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While more durable and powerful than the Lancia, the SUV was also two feet wider, a disadvantage Sam now saw was bearing fruit. Where the pine boughs had simply swiped at the Lancia, they were thrashing the SUV’s hood and into the hole where the windshield had been. Branches were snapping off, jutting from the grille, and becoming entangled with the windshield wipers. The headlights fell back.
“Sam, watch out!”
He tore his eyes from the rearview mirror in time to see a boulder looming ahead. He spun the wheel hard right, sending the Lancia in a sideways skid. The boulder filled Sam’s window. He stepped on the gas as the Lancia lurched forward, but not quickly enough. With a crunch, the rear quarter panel glanced off the boulder and the rear side window shattered. The impact spun the Lancia’s tail around, off the road, and under the pine boughs. The side bumper smashed into a trunk and they jerked to a stop. The engine sputtered and died. Pine needles rained down on the windshield.
“There goes our deposit,” Remi said.
“Everybody okay?” Sam asked. “Remi?”
“Fine.”
“Splendid,” called Umberto.
“Bianco?”
“Still napping.”
Out Sam’s window they saw the SUV’s headlights filtering through the trees. He turned the ignition. Nothing.
“Still in gear,” Remi said.
“Damn. Thanks.”
He put the shifter into park and turned the ignition again. The engine chugged and wheezed but didn’t catch. He tried again.
“Come on, come on. . . .”
Down the road the SUV was halfway down the straightaway and approaching the boulder.
The Lancia’s engine caught, revved up, then coughed out.
“Cutting it close, Sam,” Remi said, teeth clenched.
He closed his eyes, said a quick prayer, tried again. The engine caught. He shifted into drive, spun the wheel right, and accelerated back onto the road.
“Umberto, slow them down!”
“Okay!”
Umberto stuck his Luger out the window and squeezed off two shots, and then two more. The bullet
s thudded into the grille, shattering the driver’s-side headlight. The SUV swerved left, heading straight for the boulder, then jinked right. The side mirror scraped the rock, shattered, and bounced away into the darkness.
The SUV’s lights filled the Lancia’s interior. Sam squinted and slapped the rearview mirror off-angle. He glanced over his shoulder and saw a hand holding a gun jut through the windshield gap.
“Down, get down!” he yelled. Remi slid to the floorboards.
The gun roared from the SUV, muzzle winking from the darkened interior. Umberto poked his head up over the seat, said, “I’ll slow them down,” then leaned out the side window with the Luger.
“No, don’t!”
Two more shots. Umberto screamed and rolled back into the car. “I’m hit!”
“Where?”
“The forearm! I’m okay,” he gasped.
“The hell with this,” Sam muttered. “Brace yourselves!”