Page 17 of Witness Security Breach

Torres swung the car on the wide shoulder of the road near the river and brought the SUV to a stop.

Charlie’s pulse skyrocketed as she gained her bearings. One flat tire might be an ill-timed accident. Two, possibly shot. But not all four decimated down to the rims.

Two black vans raced up to the shoulder. Ground to a screeching halt in front and behind them, bracketing the SUV, kicking dust in the air.

They were blocked in, sitting on rims, with nowhere to go besides the river.

Charlie pulled her 9 mm. Torres and Aiden did likewise. The Potters’ panicked cries filled the cabin.

“Stay quiet!” Charlie said. The more noise they made, the more they were adding to the chaos and inadvertently helping their attackers.

The front doors of both vans opened. Four men wearing dark utility uniforms, bulletproof vests, balaclavas with skull faces, tinted goggles and tactical helmets jumped out. Each had a gun with a suppressor in their left hand. In their right hand was something else.

Something she never would’ve expected in a million years. Her brain cramped to make sense of it.

They surrounded the SUV, holding up paint sprayers. Cordless and high-powered. Ones you could easily pick up at any large home improvement store.

At the exact same time, all four men began spraying the bulletproof windows pitch-black, obscuring their vision. Blinding them. They couldn’t even shoot out the windows.

Paint fumes flooded the car.

The Potters clung to each other. Edgar hyperventilated.

Sharon was hyperventilating. “God! We’re going to die!”

The men had worked fast in a fluid, coordinated effort like they jacked marshals on the side of the road all the time as a hobby.

If it hadn’t chilled her to the marrow of her bone, she would’ve been impressed.

The windows and both windshields were completely blacked out except for a four-by-eight-inch space on Edgar’s windowpane. Where they taped something brick-shaped, covered in plastic wrap and attached to a timer.

“A bomb! Plastic explosives!” Edgar said, driving Sharon’s screams to a fever pitch.

The countdown was at one minute.

They had to get out of the vehicle. There was no choice about that, but if they didn’t go as a synchronized unit through the same exit point, firing simultaneously, they’d be hosed.

Everything transpired in only seconds. Gut-wrenching, terrifying seconds that made adrenaline course through her veins. In her mind, it all unfolded in slow motion.

Torres grabbed his door handle and pulled.

“Wait!” Charlie reached to stop him, but it was too late.

The driver’s door opened. Torres hopped out and fired.

A flurry of gunshots from weapons with suppressors pinged. Torres caught a bullet in the throat and dropped.

Charlie trained her gun on the opening, not letting panic poison her. Air punched from her lungs. Her heart pounded in her throat. But she stayed sharp. Laser-focused. Ready for someone to shove the barrel inside, while keeping out of range and taking a potshot.

A loud champagne-cork sound echoed, and something was launched into the car, landing on the driver’s seat. The door was kicked shut.

It was a familiar-looking canister. “Smoke grenade!”

Charlie dived into the back seat while Aiden leaped into action, climbing past Sharon and Edgar into the trunk.

“Sinaloa,” he said, referring to a dicey mission in Mexico, where they had apprehended a fugitive. The circumstances had been much different, but a tactic they’d used would work for them now.

They were on the same wavelength. A single exit point for them both, but his idea was better. Smarter. She cracked a grin.