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He cocked his gun.
We should have known it had been too easy. Getting them into the SUV and out of town without a hitch.
The roar of the Tundra’s engine blazed up behind us again. I prepared myself for impact. This time, he clipped me on the left rear bumper.
It threw us into a skid, the tires squealing as we fishtailed down the winding road.
I fought it.
The way our Suburban wanted to fly into a spin.
There was no stopping it when he hit me again.
Our SUV hooked hard to the right, sending the tail end whipping around to the front. Tires squealed as I slammed on the brakes.
We landed facing the fiend who’d come to a stop, me staring down the beast through the windshield.
Two beats of stilled eternity passed.
Then we fast-forwarded into action.
He threw open his door, and Theo shouted, “Get down!” a second before gunshots rang out.
They pinged against the metal, and Theo and I were out, ourguns in hand as we returned fire. We ducked low behind our doors as we exchanged shots.
The asshole began to come out from behind his door.
Brazen motherfucker who continued to take shot after shot.
“Take that bastard down,” Theo gritted as he ducked back into the Suburban to reload, and I straightened, coming out from around the door, too, trying to draw him away from the SUV.
I couldn’t let him get to them. Couldn’t let him get near them. No way would I allow him to continue to inflict the kind of torture that had been inflicted on my mother.
I saw it in his eyes.
That disgusting rage that made him think he had the right.
That he deserved the foul, obscene control.
“I knew it. I knew it. Knew that bitch was up to no good,” he spat.
A thousand memories from my childhood came battering into me.
“You piece of shit,” I gritted. I fought to keep my trembling hand steady as I aimed, ready for when he came out far enough in front of his hood that his chest and arms were exposed.
I took the shot.
He roared when it pierced him in the shoulder, and he fumbled backward two steps. Only he rebounded in a flash, fury and adrenaline flooding him as he ran around the front in a barrage of bullets.
I dove for cover, gasping as a shock of pain ripped up my side just as I slammed against the ground.
He kept moving, coming my way, a nonstop barrage of bullets pinging and flying.
Dread sank to the pit of my stomach when the man was suddenly standing right in front of me, and my limbs quivered as I tried to wrap my hand back around the handle of my gun.
My skin was clammy with dread. Sweat slicking my flesh in a searing cold.
The man hell-bent on bringing me to my end.