Page 137 of The Heart

I see one of the riders pull something from their back.

“Gun!” I shout. Sebastian immediately swerves and the bullets scatter on the pavement instead of our vehicle.

“Good call,” he says, speeding up until we’re just out of range. The dual-sport motorcycles struggle to keep up, but this road is relatively straight with no cars in sight. Which means there are no quick turns that would help shake them.

All of a sudden, a vehicle skids onto the road behind the bikes, and I can’t help my smile when I see that it’s Luke.

He quickly closes the gap. I watch as his SUV bumps one of their back tires, then swerves out of the way as bike and rider go tumbling behind him.

Four.

He does the same to the next.

Three.

Before Luke can move closer to the others, one of the riders starts firing their weapon and he’s forced to pull back.

I hold onto the door handle, and my sanity, as we go around a tight curve.

“Fuck!” Sebastian groans, drawing my attention to the moving train blocking our path up ahead. I tighten my grip as he slams on the breaks. The back end of our vehicle loses traction, skidding around behind us as Sebastian works to regain control. Finally, we come to a jarring stop no more than a few yards from the screeching metal barreling past.

I stare wide-eyed.

“Get down!” Sebastian shouts, and I somehow manage to duck just before the bullets pierce through the vehicle, shattering our front windshield.

The second we stop taking fire, Sebastian unclips his seatbelt and pulls the gun from his waistband.

“Stay there!” he barks, throwing himself out the door. I watch him crouch, gun trained on the bikes as I hear what I have to assume is Luke coming around the corner, tires screeching across the pavement as he tries to stop. I peek out my window, watching as he maneuvers the SUV away so it doesn’t hit us. The back tires slide off the road into a ditch.

I watch, helpless, then let out a relieved breath when Luke gets out unharmed, using the door as a shield as he and Sebastian fire on the remaining three riders.

I rest my hand on my own weapon, waiting for the sound of gunshots to stop.

After several long minutes, it’s all over.

“Hart! Time to go!” I hear Sebastian shout. I’m out of the car in a second and making my way around the vehicle, my own weapon raised.

I wonder why we aren’t getting back into our car, until I see that the volley of bullets took out at least two of the tires. My heart sinks, looking over at Luke’s vehicle that also isn’t going anywhere anytime soon and wondering how the fuck we’re going to get out of this one. Because the truck tailing us before can’t be too far behind.

Then I see three dead bodies.

Three motorcycles.

Three of us.

Fuck.

Sebastian is already wearing a helmet, straddling one of the bikes.

“Hop on, sugar,” he calls out, and I run toward him.

Then I move right past him.

Fuck no, I’m not getting on the back of a bike if he’s the one driving.

“Leena! What are you doing?” he shouts after me, but I ignore him and holster my weapon.

I stand in a pool of blood, then quickly unbuckle the helmet strap from under the dead man’s chin.

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