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I’m torn into pieces between what I know to do in this case and what I want to do. Isabella’s involvement makes it hard to think about the next step.
I haul myself into the passenger seat of Carter’s car, and he takes off with tires spinning through gravel before I have the door closed. The dashboard computer system is booted and shows a bright red dot traveling along the darkened roads.
“I didn’t expect her to go after him,” he mutters, along with a string of curses.
“I’ve been telling you not to underestimate her.”
“I know, and she doesn’t fucking listen. Does she realize what she’s walking into? For all we know, Prokhor has several contingency plans lined up in case things went wrong today.”
I swallow hard. “At least Froderick is dead.”
“Yes, and the team will be there in less than five to clean up.” Carter cuts the wheel to the left and sends us onto a service road heading parallel along the now silent train tracks. The last freight car rambled out of sight.
“We were right not to trust him,” I add, gripping the door when he took the next turn a little too quickly and sent the car skidding.
This ends tonight. No matter what we find when we corner Drago, it ends tonight, and I do not plan on letting anyone else get the jump on us again. Ever.
“They’re taking the backroads away from the cemetery, heading north.” My gaze tracks the dot on the screen. “Thank god we have Barry there.”
Carter says nothing. He focuses every bit of his attention on the road and maneuvering in the dark. In no time, we’ve ended up about two hundred feet behind Barry and Isabella. Prokhor is nothing but a dot of red taillights up ahead, barely in view.
My heart plummets toward my lower ribs. He knows he’s being followed and no doubt will take preventative measures. What kind of shit can we expect?
Something metallic pings off the car in front of us. Carter stays right on their tail, close enough to obscure the lights, and bullets rain down on both our vehicles. They sail high and take off the driver’s side mirror before blasting through one of the windows of the car in front of us.
“Isabella!” I roar out her name, craning forward.
“Hold on.” Carter shoots off-road, swerving into Barry with a crash of metal to avoid a young sapling growing stoutly in the ditch.
Gunfire continues to spray both of us, but he yanks the car back onto the road just behind Prokhor to act as a cover.
If she’s been hit, if I lose her…
Don’t think about it.
To lose her now would mean the complete destruction of my world. Fury overtakes fear, and the ice in my veins, the same thing I’ve used to get things done and cultivated into a weapon of its own, disappears.
Prokhor takes a right into a newly made suburban street that will one day soon be home to thousands of identical family homes. A large sign welcomes people to the future sight of Utopian Acres, offering affordable housing to new families.
At this point, only ten houses have been started. Knowing we’ve got him cornered, Drago pulls into one of the husks nearing the final stages of construction, screeching right into the space where the garage will be.
That son of a bitch.
I will leave a trail of bodies in my wake if anything happens to Isabella. I make the vow here.
Drago is out of the car with three of his men forming a wall of flesh between him and us. They fire a spray of bullets, and the pit of my stomach grows wider and darker as Barry pulls up behind us.
The second man in front switches his aim to the new vehicle, and more glass shatters.
While they have us at a standstill, Drago disappears into the house.
“You son of a bitch!” I yell. I’m out of the car a heartbeat later with my piece in front, ignoring the way Carter shouts for me to get back.
I feint to the left and force one of the guards to follow my movement before firing off a round of shots. One of them hits him in the knee, and the other grazes off his elbow and sends his next shot wide.
Carter takes care of the other two, but only the one I shot is left alive.
Isabella stumbles out of the car with blood dripping from her arm and her cheeks pale, her eyes semi-glazed when she falls against me.
