Ruslan’s arm sweeps around my waist and he lifts me off my feet as he drags me swiftly out of Moira’s grasp. “We have to go!”
“I’m sorry!” Moira yells through her sobs, clutching her hands to her chest. “I’m so sorry!”
There’s no time to think. Ruslan all but tosses me back into the car, slides over the hood, and scrambles into the driver’s seat just as the first car screeches to a stop next to us trying to block us in.
“Ruslan, who are these people?” I gasp loudly.
“Seatbelt!” Ruslan snaps as he wrenches our vehicle into gear. Suddenly, several pops and bags explode from beside us as multiple men pour out of the black car and open fire.
I scream, ducking down in my seat as bullets collide with bulletproof glass and smash into the metal work of the doors. Ruslan drags the steering wheel, and rather than slamming into the car blocking us in, he drives up onto the sidewalk, narrowly missing Moira as she cowers back into the door.
For a moment, my attention is locked on her as I stare through the glass. Her form gets smaller and smaller as we race away and confusion mingles with hurt in my chest, crashing together like waves against a rocky shore.
She set me up?
Why?
Why would she do this?
“Shit,” Ruslan snaps. The car vibrates and jolts as we crash through planters and displays in front of the shops we drive past. Spinning in my seat, I peer through the back window. Several of the cars jolt back and forth as they fight to turn around and follow us. Those at the back have a much easier job of doing so and as Ruslan drives us back onto the road with a shudder, three cars are in pursuit.
“Ruslan!”
“I know, I know.”
“What’s happening? I don’t understand!”
“They’re Russian.”
“What?” I slump back down in my seat with a squeal as another round of gunfire thuds into the back of our car like popping corn. “But you were there today. What did you do?”
“You think this is my fault?” Ruslan snaps.
“No! I’m just… I’m trying to understand!”
“Alexei. It’s got to be Alexei.”
Alexei. Kraven’s son. The man Florence was engaged to years before my father. If that’s true, then why the hell does he want me dead so badly? Why go to all the trouble of cornering my best friend and threatening her into luring me someplace like this?
Ruslan speeds around a corner and I slide against the cold door with a whimper. Ruslan’s arm shoots around me and holds me back against my seat as he takes another sharp turn that leans us hard in the opposite direction.
“Seatbelt,” he repeats. His arm remains across my chest until I slide the seatbelt over me and lock it in place, then he tosses his phone into my lap. “I need you to call someone.”
“Who?”
“Just press on the card deck app. It’ll call whoever is available.”
My trembling thumb misses the app twice. As I finally press it, one of the chasing cars slams into the back of us and we’re both thrown forward. The seatbelt tightens around me, and air is momentarily trapped in my lungs from how tightly it pressesagainst my heart. Ruslan’s phone slips from my fingers and lands in my lap, then slides to the floor as another car slams into us from Ruslan’s side. I’m thrown against the door once more.
Through the glass, I see the third car pull up alongside us. Blacked out windows make it impossible to see who is inside, so it’s only the reflection of our car gleaming back at me.
“Ruslan!”
“I know, they’re trying to box us in. Phone. Now!”
“Shit. Yeah, yeah, I got it. I got it.” Straining against the seatbelt until the rough edge digs into the side of my neck, I locate Ruslan’s phone by skimming my fingertips along the floor that I can reach. Locating it is easy. Picking it up from this angle is hard with the car swaying and jerking due to Ruslan’s expert driving.
I push the phone against my foot and lift the edge with my fingernails until I can get a grip. Phone secured, I sit back while panting just as Ruslan wrenches the wheel to the left and slams our car into the one next to us. Metal screams and screeches as both vehicles grind against one another, locked into a brutal tug of war until the chasing car suddenly slams into a parked car on the street and vanishes from view.
