Page 98 of Ace of Shadows
“Oh, my God!”
“It’s okay. We’re okay. Call someone,” Ruslan orders, his voice breathless but calm. “Please.”
“I got it. I got it.” Tapping the app again, the screen goes black for a second, then Valentina’s voice rises from the speaker.
“Hello?”
“Code red,” Ruslan yells as one of the pursuing vehicles rams into us from behind. “I need an exit, Valentina. Now!”
“Shit.” Her soft curse is the last thing I hear for several seconds, so I lean forward and slot Ruslan’s phone into the holder next to the GPS. “Alright, Raven’s got you. What the hell is going on?”
“Fuck knows,” Ruslan barks. “Cassian called with a warning, but the call got cut off. I need someone to check on him.”
“I’ll alert Bradley. Where are you going?”
“At this point? I’m just driving. I need an out, Valentina.” We skid around corners, weave through busy streets to the music of angry drivers and blaring horns, and race through red lights that leave skid marks and crashes behind us.
Not once do the two remaining cars let up. Their drivers are just as skilled as Ruslan and even more reckless.
“Take a left here,” Valentina instructs. “Guide them to the edge of the city. I’m sending a team to meet up with you. It’ll be tough, but you have to make it as far out of the city as you can.”
“Easier said than done,” Ruslan grunts.
“What can I do?” I gasp, my voice quavering as my heart pounds like it’s trying to break free from my ribcage.
Ruslan’s attention locks onto me for half a second. “Trust me,” is all he says.
Valentina barks out instructions for Ruslan, where to go, when to turn, what alley to take to try and lose the chase. Each time the pursuing cars fall behind and it seems like we have a second to breathe, they find us again. It would be exhilarating if it wasn’t so fucking terrifying every time one car slams into ours.
Then they grow impatient. It becomes painfully obvious that shooting won’t take us off the road, and shunting us around like a hockey puck isn’t doing much good either. The two cars fall back for a second, but just as those words leave Ruslan’s lips for Valentina, they both surge forward and one races past us to get in front.
“Valentina, where’s the team!” Ruslan yells, steering us violently back onto the sidewalk and through a crowd of screaming people who thankfully sprint out of the way in time.
“Two minutes,” comes Valentina’s reply. “You’ve got this, Ruslan. You’ve got this.”
Her words ring in my ears as Ruslan turns us down another alley, deafening me as we smash through trash cans and garbage built up at the edge. As we race out of the mouth of the alley, the car that managed to get in front of us and vanish slams headfirst into the side of our car.
I scream in fright. Ruslan yells as we’re shunted violently to one side, then our car catches on something and for several terrifying seconds, we’re in the air. I rise out of my seat, caught in place only by the seatbelt across my chest. Ruslan’s arm shoots out to grab me and as he makes contact, we’re suspended in the air.
It’s half a second and yet when our eyes meet, it lasts a lifetime. Oddly, the only thing I can focus on is how fluffy his hair looks as he spins through the air.
“Ruslan!” My head snaps to the side, colliding with the window and for a second, everything is quiet.
The car lands on its roof with a sickening crunch of metal and glass. My stomach rolls violently and bile burns the bottom ofmy throat as I dangle from my seatbelt, upside down with my blood thundering in my ears.
There’s no time.
No sooner have I dragged in my first strained breath than both our doors are ripped open. Multiple hands drag at me, pulling at my limbs and my clothes, and then my hair when the seatbelt prevents me from being dragged out of the car.
Angry, indecipherable yells reach my ears and I glimpse Ruslan being subject to the same treatment, only he’s dragged immediately from the car because he didn’t put on his seatbelt.
Idiot.
Finally, the fabric around my shoulder snaps and I’m dragged out of the car wreck, dizzy from being upside down. I land face-first on a grassy, sloped embankment, and the bile resting at the base of my throat rushes out of me with several coughs and gags. Those around me don’t care. As I’m gagging, hands grab under my arms, at my clothes and my waist, and I’m dragged up the embankment.
Did we really fall that far? It didn’t feel like we were in the air that long, but as I’m dragged, kicking and screaming, to the top of the embankment, it’s clear that not only did we flip over, but we rolled down the hill. Warm blood trickles down my cheek as I’m thrown to my knees.
The trailing cars are parked haphazardly in the street. There are more men than I can count and they stand around holding guns and rifles. Shaking my head, I try to shove away the hand firmly clamped around the back of my neck while scanning desperately for Ruslan.
