Page 2 of Twilight Tactics

The black SUV surged forward, right on their tail, then pulled up beside them. Piper gasped. “Is he positioning for a PIT maneuver?”

Sure looked like it to him.

With impact imminent, Sully accelerated and steered slightly toward the shoulder of the road.

When the hit on their rear quarter panel came, his SUV spun, but because of his countermeasures, he was able to gain control after a 360 that left him slightly dizzy. Somehow, he was still on the road and heading in the direction of the ranch with the black SUV falling behind them.

“Ollie, you okay?” Piper asked.

“Still in one piece.” Her small but sure voice came from the back seat.

The wind from the open window whipped around them, and Sully mentally flipped through plans. They couldn’t outrun them much longer. Whoevertheywere, they had fast cars. And knew how to execute PIT maneuvers.

That worried him. He glanced in the rearview mirror once more. “We passed an old barn a while back. With an overgrown access road.”

“Yeah,” Piper said, “I saw it.”

“I’m going to go for that. I have an idea.”

“What?”

“Hang on.” He slowed and made a quick U-turn. The sedan shot past with a squeal of brakes. Sully glanced in the rearview mirror to see the car barely avoid the SUV doing its own U-turn.

“I don’t know about this, Sully,” Piper said. “They could split up and cut us off.”

“Maybe. Or they’ll just follow us.”

“What are you thinking?”

“Flash-bangs are in the back, right?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Then I’ve got a plan.”

“All right then. Let me know my part when it’s time.”

Ollie sat up and her slender fingers pressed into his shoulder. “Sully—”

“Not now, kiddo. Get back down and stay there, okay?”

She did as he said. “I’m scared.”

“I am too, but we’re going to fight our way out of this and be just fine. Got it?”

“Sure.” Her dubious tone conveyed what she really thought.

But she didn’t know everything that was going through Sully’s head right now, and that was the mantra that he could not fail.Wouldnot fail.

Not this time.

Please, God, let this work.

“Sully’s really good at this,” Piper said. “He won’t let anything happen to us. My daughter, Hannah, thinks he’s a superhero in disguise.”

“How old is Hannah again?” Ollie asked.

“Sixteen.”