Page 52 of Rogue Mission

Cheeks purple, veins popping, he blusters, “Son-of-a-bitch. Can I keep my driver’s license?! They’re hard as hell to get replaced.”

“Keep whatever you want, except the car. You can even ride along.”

“No!” driver number one shouts. “Do not get in the car with him, he’ll scare the piss right out of you.”

A point proven by his wet jeans.

Motioning the second man out of the way with my pistol, I offer my only consolation.

“Your car will be left at the hospital. Don’t know when. Don’t know what condition. Our company will reimburse you. Not sorry. A good man’s life is on the line.”

I skirt the car door, drop into the driver’s seat, and get back to my call with Truck. “Got another car, I’m in pursuit, but they’ve got at least five minutes on me, maybe more, and I don’t know which direction they went.”

“Where are you?” Truck asks as a seat belt reminder dings in the background. “I’ll search a different area.”

“Heading west on Case Road, just outside of town.”

Two of the Charger’s tires squeal and tracks of rubber paint the pavement behind me. In the rearview, the two drivers are quickly growing smaller.

Flexing my hands on the wheel, I test the steering and power.

This is more like it.

The engine on the Charger runs loud.

Truck’s voice is muffled as he says, “On my way. I’m fifteen minutes…”

Goddamned cheap cell phone. His voice is fading in and out.

I wouldn’t be having this problem if I didn’t get punched in the face by the airbag, breaking my tooth-mounted comms device.

“Louder! What did you say?” I yell.

“The PD Helicopter should be en route by now, they will be able to—” he’s shouting back, but his words cut off when then there’s a loud thud on his end.

“Truck?”

He starts to yell, but this time, I know it’s not at me. “Girls! Get in the safe room, now!”

TWENTY-ONE

The Dreadville County Jail

My toes are numb, my nose is stiff from being cold, and everything hurts.

Mostly my heart.

Justice.Where are you?

Please let him be okay.

A fresh wave of tears coat my face as I try to piece together all of the things that have happened.

Westerly has to be behind this…but what if he’s not?

Men like Justice and Beast probably have a lot of enemies.

Someone could be hunting them for something they did in the SEAL Teams. Not that having someone from Westerly’s bunch of bad guys after you isn’t deadly enough.