Page 45 of Healing Conviction

Drake swerved on the road in a zigzag, making her seat belt work overtime to keep her from being flung around. Athunkin the truck metal made her yelp, and he slammed on the gas, plastering her body to her seat as he shouted back at her.

“Don’t think we’re gonna make it to the hotel, Pix.”

“What? Why?”

“Because someone’s fucking shooting at us, now get down!”

A percussiveboomfilled the car, and she yelped before ducking. She waited a half second crouched over before she realized there was no explosion. No crashing glass.

“What the heck?” She lifted her head to see a softball-sized circle of cracked glass had appeared in the window above her. Sitting up, she peered out the window to see a large, black SUV gaining ground behind them—

Her arm was nearly yanked down, and another yelp escaped her.

“Get the fuck down!”

“Why aren’t I dead?”

“Jesus, Pix, don’t say shit like that. It’s bulletproof glass,” he muttered. “Now listen to me and keep your head below the window. Bulletproof doesn’t mean impenetrable and we have to draw them in before we can get away. I installed that shit myself, but I don’t want my skills to be tested on you.”

“What do you mean, ‘draw them in’?”

He didn’t respond, eyes narrowed in focus.

“Cryptic motherfudg—ahh!”

Anotherthunkin the glass behind her had her cowering again, and she looked up to see the softball shape had a baseball friend beside it. She got on her knees, unable to stop herself from looking behind them.

“Drake!They’re right there! Oh my gods, are you slowing down? Why?”

“I’m gonna need you to shut up and trust me, Pix.”

The SUV was gaining on them at an alarming rate and Drake was slowing down, no… drawing them in. She faced forward, wanting to ask more questions, but the concentration in his forehead made her snap her mouth shut. The two lines down the center of the road shined brightly in the truck headlights as Drake drifted over them.

The cab began to brighten and Nora swiveled around to see that the SUV was now so near, the headlights were able to pierce the tinted windows.

The urge to scream that they were getting closer made her slap her hand over her mouth to keep quiet. She couldn’t take her eyes off the steadily approaching enemy, though, especially when yet another softball-sized dent appeared on the right side of the rear window, as if they were aiming for Drake.

Her heart raced faster as their truck slowed. She groaned behind her hand and hugged herself with her other arm as she watched helplessly.

The SUV bumped into Drake’s tailgate. He slapped his hand on the underside of the dashboard. Their attacker swerved and loud tire screeches and pops replaced the gunshots. Drake stepped on the gas, flinging Nora back again. She clutched the top of her seat belt close and kept watching behind her in horror as the SUV flipped over and over again behind them.

When it finally landed upside down, Nora squinted in the dimming light to try to identify the driver when he got out.

Only he didn’t.

“What just happened?” Her voice was a hoarse whisper and her breath bounced back at her from the cracked glass.

“Steel road tacks. I installed them under the tailgate.”

She whipped around, her jaw hanging open before her brow wrinkled. “I know you guys were fancy-pants military men, but who on earth were you expecting to come up against as a civilian private security company that you felt the need to install something likethat?”

He shrugged and gave her the tiniest grin. “I’m the weapons guy for our team. I play around with this shit for fun.”

She looked back, the crashed SUV getting smaller with their distance. There was no other movement aside from smoke leaking from the hood.

“Did you… are they dead?”

His eyes glanced past her in the rearview mirror, and his lips formed a grim, thin line. “I don’t know if we’ll be that lucky. Either way, we don’t have the manpower to figure it out.”