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It smelled like gas, which created new worry."Okay.I'll get out and open your door."
"Where's my bag?"
He looked around and saw it on the ground where he'd landed, along with his backpack and her phone, all of which had flown out of the car when his door had broken open.
"Let me get you out of here, and then I'll get our stuff."
Backing out of the car, he ran around to the driver's side.She'd already managed to get the door partway open, and he helped her squeeze out of the vehicle.
Once on her feet, he put his arm around her and moved her away from the vehicle in case it caught fire.Then he ran back to retrieve their things.
"I can't believe we survived," she murmured, when he returned."Look at the car.How is it possible we're alive?"
"I don't know.We got lucky."
She turned her head toward the top of the hill."I can't see the road.There are too many bushes."
"That's probably what buffeted our fall," he said.
"What about the men who shot at us and ran us off the road?Will they come back?"
"I think they're long gone," he reassured her, hoping that was true.
"I don't understand, Nick.Did they think we had a painting in the car?Did they just want to destroy it and didn't care if we died in the process?"
He shook his head as he gently flicked some glass out of her hair."No, Isabella.This wasn't about getting or destroying a painting."
She gazed into his eyes."They just wanted to kill us, didn't they?"
"Yes.Someone doesn't like the questions we're asking or the search we're on.They want to stop us."
She took a breath."Okay.Well, no one has tried to kill me for asking questions before, so this is a first."
"And a last.As soon as we get out of here, you're going back to the States."
"What are you going to do?"
"Find and punish whoever ran us off the road and whoever ordered them to kill us."
"That's what I want to do, too."
"You can't.You're hurt.You could have died, Isabella.I don't think that has sunk in yet, but when I saw you unconscious and slumped over the steering wheel, I was afraid that you were gone."
"I'm sorry I scared you, Nick."
"You don't have to apologize.You just have to go home.I clearly cannot protect you," he said, anger in his voice now, as he mentally kicked himself once more for not having foreseen this outcome."When you got off the highway, I had a bad feeling.I should have listened to my gut."
"There was an accident, a delay.What does that have to do with anything?"She paused, thinking for a moment."It was a setup?"
"Maybe.Or it might have just provided a good opportunity to take us out.Either way, it was a dangerous move.We should have stayed on the main road, no matter how slow it was."
"Well, I was driving, so that's on me."
"Isabella—"
She held up her hand."We can keep fighting about this, Nick.But not now.Let's focus on getting out of here.It's pretty steep.I don't know if I can climb the hill."
He knew she thought she'd won, and maybe that was fine for now, because she was right, they needed to get out of here.He pulled out his phone and tried to make a call for help, but he still didn't have a signal."Nothing," he said.
