Chapter 20

chapter Twenty

THE SINGLE BULLET CUT A PATH straight down the center of the minivan, exiting out through the windshield. For a moment, none of us did anything but stare at the hole and the spreading spiderweb of cracks radiating out from it.

"Holy sh-!" Liam threw the car into forward, slamming his foot down all the way on the gas. He seemed to have forgotten that we were in a Dodge Caravan and not a BMW, because it went from zero to sixty in what felt like thirty minutes. Black Betty's body began to shake, rattling from more than just the holes and cracks in the road.

I whirled around, searching for Rob's SUV, but the car behind us was a bright red pickup truck, and the man leaning out of the passenger window of the truck, rifle in hand, was not Rob.

"I told you!" Chubs yelled. "I told you they were skip tracers!"

"Yes, you were right," Liam yelled right back. "But could you try to be useful, too?"

He jerked the car left, just as the man fired off another shot. It must have gone wide, because it never hit the car, not that I could tell. He fired again, and that bullet had far better luck; it slammed into Black Betty's bumper. We felt the hit like a brick to the back; every single one of us let out a sharp gasp. In Chubs's case, he moaned and crossed himself.

Zu was slouched down in her seat, her chest pressed against her knees. Her hood hid her face, but it couldn't mask the way her entire body shook. I put a hand on her back, holding her down.

Another bang sounded behind us, but this time, it wasn't a gunshot.

"What in the" Liam risked a look back over his shoulder. "Are you kidding me?"

My heart fell like a stone into my stomach. The red truck jolted forward, and I saw the driver-a dark haired woman with glasses-tug the wheel to the side, trying to shake the truck free from the tan SUV that had rammed into it. I didn't need to see who was driving it to know who that vehicle belonged to: Cate and Rob. But, then, who was in the pickup truck?

"It is her!" Chubs cried. "I told you! She found us!"

"Then who's the guy with the gun?" Liam cried. "Her boyfriend?"

The man who had fired at us turned his attention to taking out the SUV behind him, twisting around in the window. He lasted half a breath. A gunshot from the SUV clipped him in the chest and sent an explosive spray of blood into the air. The crack of the next bullet sent the shooter's lifeless body sliding out of the passenger window of the truck. The driver-the woman-didn't so much as look back at him.

I watched the red truck finally break away from the SUV's front bumper. With both of its back tires blown out, it swerved into the other lane, spinning out, until it came to a jolting stop on the shoulder of the highway.

"That's one," I heard Liam say. I turned back, fully expecting to see Rob's gun trained on me through the blown-out back windshield of our van. Only, Rob was behind the wheel.

Cate was the one in the passenger seat, a rifle steady between her hands.

"Please, just let me go," I said, grabbing Liam's shoulder. "I'll go back with them. No one has to get hurt."

"Yes!" Chubs said. "Pull over, let her out!"

"Both of you shut up!" Liam said, throwing Black Betty into the right lane and then back into the left. The SUV followed us, more than keeping up. I couldn't tell if we had slowed down, or if they had somehow gunned it harder, because in the next breath, the SUV rammed into us, and not even the seat belts could keep us from jerking forward.

Liam muttered something under his breath, which was lost in the sudden onslaught of heavy rain. He rolled down his window and threw a hand outside, as if to motion for the SUV to go around us.

"Do something!" Chubs shouted, bracing his hands against the steering wheel. "I'm trying!" he said. "I can't concentrate!" He's trying to use his abilities. The realization crept up through my terror. The fat droplets splattering the window blurred the trees around us, but Liam didn't bother with the wipers. If he had, he might have seen the other car blazing toward us from the opposite direction. Its horn screeched to life and woke Liam from his trance. The minivan swerved back into the right lane, narrowly missing a head-on collision with the sedan. If that little car hadn't slammed on its brakes, the SUV would have plowed right into it, too. Both Zu and I whirled around just in time to see the SUV swerve back into the right lane. Rob managed to recover quickly, and they were speeding toward us again before we had a chance to catch our breaths. "Liam," I begged. "Please, just pull over. I won't let them do anything to you!" I don't want to go back. I don't want to go back. I don't want to I squeezed my eyes shut. "Green!' Liam's voice cut into my thoughts. "Can you drive?" "No-" "Can you see better than Chubs?" "Maybe, but-" "Great!" he said, reaching back for my arm. "Come on up to the captain's seat." He snorted, even as another bullet pinged against Black Betty's metal skin. "Come on, it's just like riding a bike. Right pedal is gas to go, left is brake, steer with wheel. That's all you need to know." "Wait!" But apparently, I didn't get a say in the matter. He swerved back into the left lane just as the SUV came up for another tap. Instead of speeding up, his foot came down hard on the brake. Black Betty skidded to a halt, and the SUV blew right by us. It happened too fast for me to put up any kind of fight. He unsnapped his seat belt and pulled me toward the driver's seat just as he stood from it. The car rolled forward on its own accord and I panicked, slamming my foot down on what I thought was the brake pedal. Black Betty leaped forward, and this time I was the one that screamed. "Brake is on the left!" Liam flew against the dashboard as the SUV recovered. I heard its tires scream as Rob turned the truck around and kicked up the speed. "Hit the gas!" "Why can't he drive?" I asked in a strangled voice. Chubs pushed the passenger's seat back far enough for him to climb over it into the back, and Liam took Chubs's seat. "Because," he said, rolling down the window, "he can barely see five feet in front of him. Trust me, you don't want him to drive, darlin'. Now- hit the gas !" I did as I was told. The car sprung forward again, sending my heart up into my throat. The wheels spun against the wet asphalt. Liam was half hanging out of the window, half sitting on it. "Faster!" he said. The rain fell thick and heavy, but the SUV's headlights pierced the mist as I drove the van straight toward them. We were going so fast that the steering wheel shook in my hands, jerking around like it had a life of its own. I bit back a frustrated scream and tried to let up on the gas, but Liam wasn't having it. "No, keep going!" "Lee," Chubs was hunched over in his seat. "This is insane-what are you doing?" He had been so quiet that I'd almost forgotten he was in the van. With the speedometer creeping past eighty, ninety, ninety-five, I wasn't remembering much at all.