Page 72 of Corbin
“I don’t know. Left?” she guessed since she’d never exited from the back of the building. She had the helmet on and strapped when he started the bike. She hopped on and wrapped her arms around him, hoping they could escape.
Corbin rode the bike out and along the paved area to the left. Beyond a chain link fence bordering that road were train tracks. He slid to a stop. This paved area at the back did not connect to a road on the left end.
They couldn’t get out.
Evidently, that did not faze Corbin, who made a tight U-turn and raced back the way he’d come. As he passed the still-open trash garage door, a man wearing an SCIS uniform ran outside shouting at their backs.
At the other end of the building, she could see a sort-of outlet that wrapped around to the front.
A trained ninja would have known every exit point.
She should never play craps with her kind of luck. She called out, “Sorry. I didn’t know.”
He patted her hand on his stomach, and she stopped worrying. Leszek and others had criticized her every move if it didn’t suit their goals, but Corbin blew off a bad decision by moving on.
When Corbin closed to within fifteen yards of the corner, he went wide left and leaned into a sharp right turn.
When they rounded the end of the building, a black sport utility drove slowly toward them and stayed close to the building as if trying to sneak around without alerting anyone.
Too late for that.
Corbin had a narrow gap between that vehicle and a continuation of the tall chain-link fence.
He moved the bike as far left as possible.
She shut her eyes. She believed in Corbin’s ability to split that space but couldn’t watch with her heart hiding in her throat.
The bike leaned right again. She held onto him for dear life.
When the lean ended, she peeked around his shoulder. They had passed the sport utility, but police cruisers, an SCIS vehicle, and four officers were between them and their exit point to the road.
They spread out. What were they thinking?
That Corbin would wreck trying to weave between them, which might have worked if he hadn’t hunkered down and ridden the bike up a flower-landscaped embankment that sent them airborne over the driveway.
Corbin landed the bike on the rear tire.
Rubber squealed, the front dropped down, then he sped away.
She felt dizzy from the terror and hope that hugged each other until the bike stabilized.
If she ever did a reality show, this would be the man she’d want as a partner who had quiet confidence under pressure. He didn’t yell at her for making a mistake on which way to go. Her confidence grew by staying calm, trying not to distract him in a hairy situation.
He called over his shoulder, “Did I scare you?”
Lying would be useless. “A little.”
His hand dropped down to pat her knee. “You did great.”
She hadn’t realized she’d been waiting on someone who could share the good and bad of her life, but she never believed she could trust another male enough to open her heart again after losing Corbin.
In hindsight, she’d been right.
Sirens filled the air—more than one.
Corbin yelled, “Lock your hands at my waist and don’t loosen them for anything!”
Oh, no. That didn’t sound good, but she did exactly what he said. Her heart hadn’t slowed down from that last stunt.Pounding frantically now, she wondered if a shifter had ever died of a heart attack.
