
“He is, but he’s bleeding a lot,” she mutters.“I need tools.A needle and some fishing wire, if you have it.”
“A needle and fishing wire?”I snap.“What do you think, I travel around with a full medical kit?”
“Well maybe you should!”she shouts.“I need to stitch him up!”
This surprises me so much that I almost steer us right off the road.“Youdo?”
She laughs a crazy, insane laugh.“What, like it’s hard?”
Hard or not, it’s not the sort of thing normal people know how to do, and I wonder suddenly where she learned how–and why.Who was she stitching up that she had to figure out how to do it?
And what else does she know that she hasn’t told me?
We get to a tricky part of the city then, though, and I put my focus into getting us out of there alive rather than questioning Brooks.By the time we’re through the twists and turns of the residential neighborhood, I’ve forgotten about Brooks and her ability to stitch people up.
My mind is firmly on our destination.
The men back there saw my face clear as day, so we can’t go back to my house.That’s the first place they’ll look, and everyone at the house will be better off if they lock things down right now.I have another location in mind–a safe house outside the city–but that’s not going to do us any good unless we get there, and a glance in the rearview mirror tells me that Dom’s men have somehow multiplied.There were three cars behind us before and now there are five, and that’s a problem.
Luke is going to run out of bullets soon, and my armory is in the trunk.
Which we don’t have access to.
Shit, this is all going to go to hell quickly if we don’t get away.They’re going to kill us if they can, and if they capture us instead, it’s going to be even worse.
I speed past a car that’s trying to turn, hoping no one hits the guy, and then hit the gas again, but I’m starting to wonder if I need a Plan B.Something that gets us out of this quicker.
I just don’t know what that Plan B might be.
Moments later, a wave of cars appear in front of us, driving toward us so fast that I nearly panic, thinking they’re more of Dom’s men.Then I realize the car in the lead–the one I was always so jealous of when I was a child–and nearly melt in relief.
My father.
My father has sent his second-in-command and some of his army to save us.
There are at least ten cars there, and they’ll all have guns in hand.Maybe rocket launchers.Maybe fucking canons, I don’t know.
My dad never does anything small.
But I don’t have time to think about that right now.
