Page 92 of Redemption in the Dark (The Righteous 5)
“Hang on to something,” he said, and Maeve grabbed the holy shit handle above the door and pushed herself back into the seat.
At the last possible second, he flicked on the high beams and the floodlights that were on top of the truck. Two things happened at once. The first was that he achieved the desired effect he needed, and the two trucks coming at him swerved, leaving a wide gap for the Hummer to get through. The second was that he decided to continue driving straight. He realized why they’d slowed down. A spike strip had been laid out before the access road. There was no stopping the momentum of the Hummer, and he hung on tight as they hit the spikes.
The popping sound of the tires was as loud as Maeve’s scream. He aimed the Hummer to go between the two trucks and hit one of the mirrors. The sound of the metal scraping was loud as the two military-grade vehicles scraped together. The tires were designed to travel a short distance if damaged, but he could already feel the vehicle getting sloppy in his hands.
This was not how he saw their story ending.
He looked over at Maeve, and as their eyes met, the Hummer jerked hard, the back end swinging wildly. Sparks flew into the air as the last of the tire’s rubber ripped off the rims. He tried to hold the vehicle steady on the road, but there was no controlling it now, and as the rims hit the soft shoulder, the Hummer flew off the road heading for the steep embankment. Reaching out, he held his arm over Maeve in a last-ditch effort to protect her one last time.
Maeve clenched her eyes shut as they rolled over what she originally thought was going to be a ditch, but this area of the road was much steeper. They flipped and rolled and became ragdolls inside the vehicle. Her side window smashed out with a loud shattering sound, and she clung to Wolf’s arm across her chest.
She’d never forget the sound crushing metal made as they continued to roll before finally coming to a halt with a sudden jerk. They were upside down. She was disoriented and most likely had a concussion, but by some miracle didn’t seem to have anything broken. She tested her arms and legs, and they moved freely in the dimly lit truck. She pushed on the button to release her buckle but couldn’t get it to unlock.
“Fuck, Waya.” She jabbed her thumb at the button and had to calm herself from having a full meltdown. “Please wake up,” she said, looking over at Waya, who hadn’t moved.
A flash caught her attention, and she looked out her broken window to see lights headed her way. The sound of someone yelling out orders pierced through the ringing in her ears.
“Waya,” she said and pushed on his arm. “Please wake up. I need you.”
Only a little moan escaped his lips and nothing more. At least he was alive.
“His knife, grab his knife,” she said. The sound of her own voice was comforting, and it helped her to focus by talking shit through.
She fumbled in the dark to find the knife he always wore at his waist and almost cheered as her fingers slipped around the handle. Pulling the blade free, she braced one hand on the roof and began to cut the straps holding her in place.
As the voices outside became louder, her hand worked furiously to saw through the seatbelt. A soft thudding noise echoed as she landed and quickly righted herself. It was a strange sensation to be inside a vehicle that was upside down. Duke was laying not far off, and in the last few minutes of chaos, she’d forgotten about him.
“Oh no, Duke, no, please.” She reached out and touched his side and couldn’t tell if he was injured, but his chest was rising and falling, so she took that as a good sign. Male voices were getting closer, and she was unsure how to release Wolf without hurting him further.
She crawled under his hanging body and pushed her back up into his chest before feeling for the two straps holding him to the seat. She sliced through the first one, and he moaned as his chest pressed harder into her back. Bright flashlights were almost on top of them, so she quickly finished cutting the remaining strap holding Wolf. She almost collapsed with the heaviness of his dead weight pushing her down, but with sheer willpower and her spiking adrenaline, she managed to lower him to the floor and slip out from under his body.
He was lying awkwardly, and she moved his head enough so that she could check for a pulse. Her hands were shaking too much to tell, but she was pretty sure that she could feel his breath on her hand. Taking a few extra seconds, she ripped the bloodied shirt sleeve off and quickly tied it tight around the injured bullet hole wound that was still bleeding.
“I love you, Waya,” she said softly and laid a kiss on his forehead. “You better fucking live, do you hear me? Live for me, live for us. Live for your family. I will hold onto every second we spent together until we see one another again, and we will see each other again. Just live.”
She knew what she had to do. It was the only thing she could do to save them both. Pulling on the glove compartment, she yanked it open, and the gun fell out. Grabbing the weapon, she checked to see if it was loaded and then crawled out the vehicle’s window as the men reached the bottom of the steep slope. Five men were standing around and staring at her with bright lights attached to helmets on their heads, and more men were still at the top of the bank.
“So, is this where you kill me,” she asked, playing stupid.
The man in the front of the group snorted. “Orders have changed. We’re to bring you to our boss.”
“And who exactly is that,” she asked but was pretty sure she knew who it was.
“That information is on a need-to-know basis, but I must say you’ve proven to be a real pain in my ass,” the one guy said and stepped forward from the line.
He wasn’t overly tall but had a wide build with a square jaw that made her think he looked like a bulldog.
“Oh really? And here I was thinking the same fucking thing about all of you,” she shot back. “What the fuck do you want anyway? Is your boss so bored that he sends highly trained soldiers to chase down one lowly girl?”
There was no way in hell she was going to tell anyone she had her memories back or let them think she knew why they might want her.
“Nice try. All you need to know is that I follow orders and the orders were to kill you, but now they’re to capture you.” He turned to one of the other men and nodded his head toward the Hummer. “Kill him, and we’ll take her.”
She whipped out the gun that she’d been hiding behind her back, and all the men froze as she put it to her own temple. “One more step, and I pull the trigger.”
“You won’t kill yourself. Keep going,” the leader said, and she cocked the hammer. Once more, they all froze in position.
“You think so? Fucking try me. You kill him, and I have nothing to live for, and I’m one of those crazy fucks that will do what I say I will. But by all means, go ahead and kill him and find out what happens. I’m sure that whoever you’re working for would be thrilled after all the time, money and effort you’ve put into capturing me.”
