“Hold on!” Roman shouts as he revs his engine and speeds up as we hit a huge bump in the road. A scream tears out of me, and I wrap my arms around Roman’s chest. We have a few seconds of airtime before the wheels are back on the ground.
Bensen lets out a victory sound as his bike lands behind us.
I look over my shoulder and have a manic smile curling my lips as I watch the motorcycle on fire hit the jump, and his bike explodes. Metal and fire scatter across the road and fall into the lake. His comrade crashes into the wreckage and gets sent off his bike, colliding with a tree and making a grotesque sound.
A laugh I don’t recognize tears from my throat.
“Fucking Squirt for the kill!” Bensen cheers, and Roman’s chuckle comes over the radio, making me more confident.
“Good job, Squirt, but we’re not done yet.” Roman’s shared heads-up display zeros in on movement up ahead. It’s Taylor and Gale, and they’re still trying to shake one of the trucks.
A bullet whizzes past Bensen and he ducks, throwing his head back and firing off more shots behind us.
These guys are relentless. Two more file in from a fire trail ahead of us. Roman’s arm is up before I can even try to get a shot off. He shoots twice and nails them each in the center of their visors.
“Holy shit!” I can’t keep the awe from my tone. Who knew he had crazy accuracy like this. I’ve never even seen him fight.
Bensen laughs. “He’s a lieutenant for a reason, Squirt.” I don’t know how he can talk so casually and drive while evading bullets.
I swallow my adrenaline and focus on shooting our last pursuer. One of us hits his chest, and he loses control of his bike, driving himself straight off the cliff and into the rocks and water below.
“Hopper, we’re going to loop back to the front. I think I see them on the lake. Far right corner,” Roman says calmly as heslams on his brakes and firmly plants his boot on the ground to pull us into a one-eighty turn. He nearly does a spinout on the gravel, kicking up a ring of dust as we lunge back toward the front of the lake.
“Show-off.” Bensen sounds annoyed as he slowly turns around.
Roman laughs. “Keep up, Viper.”
I stare off into the lake where Roman said he spotted them, and I can just barely make out the form of a boat.
We blow past the wreckage from the Sub-Rosa men and enter the flat part of the road before it banks around the lip of the lake where the docks are.
I narrow my eyes at something in the dirt ahead, but we’re going too fast, and I realize what it is too late.
Roman sees it a moment too late too. He shouts as he banks to the left to evade the mine. “Viper, get off the road!”
Our motorcycle goes flying down the side of the cliff, toward the dark water below. Roman grabs on to me and kicks off his bike as hard as he can with me in his arms so we don’t get crushed by it. I cling to Roman tightly and hold in my scream, hoping Bensen hears his warning.
“Wait, where did you go?” Bensen shouts in the headset, and a half second later a huge explosion shakes the sky as we plunge into the water.
“Bensen!” I scream, panicking as I watch the bright fire curl above. But my fear quickly turns to the water that’s swallowing us whole. My helmet is filling up fast, and we’re sinking.
Roman pulls me up and wraps his arm around my chest as he swims until we’re back above water. It’s difficult to move my limbs with the clothes weighing me down. Fear pounds louder than my pulse does.
He quickly takes my helmet off, and I sputter in the cold air as it sinks into my lungs. The water is frigid and makes my jaw clatter.
“B-Bensen,” I stutter.
Roman’s eyes are struck with pain, but he shakes his head. “I don’t k-know, Briar. But we have t-to keep going.” He’s shivering too but drags me to the shore and props me up on a rock before pulling himself up.
My body curls into itself to try and warm up, but I straighten the moment I see a boat approaching us. “Roman!” I point out into the lake.
“Fuck, come on.” Roman urges me to get up, and I struggle to my feet. “You have to start climbing.” He helps me reach the first rock, but they are so spread out and slick. I try to get hold of the next one, but my hand slips.
A scream gets caught in my throat just as a hand extends down and clasps mine tightly. My head jerks back as my arm goes tight and my feet meet the rocks once more. My eyes widen.
“Oh my God, Bensen!” I cry, and tears are already streaming down my cheeks.
His helmet is broken, but other than that he seems fine. The second he pulls me up I throw my arms around his shoulders. “Thank God you’re okay!”
