Page 15 of Kings & Carnage

I had no idea why someone would have a screwdriver in their glove box, but it was a good thing I guessed?

I jumped as shots rang out — and this time they weren’t coming from inside the hospital.

I turned to look and saw that Rock was doing the same. Neo was running barefoot through the parking lot in his scrubs, using the cars as cover while his father’s men tried their best to hit a moving target.

It might have been funny if I hadn’t known he could be killed at any second. My heart clutched at the thought and I didn’t have time to think about what it meant that the thought of losing him — of losing any of them — made me feel like I couldn’t breathe.

I’d already come close. Way too close.

Please, I prayed silently to anyone who would listen.Please.

“They’re out,” Rock shouted at Oscar. “Neo’s exposed. Hurry the fuck up!”

“Working on it,” Oscar said calmly, like he was washing the windows instead of trying to hot-wire a car while Roberto’s men shot at Neo.

I tore my eyes away from Neo and looked at Oscar. His head was bent, gaze inches away from the ignition of the car, which had been pulled out to expose a jumble of wires in varying colors.

He sifted through them, found two he liked, and used his teeth to strip the plastic coating from the ends.

More gunfire, this time even closer.

“Fuck!” Rock said. “What’s our ETA on this thing? Because I’m about ready to go out there and give them another target just to make their job harder.”

“Almost…” Oscar said, “there.”

The engine roared to life like a primeval beast.

“Get ready to open the door,” Oscar said, putting the car into gear.

It lurched forward and I reached for my seat belt only to realize there was no shoulder belt, and if there was a lap belt it was tucked into the long bench seat Oscar and I shared.

Perfect.

Oscar hit the gas and the car chugged as it picked up speed. I held on to the dash as we came to the end of a row of cars and turned hard, then sped down the aisle.

Neo was crab-walking behind the cars on the next aisle, Roberto’s men moving through the parking lot with guns drawn, scanning for him.

“Next aisle over!” I shouted.

“Got him,” Oscar said, making another hard turn at the end of the aisle and speeding up the next one.

I held my breath as we got closer to the car where Neo was hiding, my attention ping-ponging between the top of his head and Roberto’s men, now running toward Neo — toward us — as they realized they were about to lose their prey.

Rock flung open the back door at the same time Oscar screeched to a halt in front of the giant pickup truck Neo was using for cover.

Shots sounded behind us and I heard the clang of metal as they hit the car’s bumper.

Please not the tires…

“Get the fuck down!” Neo shouted at me. He dove into the backseat, his feet hardly off the pavement when Oscar gunned the engine.

I ducked under the top of the bench seat just as the rear windshield burst, shattered glass falling like crystal rain as Oscar floored it.

Chapter7

Rock

We’d been driving for two hours when Drago finally pulled off the road and into a massive truck-stop complex with gas pumps and an attached diner. I’d lost track of where we were a long time ago, Drago navigating the Impala through a series of backroads in an effort to stay off the highways.

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