The bike skidded onto the road, and the next second, the driver’s door of our hire car flew open. There was a sickening crunch, followed by a screech of metal and tyres. The bike went in one direction, and the rider went in another, somersaulting through the air before landing in a crumpled heap on the wet tarmac.
Nova was right there, diving out of the open door like something out of a fucking action movie, her knife glinting in the light that came from the SUV’s interior. She didn’t even hesitate, slamming the knife straight into his arm. I noted with grim satisfaction that it was the same guy I’d stabbed, and this time, it was his left arm.
“Where are the others?” Her hand shook as she tugged the knife from the man’s arm and wiped off the blade on the back of his jacket. “I can’t believe I just did that. How does my brother manage it so easily?”
“Need…first…aid…Dan,” I gasped out, ripping off my mask so I could breathe more easily. My lungs were burning from my sprint down the towpath, and I leaned down, pressing my palms to my aching thighs as I gulped in the fresh air until the burn receded. “Dan’s been injured.”
“Fuck,” she swore. “In the passenger footwell.”
“You—” A groan from the man cut off my words, and I drew my foot back, booting him in the side as hard as I could. “We need to secure him.”
“Tie him up and put him in the boot, and we’ll drive down the towpath. It’ll be quicker than running.” Despite her clear nerves, Nova’s voice was calm and assured, and my breath caught in my throat as I stared at her. Fucking hell, I loved this woman.
“You’re amazing,” I murmured as she rummaged in theboot, reappearing with a set of cable ties. Reaching out, I grabbed her hand, rubbing my thumb across her knuckles. “I’m so fucking proud of you.”
She exhaled shakily. “I didn’t know what to do. I just hoped… Well, it worked, anyway. So now we need to make sure he can’t get away if he wakes up properly. Do you know how to do this part?”
I snorted. “Believe it or not, it’s my first time kidnapping someone.” Pressing a quick kiss to her knuckles, I took the cable ties and secured the man’s arms and legs as best I could before hefting him into the boot. He was a dead weight, but not actually dead—fortunately, because if Dan was seriously injured… Let’s just say I now understood the appeal of torture. I left his helmet on for now, not wanting to waste any more time. We needed to get back to the ship graveyard.
Ignoring the warning signs, Nova drove us down the towpath towards the clearing while I sorted through the first aid supplies, gathering up all the equipment I thought we might need. At the very least, Dan had an injury to the head. I knew that shallow cuts on the head could bleed profusely, so I was hoping with everything I had that it was something that could be easily treated. That he wasn’t?—
No. I wouldn’t allow myself to think of it.
When we reached the path that led to the clearing, Nova stopped the car, and we ran through the mud towards the tree. We found Ryker sitting against the trunk, sheltered from the worst of the rain, propping Dan up against his chest while he held a wad of material to his head. I recognised it as one of the spare bandanas he’d brought with him.
I dropped to the ground in front of them, scanning Dan’sface. His eyes were closed, his skin paler than I’d ever seen it, but he appeared to be breathing normally.
“Where are his injuries?” I asked Ryker as Novawrapped her fingers around her brother’s hand, carefully lifting it away from Dan’s head. She peeled back the bloodstained material, examining the wound beneath with a furrowed brow.
“Just my head. Fucker smashed me with a rock, managed to knock me out for a minute. He made me bleed.”
The sound of Daniel’s voice, even though it was shaky, was the best thing I’d ever heard.
“You’re definitely gonna have a bruise there. A big one. How you feeling, mate?” I said softly, ripping open a packet containing an antibacterial wipe. Nova uncapped the water bottle she’d grabbed from the car, and Ryker clasped Dan’s jaw, tilting his head to the side so she could pour water over his wound, cleaning the dirt away before I applied the antibacterial solution.
“I’m alright. Pissed off that all this happened and we didn’t even get any answers.”
“We know they were speaking Russian, which means they’re probably connected to the Volkovs.” Ryker’s face was grim, and I knew he was thinking about the shitstorm we were about to unleash. “I wish we had something more solid to bring to my dad, though.”
“Something more solid, like…a person we could question?” I said, grinning as I placed a sterile dressing over the wound.
“The fuck?” Ryker’s head shot up, he and Dan both staring at me. “You managed to catch up with the bikes?”
“No, but we do happen to have one of them trussed up in the boot, and you can thank Nova for that.”
Nova ducked her head, shrugging. “I didn’t do much. I was just in the right place at the right time.”
Ryker’s brows lifted, his lips kicking up. “Nah, that wasn’t how it happened, was it?”
“It was. I saw the first bike coming, and I noticed there were two people on it. They rode right past the car. I knew something must’ve happened, and I was worried about you guys, so I got into the driver’s seat in case we needed to make a quick getaway or something. Then I saw the other bike coming and Jay running after it, and I wanted to help.” She passed the water bottle to Dan before handing him a packet of painkillers. As he popped two of them from the pack, she continued. “It’s a bit of a blur, honestly. All I did was push the door open when he got close, and it knocked him off his bike.”
“You should’ve seen it.” My grin widened as I took in the impressed looks on both Ry’s and Dan’s faces. Yeah, my girl was fucking incredible. “The door flew open, the bike went skidding across the road, and the guy somersaulted through the air and knocked himself out when he landed. Nova came out of the car like an action hero, stabbing him right in the arm with no hesitation.”
“Fuck, yeah, Supernova!” Dan held up his palm, and she rolled her eyes but high-fived him.
“It was the same guy I stabbed—the one you managed to wrestle the gun from, Ry,” I said. “I guess we should probably check he’s not bleeding out or anything if we want him to be in a fit state to be questioned.”
“The gun. Fucking hell, yeah. We’re lucky only one of them had one. I don’t think they were expecting trouble.” Ryker rubbed his hand over his mouth. “Okay. Nova, you drive. Dan, you’re in the front. You’re on bed rest until Jay’s dad clears you to go back to uni. Me and Jay will sort thefucker out in the back while we drive. Stop at the first shop we come to and get Dan some ice for the swelling, but other than that, we go straight to the clinic. Everyone, masks or bandanas back on so he doesn’t identify us. We don’t want to reveal ourselves unless we have to. Not yet, at least. Got it?”
