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I nodded. “Maybe.”
He glanced down at his phone and then looked out the back, squinting.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“They aren’t shooting at us,” he said. “I expected gunfire. Something.”
“You think they ran out of bullets? Or maybe they can’t lean out the windows and shoot. They might smack their heads on a branch sticking out or…”
“Or they know where this road ends,” he said. He looked at me.
I felt what he was saying. They were going to barrel us down. Maybe they had their own GPS.
They may not give us a chance to jump out. They’d push the Mercedes into the swamp.
With us inside the car.
ENDS THAT JUSTIFY MEANS
“What do we do?” I asked.
“Well,” Corey said. “We could possibly slow down, give up.”
“What?”
“I don’t know if they’ll kill us. We could just buy some time. Maybe they’ll call in a cop to arrest us.”
“Do you think they’ll really do that?”
He pursed his lips. He didn’t know the answer. “We caught them in the act of doing something that would possibly get them all arrested. They’d be banned for life from bounty hunting.”
“Should we stop?”
“Slow down a little,” Corey said. “Buy us some time.” He started typing at his cell phone.
“What are you doing?”
“We’ll have to do what the others did,” he said. “Try to run.”
“They are going to give us a chance?”
“Maybe.”
I didn’t like it. I didn’t like narrow chances.
I gunned the engine, going faster.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Give me a second.”
“We’re going to run into the swamp at any minute.”
“Good,” I said.
He held on to the handle. “What—?”
“Put your seatbelt on,” I said.
“You—”
“Corey!”
He grunted and pulled his seat belt on.
“Hang on,” I said.
At the sight of the swamp water in front of us, the road widened to a short field right before the waterline.
I slammed on the brakes and yanked back on the emergency brake, too. We ended up in a drift turn and I presented the Hummer with the front side of the Mercedes.
The Hummer had started to swerve, but caught the front of the Mercedes. The cars crunched.
I was punched in the face by an airbag.
There was a jerk, and the Mercedes was pushed backward. Then it slowed, followed by a loud splash. Our butt was in the water.
The car stopped. I don’t know what happened to the Hummer. Its engine was revving but it wasn’t moving.
For a moment, everything stilled. I needed to breathe, and I was pushing back on the airbag to get it out of my face. My body was numb. I couldn’t see anything.
I grabbed for Corey’s arm. “Corey!”
He gripped back and mumbled. He was stuffed with air bag but he was alive.
My heart attack was on full tilt then. “Get out! Before we drown in the swamp!”
I heard glass breaking on his end. I had enough room to roll down my window. I pulled myself through, getting on the top of the car.
Corey was on me quickly, helping me out the rest of the way. He held on to me. His nose was bleeding and his face was bright red where he’d got knocked by the air bag. He held onto my arms. “You okay?”
I nodded, swallowing. I looked around.
The Hummer was on its side, nearly on top of the Mercedes at the front corner. I don’t know how it happened, but we lucked out that the Hummer wasn’t functional now.
But there were two goons out, pointing rifles at us on top of the car.
We were surrounded by swamp and no way to run for the woods.
It didn’t work. I’d hoped to shake them up enough that we could make a run and get lost in the woods. How did they get out so fast?
“Corey,” I cried, hanging on to him.
“Put your hands up,” he said. “Slowly.”
We were giving in? “No,” I said. “We can’t. We have to…”
“We can’t run,” he said. “We’ll be lucky if they just find someone to arrest us. Put your hands up.”
“But…”
“Now, Kayli!”
I did, compelled to listen, because I didn’t have an alternative plan.
“If they do shoot,” Corey said, “dive into the swamp.”
We both stood on top of the Mercedes, hands up, staring down at the guys pointing their guns at us.
“Where’s the other two?” One of them shouted. “Tell us where Fred is.”
“Inside the car,” Corey said.
The man stepped forward, glancing at the inside. He was covered by his partner. I don’t know how many might still be left in the Hummer, but there still looked like at least the driver was inside. They weren’t going to check to make sure he was okay?
The goon that came forward looked through the crushed windows. “I don’t see anyone in there.”
“He’s in the back,” Corey said. “On the floor. We told him to duck down.”
I bumped my arm into Corey, unsure of what he was up to. He was luring one of them to look into the car. What happened when he found out he’s lying?
The man inched forward.
The rev of an engine caught us all off guard.
A red Montego was barreling down the dirt road. The guy standing closer to the Hummer turned, and started shooting at the car.
The body of the Montego was thick metal. The bullets did little but dent and then ricocheted. Future picked a good car for a bounty hunter. Maybe she even had it reinforced.
Raven popped out, using the door as cover and pointed his gun at the shooter. “Stop,” he yelled, “or I shoot.”
The goon closest to us aimed the gun at Corey and I. “Put your gun down!” he shouted at them.
Raven stood off, pointing, unsure.
There was a loud buzz near me and I reacted like it might have been a bee or swamp flies or something.
Corey aimed the Taser and fired. Two barbs landed on the goon in front of us.
He jerked forward, his body rigging up while he was hit with electricity.
I rushed, reaching for the gun.
“Kayli!” Corey screamed at me. “Don’t touch him!”
I stopped just short of touching him. I don’t know what I was thinking. I wanted the gun, but I realized now I would get electrified.
Raven moved in an instant, rushing up toward the last goon and making him drop his gun. Marc joined him for cover. Axel was on a full run toward the Hummer. He was at the driver’s side, checking the driver. “He’s alive!” Axel cried out.
Marc ran over toward Corey and me, keeping his gun pointed at the goon. “You two okay?”
We nodded at the same time. “We’re fine,” Corey said.
“You look like shit,” Marc said. “Where’s Brandon? And Fred?”
“They’re in the woods,” I said. “Told them to take off.”
