Page 37 of Fatal Strike
A shot rang out from about fifty feet on their right. Dylan ducked. Then another shot. Weapons drawn, Jon and Leah raced from the first row of parked vehicles toward Dylan, moving between cars.
“FBI. Stop! Dylan, take cover.” Jon then shouted for the crowd to stay back.
Screams rose through the rain. Dylan pulled a firearm and fired repeatedly at two men who made their way his direction. More could be waiting for an opportunity to pull the trigger.
Jon zigzagged through parked cars with the intent of stopping the shooters. Who were they? Leah bent and moved through another row of vehicles. Their unspoken goal was to approach Dylan from opposite sides and keep him alive. If given a clear shot at whoever was after him, he and Leah would take it. “Stay down,” Jon said to Dylan.
“So you can kill me?” Dylan crouched low and stepped back. “I’m not a fool.”
Another round of shots burst into the air.
Leah kept circling toward Dylan.
An SUV sped through the parking lot with its lights off.
Jon called out a warning, and Leah cleared the vehicle’s path within seconds before it passed. Jon shouted again for bystanders to move out of the path of the oncoming SUV. But their presence hindered an immediate takedown of the two shooters.
Shots fired wildly from the two men and those inside the SUV. Screams erupted from the panic-stricken crowd. Leah raced after two teen girls and shoved them down beside a car.
The approaching SUV slammed on its brakes several feet past Jon and Leah, as though protecting the two shooters. The men emerged from the darkness and climbed inside. Shots continued to explode from the vehicle. Leah ran across the narrow pavement separating a row of parked vehicles from Jon’s truck and took aim from the driver’s side front tire. She shattered the SUV’s rear window glass.
Dylan had disappeared in the melee. Jon joined Leah and tossed her his keys. “Start the truck. I’ll cover you.” He fired against a barrage of bullets. The shooters weren’t getting away easily. He pelted the rear and side of the SUV’s frame while it zoomed ahead.
Leah climbed inside his truck and slid it into reverse. The moment Jon opened the passenger door, she stepped on the gas and whipped around in pursuit of the SUV. Sirens pierced the night sky. A squad car fell in behind them after the SUV—headed east on Harborside Drive.
Those inside the SUV fired from the broken rear window. A bullet fractured Jon’s windshield and zinged between him and Leah.
Close. Jon shot a glance at Leah. Her eyes were fixed on the street and the taillights of the SUV. Her foot pressed the gaspedal while the truck wove in and around traffic. Wiper blades swished over spidered glass.
“Do I make you nervous?” She veered around a motorcycle.
“I’d rather be at the wheel.”
“You gave me the job.” She sped through a red light in a protest of car horns and squealing brakes, holding the truck steady on the wet pavement. The SUV ran a second light as a car entered the intersection, forcing Leah to brake. She then zipped around the car and on through the red light. Ahead the SUV whirled right onto Eighteenth Street.
He wished for the hundredth time he was in control. “Forget my truck. Get these guys. They’ve done enough damage.”
The SUV raced across the divided Broadway Avenue. The Gulf would soon be in view. She jammed the gas, closing the distance between the vehicles. The SUV swung left along Seawall Boulevard.
A man was walking across the busy boulevard. She whipped a sharp right to avoid hitting him and then yanked the truck back onto the street. The delay cost them ground.
Jon stole a look at multiple police cruisers behind them. “The only way these guys are getting away is to swim.”
“Let them try.”
He couldn’t help but admire her tenacity. Tough gal. Then it hit him. “They have a boat.” He made a quick call to Everson to relay that the SUV was heading toward the rocky end of the island.
“Don’t be heroes,” Everson said.
Leah kept pace.
Jon held his breath with his hand wrapped around his Glock. The road cleared, and he leveled three shots into the back of the SUV. A single bullet responded.
He hoped Everson had told the cops behind them he was one of the good guys.
The SUV hit the end of the road and spun sideways. Four figures emerged and scurried down the embankment to the rocky beach. Jon could see the outline of a speedboat bobbing in the water. He leaped from the truck after them before Leah stopped. She shone the headlights on the escaping men.
Gunfire erupted from the boat, breaking both truck headlights.
