Page 55 of King of Cruelty

The other one was the half a dozen black cars trailing our attacker through the dark, backwoods roads.

I slammed the horn, sounding the alarm through the entire forest. “Go!” I roared. “Get the hell on! Drive!”

Whether they heard my commands, or my honking did the job—Liam’s car shot into the night, his taillights racing off into the distance.

I hit the accelerator and my window blew out, showering my face and lap in glass. “Get down!”

Bee, Shug, and Pixie hit the deck, covering their heads as a barrage of gunfire rained on Bane’s car.

The silly, short-sighted dumbass hadn’t taken Liam up on his offer to give Bane’s car the bulletproof upgrade. Bane claimed he didn’t need all that when he spent all his time in the woods and barely drove.

“How’d that work out for you, dumbass?!”

The car rammed my bumper, and the car spun out of control—ripping the wheel out of my hands. Screams tore through the backseat as we careened off the road, spinning three-sixty around and slamming the back end of the car against a tree.

Debra freaked out, the white of her eyes neon lights of terror and helplessness. “No! No, no, no!”

A pack of rushing headlights blew past us, chasing Liam, Sunny, and the others down the dark road, but six didn’t.

The cars squealed to a stop, kicking up and wave of dirt and sand, and surrounding us in seconds.

We were on a narrow road with barely enough room to call it a two-way street. Even if the guys wanted to turn back and help us, they had no chance with the shithead bastard parade blocking the street.

We were on our own.

“Get us out of here,” Debra screamed. Pouncing on my chair, she shook it like she was trying to dislodge the last drops of milk from a carton. “Don’t let them take me again! Drive! DRIVE!”

She didn’t have to tell me. I jammed the key in the ignition, my foot a brick on the accelerator.

Rrrrrr-rrrr-rrrr

The engine sputtered and spat at me, refusing to turn over.

Rrrrrrrrr-rrrrrr

Shadows spilled out of the cover of the blinding headlights, converging on the car.

“Down!” I ordered, ducking my head as the first shot blew through the window, exploding glass on a screaming Debra.

“No! Leave us alone! Please!” She was still shaking and slapping at me, trying to grab for the wheel. How the bullets were missing her was nothing less than a miracle. “Get away! Get—”

“Bee!”

Bee didn’t need another word or clue. Her fist flew up, smashing into Debra’s face.

Blood spurting on the dash, the woman flew back into her seat and slid down, folding over on top of Shug.

It wasn’t the kindest way to get the woman to calm down and cover herself, but it did the job.

“Enough,” someone shouted, ending the gunfire in a blink. “We’ve made our point.”

Footsteps approached as I jammed the key in like a dick—twisting, yanking, and praying for it to go off.

“We know it’s you in there, Merchant bitch. This is your one and only chance. Throw your keys out, then your weapons, and then slowly get out of the car,” she said. “Do it, or we’ll keep up target practice until we get the high—”

Vrrrroom!

The engine roared to life.