There was the crunch of metal on metal as the front right corner of the van pushed the sedan out of the way, ripping the car's bumper off in the process.
'You're clear,' Orlando said.
Quinn pressed the pedal all the way to the floor.
They drove north through the city, past Tegel Airport, and into the less populated countryside. The BMW was still behind them, as was the bumperless Volvo. Both seemed content to let Quinn lead the way.
There was still no sign of Nate. 'We're going to have to dump this soon,' Quinn said.
He'd been monitoring the gauges on the dashboard. While they had plenty of fuel, the oil pressure had been steadily dropping.
'We can't,' Orlando said. 'We need it.'
'I don't think we're going to have a choice.'
'No!' she yelled. 'We can't. We need it to find Garrett!'
Ahead Quinn noticed a snow-packed road leading into a wooded area. There was a construction sign near the entrance, proclaiming the road off-limits to anyone but employees of Boon Industries.
At the last second, Quinn whipped the van down the road. The Volvo shot past, unable to react in time. But the BMW made the turn, its back end fishtailing as it tried to gain traction on the snowy surface.
'What are you doing?' Orlando asked.
'I'm trying to keep us alive.'
The road wound through a grove of trees before emerging into a clearing. It was a construction site, by the looks of it, not much farther along than the leveling-of-the-ground stage. Work must have been halted when winter rolled in.
Quinn shot across the field. Somewhere there had to be another exit, another way through the construction site. Behind him, the BMW entered the clearing, then stopped, the car's occupants no doubt concerned about an ambush. A moment later, it was joined by the Volvo. It was exactly what Quinn had been hoping they'd do.
He kept driving across the field away from them. The terrain forced him to reduce his speed to only a few miles an hour. His eyes scanned the rapidly approaching trees in front of them.
'What are you looking for?' Orlando asked.
'An exit or a back road.'
They were both quiet for a moment, then Orlando shouted, 'There!'
She pointed at a gap in the trees off to the left. Quinn turned toward it. Almost immediately he realized he'd made a mistake. The ground quickly became uneven and rutted. Quinn jerked the wheel left, then right, then left, then –
A loud thud shook the van as the front passenger tire dipped into an unseen hole about three feet wide, slamming the rubber up against the top of the wheel well. Quinn gunned the engine. The vehicle lurched forward, pulling itself back onto level ground. But the damage was already done. The tire was blown. And from the screeching, it sounded like the axle might be bent.
Quinn cursed under his breath and stopped the van.
'We can't stop here,' Orlando said.
'We don't have a choice,' Quinn said, emphasizing each word. 'The van is done.'
As he turned off the engine he glanced out his side window back toward the other two cars. They were still parked near the entrance to the site, but there was activity now.
The driver of the Volvo was walking over to the other sedan. A window rolled down, and the driver seemed to listen for a moment. A second later he turned and shouted something at the Volvo. The rear passenger doors of the Volvo flew open, and two men jumped out. They ran across the field, not straight for the van, but parallel to it.
'Out, out, out,' Quinn said.
The van had come to a rest at an angle that shielded the passenger side of the vehicle from the BMW and Volvo. Orlando shoved the door open, then slipped outside. Quinn quickly followed her.
As soon as he was outside, Quinn reached into his pocket and retrieved the remote triggering device. He turned the safety off and moved the channel switch to B. To ensure he didn't set the
explosives off prematurely, he held the device in his left hand. Across the field, another car door opened. 'Quinn?'
It was Borko.
'Quinn! Enough already, hey? You had a good run! But give it up, my friend! You have no chance!'
One hundred feet from where they stood, the woods encroached on the clearing. Quinn nodded toward them.
'You first,' he said to Orlando. 'I'll distract them. The moment you're in position, blow the van.'
He could see the hesitation in her eyes. 'We go together,' she said, then held up her gun. 'If we get to cover, we can pick them off. We won't have to set off the explosives.'
'That's not going to work,' Quinn said.
'Dammit, we can at least try.'
Quinn nodded tersely. 'Fine. We'll try. But if it's not working, we blow the van.' Orlando smiled weakly. 'Quinn,
