Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 61042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
The headlight appeared again, closer now. Close enough that I could make out the rider’s outline in my mirror. He’d been playing with us before, keeping distance. Now he was closing.
We came out of the corridor. The street ahead looked clear other than cracked asphalt and a long straightaway that would take us to the compound’s perimeter. I started to accelerate hard… Then saw the gravel. A patch of loose stone and sand spread across the road. Maybe ten feet wide, right in our line.
I tried to adjust, tried to thread through the edge of it where the asphalt looked cleaner. But I was going too fast and had already committed to my line. The front wheel hit the gravel and I felt the traction let go. The bike slid sideways, rear end coming around. I fought it, but my passenger shifted her weight wrong with the sudden, unexpected movement and the bike went out from under us.
The world tilted. I pushed away from the bike as we went down, trying to separate from the machine. I twisted to wrap my arms around the woman. I didn’t quite make it before we hit the pavement. I slammed into the ground on my shoulder and hip with enough force to knock the air out of my lungs. She cried out as we rolled. I managed to pull her more solidly in my arms to protect her as much as I could.
We came to a stop against a loading dock’s concrete base, somehow managing to hit with my back instead of sending the woman face first into the wall. The bike slid past us in a shower of sparks and grinding metal, finally stopping about twenty feet away. The woman groaned, blood from a cut at her hair line and road rash on her cheek dripped down her face. Her gun had skittered away across the pavement, lying in the middle of the street about fifteen feet from her.
I raked my gaze over her quickly, checking for anything obvious. “You hurt?” I didn’t see anything but the cuts and abrasions on her face and arm. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused. “Hey. Look at me, honey.” I snapped my fingers. When she shook her head but couldn’t quite clear it, I lightly slapped her cheek. “Eyes on me. Now.”
She met my gaze and nodded once, just a tiny movement of her chin. “I’m here.”
“Can you stand?”
“I -- I think so.”
The headlight appeared at the end of the street, slowing as the rider spotted the wrecked bike. He stopped about forty yards away, dismounting his bike at an angle. When he did, I caught the patch on the back of his cut. Steel Serpents.
I drew my weapon, a smooth pull from the shoulder holster. The Steel Serpents rider saw it and reached for his own gun too late. I fired twice in rapid succession. The first shot punched through his front tire. The second took him in the shoulder and sent him spinning.
His weapon discharged into the air as he went down, the muzzle flash bright in the dark. His bike tipped, clattering to the broken pavement.
Then silence fell around us. My ears rang from the gunshots but I still heard the distant sound of the port, machinery moving and metal scraping. I kept my weapon trained on the downed rider for a ten-count, watching for movement. He rolled onto his side, clutching his shoulder, and his bike started leaking fuel onto the pavement in a dark spreading pool. The shot to his tire must have ricocheted and hit the gas tank. His gun had landed some distance away when I’d shot him.
I hurried to the weapon and retrieved it along with the woman’s gun before walking back to her. She’d made it to her feet and watched me approach with sharp focus. I stopped about five feet away and held out her weapon butt-first. She looked at it for a long moment. Then she reached out and took it.
I pulled my phone and called Knight. “Need a pickup and I’m heavy two.”
“I got you, Griffin. Tiny’s on the way with the Bronco. Three minutes.”
I looked at the woman. She stood with her back against the concrete, gun held in both hands now despite the blood running down her right palm. Her gaze moved between me and the downed Steel Serpents rider. The rider wasn’t moving much, but he was still breathing and still armed as far as we knew.
“Backup’s en route,” I said. “Come here.”
She nodded but didn’t lower the gun. Just stood there shaking, blood on her face, her sleeve torn open and her eyes too bright. She’d been through the wringer tonight and it showed in every line of her body. I couldn’t take the weapon from her or she’d probably lose her shit, but I had no intention of getting shot on accident either.