Page 32 of Shadow Redemption
“I’ll handle it.”
He reached for her hand, squeezed, then released her to grip the wheel. After another glance in the mirror, he said, “Get down and hold on.”
The Explorer rammed the back of his SUV. Ben wanted to check on Ruth, but the Explorer surged forward again. With this harder jolt, Ben wrestled with the wheel to keep his SUV on the road. He shoved the gas pedal to the floor. The tires squawked as the vehicle leaped forward.
Half a mile ahead, Forest View intersected with Blackberry Lane where Eli Wolfe waited. The SUV skidded as he took a curve too fast. Ben compensated without easing up on the gas. He prayed no innocent civilians were in the area. At the speed he was driving, he’d have no time to take evasive action if someone pulled out in front of him.
Although the Explorer put on a burst of speed, the vehicle couldn’t close the gap between them. Excellent. Wolfe would have just enough time to cut off the Explorer.
Ben rounded another large curve and spotted two sets of headlights 300 yards ahead on Blackberry Lane. He sped down Forest View, passing Blackberry. Eli and Jon pull out behind the Explorer.
The Explorer’s passenger leaned out the window with a gun in his hand.
“Stay down, Ruth!”
Gunshots rang out. Bullets pinged off the back of the SUV.
“They won’t give up, will they?”
“Jon and Eli are almost in position.”
“I wish they’d hurry. It’s hard to breathe. I’d prefer to be short of breath for a better reason than this.”
He glanced at her. “Like what?”
“Receiving a sizzling kiss from a certain hot operative named Ben Martin.”
Zane chuckled.
Ruth groaned. “Oh, man. I forgot Zane was listening in.”
That made the tech wizard laugh.
Hot operative? Ben grinned, amazed that he could under the circumstances. “Once we’re safe, I’ll see what I can do about that.”
More bullets slammed into the back of the SUV. Seconds later, he heard a loud boom. The SUV lost speed and pulled hard to the right. Ben gritted his teeth as he fought to control his vehicle.
“What was that?”
“A bullet punctured our tire.”
The Explorer rammed into the back of his SUV again.
Ben growled. Bear, the Fortress mechanical genius, would be furious at the damage to the SUV. He took damage to the Fortress fleet personally.
“What will we do?”
“Pull over and have a heart-to-heart talk with them.”
“Are you nuts?”
“Not today, sunshine.” Probably.
“Ben, they have guns and aren’t afraid to use them.”
He flashed her a look. “I have more weapons and training than they do, and I have backup.”
Ben steered the hobbled SUV to the side of the road, aiming the nose toward the rocky hillside. “Stay down. No matter what you hear, don’t move until I tell you it’s safe.”