Roz’s answer was to punch the gas harder, as Gage heard him cock the chamber of his Colt.
They took another wild left.
“I can’t get on the interstate. If a state trooper clocks me doing ninety, we’re done. You’ll be just as fucked if you get arrested again”
Gage opened his mouth, but before he could speak, his world jerked sideways.
Roz cursed and stomped the brake. The car skidded, tires screeching on snow and ice, before it came to a jarring stop.
“What’s happening?”
“There’s a black van at the end of the alley. It’s blockin’ us,” Roz snarled. “I can’t get around it.”
“Ram them outta’ the way.”
“It’s too damn big,” Roz muttered. “Hang on.”
Freezing air rushed into the car when Roz powered the window down.
Gage didn’t know what he was doing until the deafening sounds of him firing his Colt made him clap his hands over his sensitive ears.
Roz emptied the clip and cursed before Gage heard scraping and a click as he popped in another clip.
“They’re fuckin’ bouncing off,” Roz panted. “That fuckin’ van is bulletproof. Get the shotgun, G.”
Gage fumbled for it at his feet, until his fingers brushed over cold steel.
The van door slammed open.
Two sharp pops cut through the air, and both front tires on the Lincoln exploded with violent hisses, as it collapsed to the asphalt.
“Shit!” Roz yelled. “Get down!”
Muted gunfire tore through the dark, rounds hammering the ground in a tight, disciplined circle.
The marksmen were trapping them, not trying to kill them.
Gage flinched as his side window splintered and the headlights blew apart.
Warning shots.
“We gotta get out,” Roz shouted over the chaos. “Get to the back of the car. Go, go!”
Cold air flooded his lungs as he shoved his door open and dove to the ground. He trailed one hand along the body of the freezing door until he got to the blown-out rear tire.
A hand clamped around his wrist and yanked him the last few steps, pressing his back against the rear bumper.
“About fifty feet away, there’s a narrow walkway. I can shoot the lock on the building access door and—”
“Wait,” Gage said, ducking lower.
“There’s no time,” Roz said breathless. He shoved Gage’s hand into his coat pocket. “Hold on and stay glued to me.”
“No,” Gage hissed, digging his heels in. “It’s me they want.”
“I’m not leaving you!” Roz barked in his face. “If they want you, they gotta go through me.”
He punctuated that by firing his shotgun twice. The blasts were like bombs going off in his head.
