Page 12 of Colombian Chemistry

“Not worth dying over.” John clucked the side of his cheek.

As my door opened, I turned back around and leveled John with my best glare. “You can burn in hell, you selfish ass.”

The men roared with laughter as John lifted his hands and gave me a half-assed apologetic look along with his shrug. I wanted to smack the smirk right off his face, but the man at my door was already taking me by the hand.

“Can I be on my way then?” John asked as I got tugged to my feet.

Once I was outside the Jeep, the man closed the door and grabbed hold of my upper arm. My heart raced so fast I thought it might explode. What were they going to do to me?

“Safe travels,” the leader said with a smile.

John extended his hand and offered it to him. He took it and gave it a shake. But before he could let go, John yanked him over the door into the Jeep across his lap, drew his gun, and put a bullet right between his eyes. The angle he shot at sent the very same bullet out the back of the man’s head, and it traveled a straight path to land smack dab in the center of the other man’s forehead.

Before the man holding me could react, John swiveled the gun, and another loud bang preceded the man holding me crumpling into a lifeless heap. He dropped to my feet as a scream ripped out of my lungs.

“Quit screaming and jump the fuck in!” John shouted as he stepped on the gas.

The three remaining men at the Jeep started shouting as I launched over the door of the moving Jeep, my scream still tearing out of my throat as I kicked my legs in the air while John roared forward.

“Stop them!” they screamed, and bullets sprayed around us.

John ducked down as we careened past them, and I noticed I was nose-to-nose with the dead guy still sprawled across his lap. My scream intensified as I stared into his cold, dead eyes.

“Would you shut the fuck up?” John shouted as he swerved the Jeep around the blockade.

“Don’t hit her!” one man shouted as we went past. “She’s worth money alive!”

The bullets stopped flying, but I heard the engine fire up and roar after us.

John must have heard the same thing because he rose from cover and slammed the Jeep into the next gear. I kicked my legs to try to get back into the Jeep, but we hit a huge bump. I grunted when I caught some air and came down with my stomach on the edge of the door.

“Get your ass in the Jeep! This is going to get rough!”

I grabbed the seat and pulled, wiggling my body all the way back into the Jeep. I landed on the seat with a thud, then maneuvered myself back to sitting. The dead guy’s hand bounced against my thigh, and I squealed and pushed myself up against the door.

“Oh my God! He’s dead! He’s dead! Oh my God!”

“Fuck’s sake, Irene! We’re gonna be the dead ones if I don’t get us the hell out of here. Put on your seat belt!”

I scrambled to secure it as we raced faster and faster, moving much too quickly to be safe on the narrow, slippery road. But John maneuvered every corner like a pro, and once again, I was amazed by his reflexes.

Another bump in the road sent the dead guy airborne for a moment, his long legs flying up into the air outside of the Jeep, and when he came back down, his head landed in my lap.

The screams I’d let rip before held nothing to the one that came out of my mouth when I looked down to see him staring up at me.

“You’re gonna make me go deaf, for Christ’s sake! I’m trying to concentrate!” John shouted.

“He’s touching me! Eew! Oh my God, he’s touching me!”

“Fuck’s sake,” John ground out. He glanced in the rearview at the other Jeep that was losing ground not being able to keep up with his impressive driving, then he slammed on the brakes. We skidded to a stop, and he lifted the lifeless body off his lap and tossed him onto the ground. Within a couple seconds, we were back to speeding away. “There. Happy?”

Happy? Happy? In what world would I be happy right now? I was being chased through the jungle by the Colombian cartel, and I’d just had a dead body in my lap moments ago. This was about as far from happy as I’d ever been.

But I slowly nodded as I struggled to swallow. “What... what do we do now?”

“We try to lose them. There’s only this one road, and luckily I’m a hell of a driver, so there’s no way they are going to catch us.”

“So, we’re safe?” I asked, the hope of a safe getaway lifting the octave of my voice.