Page 42 of Nothing But the Night (Basic Instincts 2)

Jason feigned shock. “I never said that.”

“You didn’t have to. I get the message. And FYI, Chez Michelle is actually one of my favourites.”

Jason winked and knocked off his drink. He stood and hauled his jacket on. “Let’s go.”

It was a relief to step outside and find that it was not raining. This must have been the first day in weeks when it hadn’t poured, but there was a cold bite to the evening wind. Marc fastened his jacket to the neck. He was already looking forward to a hot meal, and hopefully afterwards, some hot action with Jason if he was up for it.

They put their hands in their pockets and crossed to the other side of the road.

“We can cut along Broad Street, past The New Inn, then up towards the centre,” Jason said.

“Didn’t you say it was unwise to walk around like this?”

“We should be okay. There are two of us and it’s still early.”

Marc exhaled. “It’s sad, isn’t it? That it should come to this. People afraid to walk about at night.”

“It is. In the last weeks before they caught the Strangler, these streets were crawling with police. Despite the continued hate crimes, they disappeared once they’d caught their Big Bad.”

They were deep in conversation and not paying attention to their surroundings when Marc’s senses suddenly prickled.

In the next second he heard the roar of a car engine.

He spun around to catch sight of blinding headlights rushing towards them.

He grabbed Jason and pulled him aside as the car mounted the kerb, coming straight at them along the pavement.

He caught a quick glimpse of a black car and darkened windows.

Then the vehicle struck. They were both tossed over the bonnet and the roof of the speeding car.

Chapter Sixteen

A Rush of Death

Jason realised what was about to happen a second before impact and prepared for the hit. He leapt into the air, avoiding the full force of the bumper, spinning across the window and roof before landing with a roll on the other side of the vehicle.

There was no time to stay down. Ignoring the pain in his shoulder and right side, he pushed into a crouch, and saw the fiery brake lights as the car came to a stop about fifty yards ahead, still up on the pavement.

Marc was behind him, face down on the ground.

There was a harsh grinding of gears then the scream of the engine as the driver put the car into reverse.

Marc was out of it. There was no way Jason could lift him in the time they had.

Jason fell on top of him, heedless of his weight. He wrapped his arms around Marc and hauled, twisting and rolling. His body was a dead weight, but Jason summoned the strength from somewhere. He spun over him, pulling with all he had, gaining momentum to send them sprawling over the kerb and into the road.

There was a screaming blur of black metal and red lights as the car ran over the spot where they had lain seconds before. The driver mustn’t have seen their roll to safety.

Before the maniac could react further, Jason got up and heaved Marc across his shoulder. No longer thinking, he allowed his survival instincts to take over.

The car reached another screeching halt. The pavement was streaked with skid marks. The air filled with the stench of burning rubber.

He heard another noisy gear change as the car was shoved back into first. The driver was coming for them again in a rush of death.

Hoisting Marc into a firefighter’s lift, Jason ran in front of the approaching car. The weight on his back was immense. Pain shot up his legs from an injured ankle. He didn’t have the speed he needed.

He wasn’t going to make it.

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