Page 37 of Burning Justice

“Keep your head down,” Saxon told him.

The truck came at them again.

Mitch yelled, “I’m calling the sheriff. Everyone hang tight.”

“He won’t get here in time.” Kane dug in his pack and pulled out his gun.

Saxon did the same. “Plan?”

“I’m thinking.” Mostly about using the emergency door at the back and jumping from a moving school bus onto the hood of a truck.

Or, you know, just firing some warning shots.

“Think fast,” Maria said. “Before I do.”

He didn’t like the sound of that. The CIA came up with some off-the-wall ideas sometimes.

The truck hit them again, followed by the second vehicle.

The bus swerved across the highway, where a semi headed toward them.

“Hold on!” Crew dragged the wheel back the other way.

Kane’s body pressed against the window. He held on to the seat and his gun.

The bus bumped off the side of the road and down an incline. It went airborne for a second before bouncing down, throwing them all out of their seats.

The bus listed over and hit the ground on its side.

Kane shook off the daze, not knowing how long he’d been out for. Being unconscious, that night in the dark with Ridge fresh in his mind, wasn’t good. He was liable to panic.

Someone stepped on his hand. Mack lay across his legs, blood on his temple.

“Hey—”

The butt of a gun slammed into his head, but not with enough force to knock him out right away.

He was awake long enough to see two guys lift Maria and take her.

Before he could do anything, the whole world went black.

Eight

Maria was about ready to quit pretending she was unconscious.

No one was saying anything, and there were at least two other people in this room with her. A room that smelled musty and damp and maybe like it had been used to store hay or soil at some point.

Now she was in here, tied to a wooden chair. Feet secured to the legs, hands tied to the sides by her hips.

Her head hurt from the bus crash that had shaken up everyone. Elias Redding—who she wanted to call every nasty name she could think of—had hopped on the bus like it wasn’t flipped on its side and dragged her away.

She was surprised he hadn’t killed everyone else on the bus but wasn’t going to ask him why not. Didn’t want the mess of multiple murders on his hands? Maybe he still felt some kind of brotherhood connection to the guys even though he was their enemy now.

Whatever it was, her mind would rather wonder about that than focus on the fact she had no way out of this chair or this room and no idea what was about to happen.

“Maria.”

He knew she was awake.