Page 132 of The Last Kingdom

“I got the message,” he said. “Loud and clear.” He turned to Toni. “How about you?”

“I know my orders.”

“We have company,” the driver said.

Luke turned his head and stared out the rear windshield, which was kept partially clear by the black lines of an embedded defroster. Two headlights were framed out by the cleared oval.

“That car has been with us since we left the autobahn,” the driver said. “Nice and steady. Never moving. I slowed down twice and it matched me.”

“How far left to go?” he asked.

“Twenty minutes.”

He stared out the remaining windows and the front windshield. Nothing but black on either side of the road, the asphalt threading a path through columns of dark trees.

“Something’s happening,” the driver said.

Luke turned back to see someone angle an automatic rifle out the passenger’s-side window.

Oh, crap.

“Everybody down,” he yelled.

Rounds thudded into the car’s trunk, pinging off the metal. One slammed into the rear windshield, spiderwebbing the glass. Another followed, shattering the web, spitting fragments out in the car’s wake. Cold air rushed inside. They began to swerve, back and forth, on the roadway. He risked a glance at the driver and saw blood. The guy had been hit, but was trying to keep the vehicle under control. The car following revved its engine and sped up, passing them on the left side. A gun flew back over the front seat and landed between himand Toni as they crouched down, out of the line of fire.

Toni grabbed it. “Lower your window.”

They were still swerving, their driver trying to slow to a stop. The other car drew parallel and he pressed the button for the window.

Toni came up and fired twice.

He saw that she took out the rear window on the passenger’s side. The other car reacted to the attack and accelerated, speeding away. Their driver brought them to a stop. Luke popped open his door and hopped out into the cold, quickly opening the driver’s door and assessing the situation. Toni was out with the gun leveled. The other car had stopped, maybe a half mile down the road, only its taillights visible in the dark.

“You okay?” he asked the driver.

The guy shook his head. “There’s some glass in my skull and I’m not seeing things real good.”

“We need to switch places.”

He released the driver’s seat belt and helped him out, gently placing him in the backseat. Dorner had yet to say a word, but was watching everything carefully with a face of granite. Talk about cool nerves. He wedged himself behind the wheel and refastened the safety belt.

Toni climbed into the rear seat.

“Nice move with the gun,” he said to Dorner.

“I assumed you both knew what to do with it.”

Their attacker’s car turned around in the road, the rear taillights replaced with headlights. Which started coming their way.

“They seem to want a fight,” Dorner said.

Luke slammed the gearshift into drive.

“Good. ’Cause I’m goin’ to give ’em one.”

Chapter 75

COTTON REACTED TO THE SOUND OF GUNFIRE BY GRABBING THEheavy inkwell off the desk and throwing a strike right at the two short, brawny figures with guns, trying to make a one-two split with those stout pins. The heavy chunk of brass thudded into one of the men, who deflected it, while the other ducked out of the way.