Page 14 of Nuclear Option (Owens Protective Services)

“Do you want me to do a spinny thing so you can get on easier, or—”

“Just pull up behind the fucking SUV!”

I held up my hands as they rested on the top of the wheel. “Geez, alright. There’s no need to yell.”

I pressed down on the gas until I was right behind the SUV. Johnny gripped the door frame and climbed up onto the hood of the car, bracing himself as best he could. He quickly climbed onto the back, and I swerved to the passenger side, watching as he hauled himself up on top of the SUV.

“You couldn’t have fucking waited?” he shouted at me.

“What if you fell? I might have run you over!”

He flipped me off and I shook my head. “Fucking ungrateful.”

I jerked the wheel and slammed into the side of the SUV, trying to buy him some time. Instead, he sort of, almost fell off the top. And he definitely lost his gun. He turned and glared at me.

“Why the fuck did you do that?”

“Why did you get in my car?” I retorted. “You ruined my whole plan!”

“What plan? You don’t have a fucking plan,” he shouted, the wind whipping in his face as we continued to speed down the road. “What the fuck am I supposed to use now? You made me lose my gun!”

“Hold on!”

Doing my best to stay on the shoulder of the road, I reached into the back seat, fumbling around for something to give him. I glanced into the back quickly, but taking my eyes off the road for even a second was a mistake. My tires caught the gravel, nearly sending me off the road.

It was just enough time for the other guys to take advantage. The SUV slammed into my car, almost sending me down into the ditch. It took everything I had to control the car and keep it from spinning out or sending me crashing into the deep ditch below.

I slammed on the brakes as one of the vehicles in front of us exploded, flipped in the air and catapulted right toward me. Veering out of the path of the rolling vehicle, I wiped the sweat from my brow as I laughed at just how close that was. Johnny was still hanging on for dear life on top of the other vehicle. I hit the gas and got back into position beside him. Shoving my hand into the back seat again, I pulled out an umbrella. Speeding up, I stuck it out the window to hand over to him.

“What the fuck am I supposed to do with this?”

“It’s better than nothing!”

He tossed it in the air and the wind picked it up, carrying it away. “Hey, that was a perfectly good umbrella!”

“Give me something else!”

Sticking my hand in the back seat again, I came up with an extended window scraper and held it out to him.

“No! Stop handing me useless shit!”

Sticking my arm out the window, I motioned for him to get to the passenger window. “Just go up there and reach through the window!”

“I can’t do that,” he snapped.

“They do it all the time in the movies!” I retorted.

“This isn’t a fucking movie!” he shouted, grabbing the luggage rack on top of the SUV and swinging his body down and through the passenger side window. I started cheering him on, as he kicked the shit out of the driver. The SUV swerved wildly on the road and I sped ahead, trying to get out of the damage path. From the rearview mirror, I could see Johnny beating the driver’s head against the steering wheel.

“That-a-boy!”

I grinned, still watching him as I raced on to catch up to the second SUV, which was starting to fire on Cash. This was taking way longer than it should have, and I couldn’t help but think that was because Johnny was slowing me down. I stepped on the gas and rammed them from behind. I had to get between the SUV and Cash. Swerving around them, I ducked as they fired on me, praying they wouldn’t actually hit anything important.

As I cut them off, Cash took a right down a country road, leaving me alone with this asshole. We were coming up on a ridge, and I was going to lead them right over the fucking edge. I grinned as I looked into the rearview mirror, but my smile quickly slipped from my face as I saw one of them pull out a fucking RPG.

“Oh shit.”

5

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