From the phone, I could hear Jake. “How’d he know your hair used to be blonde?”

“Shut up. One crisis at a time here. Did you not just see that Raize crawled out of their truck and crawled back in through the window?!” Ash’s voice was rising.

“Yeah.” Jake laughed. “That was awesome.”

Cavers snorted, but must’ve taken the phone. His voice was more clear, closer. “What do you want us to do, boss?”

“I’m going to ram him, see what he’ll do. If you see an exit, take it.”

“You serious?”

I got behind the green car, hit the turn signal, and said, “Yes.”

Then I hit the accelerator.

ASH

I did not like this. Not one bit.

Panic was rising up in me, clawing over my throat.

I’d just watched Raize go out of their truck and slide back inside, from the outside. Which meant he’d been on the outside of a moving vehicle. And we weren’t taking a Sunday drive here. Speeds were interstate speeds. That meant hella-freaking-fast!

It was insane.

Crazy! Abram was right.

I wanted to murder Raize myself.

And then we proceeded to watch as he hit the back of the green car.

A bump, then he fell back and I knew he was waiting.

My heart was trying to pump out of me. “Oh my gawd, Raize. I’m going to kill you.”

I couldn’t handle this.

The green car swerved, ran onto the shoulder, then over-corrected and went into the passing lane. All the while, Raize’s truck held back, waiting, being so controlled.

Once the green car was back on the highway, Raize was right behind it. Another bump, not as gentle as the first one. And again, he fell back to see the reaction.

He didn’t wait long.

A gunshot sounded from the green car, and after that, it was over for him.

Raize rammed the car sideways, herding it off the highway and into the ditch. He kept pushing it. More gunshots came out and Raize’s front window shattered.

Someone was screaming.

Probably me.

I could just make out the tops of Abram and Raize’s sister’s heads. They were crouched down, but Abram had a gun pointing over the dashboard, aimed out. I could see Raize directing him where to shoot, and I saw him say, “Now!”

A shot went out.

I couldn’t watch this.

No way.

My hands were over my face, my fingers spread wide.

Oh my gawd.

Oh my God!

The green car jerked to the side, then Raize backed off and let it ram to a stop at the bottom of the ditch. There were giant rocks on the side. The car scraped against them. Once the car stopped, Raize braked abruptly behind it, the truck half blocking the car from any onlookers, and he was out and running to check on the driver.

His gun was drawn, pointing.

Abram ran out from the other side. As Raize approached from the far side, Abram moved in from the south.

Cavers was cursing, wheeling our own truck over and we all piled out.

“Clear!” Raize yelled at the same time as Abram and both went into the car.

The door was yanked open.

Raize was checking on the guy, but as I started to stop and see what I could do, Cavers grabbed my elbow. He pulled me with him.

Jake was ahead of us.

Gus—GUS! Where was Gus? But he was right beside me. Then he was darting forward, barking by Jake’s heels.

That’s when I got what Jake and Cavers were doing. They were grabbing anything that was in Raize’s truck. His sister started screaming at the sight of both of them, but they ignored her, grabbing the bags and sprinting back to the truck.

Raize had pulled the guy out, laying him on the side of the road by now.

Abram was inside the car.

But then I was at the opened side door and Raize’s sister was staring at me, tears streaked over her face. She was trembling.

Two hands reached inside my chest, took hold of my heart, and began squishing it together.

I was almost crying for her.

She was muttering something in Spanish. I couldn’t make it out, but I edged closer and held up a hand. “I’m a friend of Raize’s. Abram’s, too.”

At Abram’s name, she quieted and looked at the car.

She blinked a few more times and straightened with each one. I knew what she was seeing. She was seeing her brother, but she was seeing Jake and Cavers running behind him and her brother not being alarmed by them. And he’d had us on speaker so she knew they were traveling with another vehicle.

I edged closer, my hand steady. “Come with me? Por favor?”

Jake darted in, grabbed a bag around me, and sprinted right back.

Cavers did the same from the other side of her, and by the time they were back for another trip, her hand was in mine and I had her out of the truck. We ran to the other one and climbed in.

After that, Cavers grabbed some gasoline. He went back and doused the other.

Raize and Abram were carrying the other guy with them, putting him into the back of ours and Cavers was dousing the car, too.

Blankets were pulled out, and spread out in the back. The guy was hoisted up.

Jake yelled at Raize, “Who do you want to drive?”

Raize was still bent over the guy, but looked up, checking out where we were.

He grimaced, then motioned for me. “You need to be on the outside. V on the inside.” He hopped off the truck and grabbed the keys Jake was holding out for him.

I motioned for her to step out. She did, barely reacting. As soon as my feet touched gravel, she was going around me and into the middle. I hopped up, shutting the door.

He came in, starting the engine. “Lock your door, Ash.”

I did.

V blinked again, looking between him and me.

I had no idea what was going on in her head.

Jake and Abram both hopped into the back, and Raize started edging forward.

Cavers had been waiting, but he lit a spark and tossed it into one car, then another.

Both were steadily smoking when he jumped in the back.

Raize hit the acceleration and we gunned forward.

We’d gone half a mile when the first car exploded.

A second one followed almost right after.

Then we were off, because who knew who that would attract.

57

Ash

We were off on the first exit, and driving as fast as we could down the back roads.

Once we hit the next big city, Raize pulled into a run-down motel. We got a room, and he pulled the truck to the back. No one said a word, Abram included. He was moving right along with everyone as bags were taken in. They brought the guy in, hands tied, duct-taped and a bag over his head, but he wasn’t moving. He was breathing so that meant he was still unconscious.

Jake was sent out to buy another cheap vehicle with cash. The faster the better, and once inside the room, Raize hit the showers first. I went with him, but we were all business. A few slips might’ve happened. He might’ve needed me to get a couple extra spots, and vice versa.

Both of us were grinning when we stepped outside, but then we were changing into new clothes.

Abram jumped in after.

V waited, sitting in the corner on one of the beds.

Cavers was after Abram.

I didn’t know the extent of how much English V might know. I was assuming she knew some since she understood me earlier, and also Raize, but still, I was going with what was the simplest action. I took out some extra clothes and handed them to her, giving her a nod and a small grin when she looked at them.