He. Somebody specific had sent these men for me. Not the Banks family in general. Me.
I heard the driver’s door wrenched open. Heard Davis’s body shift. Heard one of the men curse and say “the driver’s done.”Then footsteps moving around the back of the truck to the passenger side, which was now the bottom, against the dirt.
The back passenger door above me opened. A face appeared in the gap, a man in a dark balaclava with eyes that weren’t looking at me with intent to harm. He was looking at me with intent to retrieve.
“Come on, sweetheart,” he said. “Time to go for a ride.”
I shot him in the face.
The Glock kicked in my hand and his head snapped back and his body dropped and I was already moving, rolling onto my stomach, gripping the gun with both hands because my body remembered what to do even when my brain was still catching up. The second man appeared at the door a second later, gun already raised, and I shot him twice in the chest before he could pull the trigger. He fell backward out of view and I heard his body hit the ground and then nothing.
Silence.
I lay there in the back of an overturned SUV with blood in my mouth and ringing in my ears and a Glock with seven rounds left and two dead men in the dirt outside. Rider was still alive, I could hear him breathing rough. Davis was still and quiet.
I needed to move. Whoever sent those two could send more.
I crawled out of the back through the cargo area, glass and debris cutting my hands. The night air hit me cold and I dropped down onto the gravel and stayed low, scanning the road in both directions. Empty. Just the two motorcycles parked a few feet apart and the two bodies beside them.
I moved toward the woods on the far side of the road. Crouched, gun up, every nerve in my body screaming at me to run. I made it into the tree line and dropped behind a thick oak and pressed my back against it and pulled my phone out of my back pocket with shaking hands.
Quest answered on the first ring.
“What’s up Peach.”
“Someone came for me. Two motorcycles. Davis is dead. Rider is hurt. I shot both of them but there might be more coming.”
“Where are you?”
“Back road off Route 50. Maybe ten miles past the exit. I’m in the woods. I’m hiding.”
“Stay there. Don’t move. I’m coming. I’m leaving right now.”
“Quest, they weren’t Vipers. No tattoos. Different operation. The one who opened the door said somebody wanted me alive. He said ‘he.’”
Silence on the other end. I could hear him breathing. I could hear his brain working through possibilities.
“Stay hidden, Peach. Don’t make a sound. Don’t move from that spot. If you hear anything that’s not me calling your name, you shoot first and ask questions never. You understand?”
“Yes.”
“I love you. I’m coming.”
“I love you too.”
The call ended. I crouched lower behind the oak tree with my back pressed against the bark and the Glock pointed at the road and listened to the woods around me. I knew exactly who did this.
Mateo
It had to be.
28
Quest
“What’s good?” Prime asked when I stood up from the couch reaching for my keys.
“Some shit with Mehar and her security. I gotta go.”
