Page 114 of Beautiful Dangerous

I quickly turn around, shove the gun down the back of my jeans and pick up the rifle.

“Take the tires out. That should buy us some time.”

My first shot hits the front tire, but it also invites another round of retaliation, a hail of bullets ricocheting off the back of the truck. But I don’t hesitate, don’t take another breath, I fire off another round, taking out the second front tire, the pick-up now swerving dangerously, sparks flying up from the tarmac as it careers across the road.

“I can see the airfield! Here!” He throws the radio into my lap. “Tell them to stand by.”

I pick up the radio, issue the instruction, and then I sit back and finally take a breath, my eyes focused on the lights of the airfield as they draw closer.

Behind us I can still hear weapons being fired, the incessant rattling of their machine-guns, they’re not giving up without a fight. But I never thought they would.

“We’re almost there. Just a few more minutes and we’ll be out of here.”

I look at him, and I smile, despite the pain now coursing down my left arm. He’s right. Just a few more minutes…

“Jesus, these bastards are persistent.” Lucca puts his foot down, but it’s almost impossible to go any faster than we already are, so it’s no surprise when another hail of bullets rattles off against the back of the truck, but thanks to them now driving on no front tires, they’re slowing down. And I begin to let myself feel a tiny glimmer of hope, that we can actually get out of here, and I don’t know where we’re going, but I don’t care. As long as it’s away from here; from Javier, from this fucked-up life, I’m good with anywhere but here.

We’re almost at the entrance to the airfield when we hear it – a noise that drowns out any gunfire, and I look back out of the window to see the pick-up flip up onto its roof, bumping along the middle of the road before it finally lands on its side with a deafening thud.

“It hit that car, by the side of the road,” Lucca points out, and I can only hope that the car was empty. “And that’s bought us more time. Come on. Let’s go.”

He’s about to drive off when I – for some reason I can’t explain – reach out and put my hand over his. “No. Wait a second.”

“Jesus, Liv…”

“Listen.”

An almost foreboding silence fills the air. A dark, terrifying silence, nothing but the hissing of the severely damaged pick-up, it’s nothing more than a heap of tangled metal now. It feels like the world has suddenly stood still. Like everything’s come to a stop, nothing is moving. Nothing is happening.

But it will.

It’s going to…

“We need to get out of here.” Lucca’s fingers tighten around the steering wheel, and I pull my hand away from his. “If anyone’s still alive in there…”

“Do you think anyone could’ve survived that?”

“People survive all kinds of shit in this world, Liv, but I’d really rather not hang around to find out if anyone survived that.”

I want to check. I want to make sure. I want to know if Javier was in there, in that pick-up, and if he was… I just want to know.

Why?

Get back in the fucking truck you crazy bitch!

“Liv! What the fuck are you doing…? Liv!”

I don’t know what kind of adrenaline I’m running on now, but I’m racing toward the pick-up, stopping to check that the car it ploughed into had nobody inside. It’s empty, which is a relief. Innocent people shouldn’t die because of our messed-up shit.

“Liv!” Lucca yells after me as I approach the battered pick-up, slowing down the closer I get. “Get back, Liv, come on! That could blow any second. It’s not safe.”

I ignore him. I’m doing this. And as I round the front of the truck there are two bodies strewn across the road, obviously having been flung out from the force of the crash. Broken bodies, their exposed skin covered in deep cuts and lacerations, limbs bent back in strange positions, rivers of blood seeping onto the tarmac.

“Liv, come on! The police’ll be here at some point, do you want Hawkins to catch us?”

“We haven’t done anything wrong, Lucca.”

I kick one of the bodies over and crouch down, dropping my head and sighing quietly. It’s Jorge. A man who spent so many years trying to protect me spent his last minutes on earth trying to kill me.

---