Page 38 of Savage Assassin

I obey him almost automatically, my body moving before I even realize I’ve told it to, and I lean to one side as he twists, shooting over the top of my head. Once, twice, three times, and I hear the screech of the motorcycle behind us and the crash as it hits, and I’m sure that whoever was on it won’t be following us any longer.

“You’re doing great!” he shouts. “Hold on a little bit longer, and we’ll be able to stop!”

A little bit longerends up feeling like an hour. I’m tense the entire time, waiting to hear the cars behind us again, clinging to Levin with a death grip. When we turn down the main road of the first town we see coming out of the canyon, Levin slows the motorcycle, and I let go of his waist the slightest bit, trying to catch my breath.

“Are we okay to stop?” I ask as he pulls into a spot behind a bar, killing the engine.

“Not for long.” He wipes the back of his hand across his forehead. “We can’t stop anywhere for the night. We need to get to the airplane hangar. I want to wait a little bit, though, see if we’ve lost them.”

“And if we didn’t?”

“Then it’s going to be a hell of a ride to that plane.”

My stomach tightens with anxiety at that. I sit there, frozen on the back of the bike, feeling entirely lost. None of this is anything I know what to do about, and I’m just relying on Levin to get me where I need to go to be safe, and doing what he tells me to do. It makes me feel helpless, and I don’t like that.

“Shit,” he says suddenly, revving the bike again, and I open my mouth to ask himwhatin the second before I see the two cars that were following us pull into either end of the back alley we’re parked in, blocking us almost completely off.

“Give it up, Volkov!” one of the men shouts as he gets out of the car, gun aimed at Levin. “Get her,” he adds, pointing at me, and two of the men move forward.

“Don’t even fucking think about it!” Levin snaps, his weapon aimed as he slams another cartridge into it. For a brief second, I think that he’s got it handled–and then I feel hands on me from behind, dragging me off of the motorcycle.

The men from the other car snuck up on me, while Levin was distracted.

I scream as they start to haul me backward, and Levin whips around, off of the bike in an instant as he opens fire on the men holding me. I hear gunshots from the direction of the other car, hear them pinging off of Levin’s motorcycle, and I hear him swear as he shoots at the men trying to get me back to the car.

The one to my left drops, and I feel a spray of blood across my arm and chest. Another from the right, and then the one holding me jerks backward suddenly, going limp as he drops me. Levin’s arm is around me before I can hit the pavement.

“Let’s go,” he hisses, his gun still aimed in front of us as he ducks us behind a row of tires, pulling me back towards the now-empty car. The other men are still coming towards us, looking for where Levin has hidden us, and I know we have only seconds to get into the other car.

“Go, go!” Levin shouts it as he yanks the door open, pushing me over the driver’s seat and into the other side as I crouch down, covering my head as I hear the other men open fire again. Levin curses next to me, turning the key into the ignition as he throws the car in reverse, and I hear the squealing of tires as he pulls out.

“They’re going to be coming after us,” he growls. “Fucking assholes, ruining myfuckingbike–stay low, Elena. Better chance of nothing hitting you that way.”

He pulls onto the road with another squeal of tires, and I can hear the other car behind us, gunshots still going off. I have no idea how far we are from the hangar, and I’m afraid to ask. I can feel myself starting to shake as I look down at the blood covering my arms, and I clench my hands into fists, willing myself not to have a panic attack. To hold it together until it’s safe to fall apart.

That might not be until we get to Boston, the way things have been going.

“We’re almost there,” Levin tells me, his foot sinking down on the gas. “When I tell you to run for the plane, Elena, run. Don’t look back, don’t wait for me. I’ll be behind you, I promise, but fucking run. Okay?”

I swallow hard, nodding. “Okay,” I whisper, and he nods.

“Almost there.”

I feel the car skid sideways as we pull into the gate. Levin turns the steering wheel sharply, slamming on the brakes as I see the plane waiting yards away, and he nods at me as he turns the car so that my side is facing the plane.

“Now,Elena!”

The car hasn’t completely come to a stop, but I’d promised to do as he said. I fling open the door, the car slowing, and roll out onto the tarmac as Levin keeps going, scrambling to my feet. I hear more tires squealing, more gunshots, and look up to see Levin out of the car, too, firing at the other men as he starts to run toward me.

“Go!” he shouts, and I bolt for the plane.

I’m certain, with every step, that it’s my last. I can hear the blood pounding in my ears and feel my heartbeat more clearly than I ever have.I’ve got to get on the plane,I think over and over, with each smack of my shoes against the tarmac, until I’m at the steps and rushing up them, hoping against hope that Levin is behind me.

I trip and fall as I reach the aisle, bruising my knee, but I don’t care. I’m on board, and I gasp for air, still feeling faint at the sight of so much blood on my arms.

I almost scream when hands reach for me from behind, helping me up to my feet.

“It’s me,” Levin says calmly, and before I can stop myself, I turn in his arms, flinging mine around his neck.

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