Page 86 of Explosive Vengeance

“Game over, asshole,” she grated out.

Meeting Dubois’ maniacal stare through the ruined windshield, she covered her head with her arms, opened her mouth to save her eardrums, and pressed the button.

****

“Goddamn it, Chloe,move!” Heath roared, firing at the Audi as he ran toward her. She was lying flat on her stomach on the grass, hadn’t moved even though death was racing right at her.

Blood roared in his ears, his heart in his throat. He’d had no choice but to take down the men coming at them. But Dubois’ car was fucking armored and then some. Nothing Heath did was even slowing him.

He watched in horror, totally helpless as the bastard sped at her.

A split second later, a deafening boom split the air. The shockwave knocked him off his feet, punched the air from his lungs as the Audi exploded in a ball of fire, launching off the ground.

And as he watched, Chloe flew backward and hit the ground on her side.

Stunned, Heath threw his rifle aside and shot to his feet, tearing over the damp grass toward her. “Chloe!” He screamed it, terror and anguish streaking through him.

Fuck, fuck, she’d been way too close to the blast, and she wasn’t moving.

His lungs heaved, his thighs burning as he sprinted for her, praying.Please be alive. Please, God, I need you to be alive.

Behind her at the foot of the slope, the Audi was a twisted mass of blackened steel, completely engulfed in flames. The stench of burning metal filled his nose, the heat scorching him as he approached Chloe.

He skidded to his knees at her side, raking his gaze over her as he took her face in his hands. “Chloe. Chloe, sweetheart, can you hear me? If you can hear me, open your eyes and look at me.” Her carotid pulse was strong. She was breathing. But she wasn’t responding.

He checked her neck and spine, looked for signs of internal bleeding, then ripped his phone from his pocket and called Trinity. She was the closest one to them. “We need a medevac chopper at the estate,” he ordered her. “Dubois is dead, but Chloe was hit in the blast wave.” His voice turned ragged. “She’s unresponsive.”

****

Clipped voices. Strange, unintelligible syllables.

Cold. Pain.

A constant, distant thudding in her ears. A rhythmic pulsing. Then hands touching her.

Agony forked through her skull. She screamed but it was swallowed by the heavy weight pressing her down, down, into the blackness. She instinctively fought against the blackness, afraid it might drown her. But the dark undertow was too strong. It sucked her under, swallowing her in its crushing depths.

Pain began to register. Sharp twinges radiating through her head and along her spine, pulling her up from the darkness.

“Chloe? Can you hear me?”

A low, quiet voice. Familiar, yet far away. And the pain was getting worse, making her want to curl into herself and sink back into the blackness.

“Hey. Firecracker, can you hear me?”

Her eyelids fluttered. She tried to open them, only to slam them shut when a blinding white pain stabbed through her skull.

Warm fingers curled around her hand. “Squeeze if you can hear me.”

Summoning her strength, she squeezed.

A sigh of relief gusted against her forehead. “Thank God.”

She licked her dry lips. “Heath?” she whispered, then wished she hadn’t, the spike of pain threatening to split her skull open.

“Yes. I’m here,” he whispered, his voice rough. “Don’t try to talk. You’re in the hospital. You’re hurt, but you’re going to be okay.”

Battling through the pain, she forced her eyes open. He was leaning over her, a big, blurry shadow in the darkened room. Trying to see him made her dizzy. Her mind was fuzzy, confused. She squinted, blinked to see him better and her vision cleared enough for her to see his big, relieved smile. “Hi.”

---