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The Hummer clipped its back end and sent the electric car spinning out of control.
Liam turned hard and fast into the Vanguard parking lot, tipping the car up onto two wheels in the process.
Bullets sprayed the car.
He hit the gas and drove toward the only help he might get while dialing the Vanguard front desk. When the receptionist picked up, he yelled, “Incoming!”
TWENTY-EIGHT
Roxie patted down the tab on the vest as fast as she could, her hair already back in a ponytail. “Go.”
Peter went first out the side door. Both of them had pistols. Bob had an old rifle, though she’d have to ask him if he was allowed to have a registered firearm with his criminal history. The rest of Vanguard—or so it seemed—poured out of the other doors. She could picture them in her mind, running out like ants as they ran down the left side of the building to the front corner.
Peter peered around.
Gunshots filled the air out front.
“I don’t see Liam.” Peter pulled back. “But if he’s in that car, he’s pinned down.”
“Let’s go.”
The person behind them said, “I’ll cover you.”
Bullets slammed into the side of the car that Liam had driven her home in last night. She was the one who was supposed to be in danger, not him.
Peter ran for the cover of the car, and she raced after him, keeping her eyes open. She spotted movement in the Hummer and fired at the window. Someone poked their head up on the far side, gun in hand. Her round hit the metal under the bottom ledge of the window.
They ducked behind the car. A round hit the roof right in front of where she’d been standing.
She let out a breath. “At least four, with the two in there.” One guy was firing at the car and the Vanguard building from over the hood, another from over the roof near the driver’s side door.
“Copy that.” Peter held the buttons on the side of his phone like a walkie-talkie and relayed that. Simon’s voice responded.
Roxie eased past him and pulled the door handle up. From her crouched position, she had to reach up to it, then scoot out of the way so she could get the door open. Liam lay slumped on the seat. She spotted blood on his side, just below his ribs. Had the bullet gone into his stomach?
Roxie gasped. “Liam?!”
She turned to Peter. “Cover me. He’s hit!”
She heard him relaying that information as the world around her blurred into sights and sensations. No idea what she did with her gun, but she got both hands under his arms, grabbed hard, and slid his upper body onto the passenger seat.
Roxie gritted her teeth. She needed to stand up so she could get him all the way out and get under him. She’d have to carry him.
Roxie shifted back on her behind and pulled him out of the car on top of her. He stirred. “I’ve got you.” To Peter, she said, “Check that his feet aren’t twisted or caught.”
He reached in. “Clear.”
Roxie backed up in a scoot and pulled him with her. Liam lay on top of her. “We need cover. And he needs a medic.” She twisted and looked at the building. “Medic!”
“Inside.” Peter glanced to the side. “Cops.”
She heard the sirens then. Someone who was set up at a window inside squeezed off a shot with a sniper rifle. Then another person. Inside the Hummer, whoever they were screamed. The police sirens grew louder.
The Hummer door slammed, the engine revved, and they pulled out.
Making a run from a greater force?
She said, “Are we clear?”
