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Charleigh
My God. Has he been shot? What’s going on? A hundred possibilities fire through my brain in a split second, and I protectively wrap my arms around Evie, screaming in terror.
With the driver shot, the car careens off the road onto the bumpy shoulder before it sideswipes a telephone pole. In spite of the chaos, the car is slowing, so the driver must have been able to get to the brakes.
“Miss…” he says in a weak voice. “Miss Gates…”
“What?” I cry. “What’s going on? What do I do?”
“There’s a pistol under my seat,” he says as the car rolls to a stop. “Get it, Miss Gates. Get the pistol.”
Pushing Evie to the floor, I reach under his seat from behind and feel the familiar shape of the sort of gun I am being trained on. I yank on it and it snaps from whatever’s holding it in place, and I see it is indeed a Glock something or other, and that it’s loaded.
My hands shake violently as I remember how to unlock the gun. “Evie, call the guys,right now,” I scream.
The driver raises his own weapon and gets off a couple shots through the windshield.
It takes a moment for my eyes to focus, but I see Dimitri and some of his men spilling out of the car that forced us off the road. They are walking toward us. The driver fires off one more shot, but he’s too messed-up to really aim, and doesn’t do anything more than scare them all back behind their own vehicle.
Evie’s screaming into the phone for the guys to come. We aren’t that far from the house, so they should be here soon. In the meantime, it looks like it’s up to me to hold Dimitri and his guys back.
“I can do this,” I whisper.
I force myself to relax and blow all the air out of my lungs and aim. Since the driver’s fire has ceased, the guys think we’re left unprotected. This is good. I’ll just wait for them to get a little bit closer…
I fire and someone drops.
Holy shit.
I just shot someone. I am pretty sure I’m going to vomit, but I take a deep breath, exhale again, and get ready to shoot.
I can puke later.
But the guy I shot, whoever he is, is down and while someone is trying to revive him, the group’s return fire is now coming fast and furious. There’s nothing I can do except push Evie to the floor of the car and lie on top of her.
If one of us is hit, I want it to be me.
With all I’ve been through, this how it ends? All the shit I survived these past weeks, including being beaten almost to death, and now I’m going to be murdered like my mother and father? The universe is taking its final shit on me, delivering its parting shot, gracing me with a nice going-away present.
Fuck you very much.
But the firing ceases. It’s followed by a lot of yelling, and then I hear Vadik’s voice. I don’t dare raise my head to see what’s going on, but a car takes off, its wheels screeching as it accelerates. In seconds, I can’t hear it anymore, but I still stay down, on top of my crying sister. I’m not risking getting my head blown off.
If I can help it.
The front door of the car opens, and I unsuccessfully try to stifle a shriek.
“Charleigh, Charleigh, baby, you’re okay. They left.”
It’s Vadik’s voice, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything so comforting.
“Oh my God,” I say, pushing myself off the floor and pulling Evie with me. I see the panic in Vadik’s face and it’s like looking at an angel. My shaking is uncontrollable and then my face crumbles into full-body-wracking sobs.
Vadik pries the pistol from my hand and when Niko opens the back door of the car, I jump into his arms. Either Vadik or Kir retrieves Evie from the other side, and she’s shrieking too.
“Wh… what about the driver?” I stumble.
Is he going to be another Frank, killed in the line of duty for my lame ass?
