“The box!” He lurched to his knees, pointing at the white file box they’d brought out with them.
A bullet had ripped into it on one side, creating paper snow bits. She stared at it in horror, the realization of how close they’d been to death glaring back at her.
“I’ve got it.” Nolan vaulted over the hood of the vehicle shielding them and scooped up the box.
She hauled Riley to his feet and snatched the keys off the sidewalk. He wavered, no doubt the blast to his ear drum screwing up his equilibrium. They staggered to the SUV they’d arrived in and she shoved him toward the back seat.
“Get in,” she shouted while keeping her eyes on the parking lot.
There was still one shooter out there they hadn’t put out of commission.
Erin climbed into the driver’s seat and jammed the key in the ignition.
The passenger door opened.
A man who wasn’t Nolan stared back at her, his gun pointed at her.
A cold wave of dread swept her.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Nolan charge the passenger door. He dropped his shoulder and rammed the guy, making an uncomfortable human-vehicle-sandwich. The attacker dropped his weapon onto the floorboard. Nolan yanked the door open, grabbed the man by the hair, and delivered a boot to his gut.
“Go, go, go.” Nolan climbed in and shoved the nearly demolished box into the back seat.
Erin shifted into reverse and punched it. The SUV roared backward, and she yanked on the wheel, narrowly missing the other cars.
“Right,” Riley bellowed.
She shifted and pressed the accelerator, shooting out onto the street. This was probably not the time to volunteer the tiny fact that she hadn’t driven for several years.
“Left,” Riley called out.
“Motorcycle on your seven,” Nolan said.
She glanced in her mirrors, catching sight of the bike, and behind it, another vehicle.
The rest of the Aegis team piled into the other SUV, but they wouldn’t be fast enough. Their tail had speed and maneuverability on their side.
“Left! Left,” Riley said.
“I hear you,” she snapped and cranked the wheel, sending them shooting through an intersection.
“Fuck!” Nolan scrambled to hold onto the door. “Where’d you learn how to drive?”
“Miami.”
“We’re dead,” Nolan wailed.
“Right,” Riley called out.
Erin cringed.
“I mean left!” he said.
“Shit!” She over-corrected, and the SUV wobbled.
The motorcycle drew up next to them, a gun aimed at her.
Erin gritted her teeth and swerved, hitting both bike and man with the side panel of the vehicle. The man went flying while the bike spun, going sideways. The back wheels of the SUV hit the bike and a loud pop sent her stomach plummeting to the ground. The truck lurched, and they rolled to a stop.
Their getaway vehicle was down for the count.
“Incoming,” Nolan said, as though she didn’t recall the other vehicle following them.
She shoved her door open and leaned out, Riley’s handgun settling into her palm. The weight of it was foreign. She’d always carried a lighter model, something that served close-quarter fighting better.
The truck’s engine roared.
She aimed at the windshield and fired twice. Once to crack the glass, and a second time to shatter it. The driver ducked and served, missing their SUV by a few feet.
The back door opened, and Riley stepped out, yanking his gun from her hand and stepping in front of her.
The driver got off a shot, hitting the back door of the SUV.
“We’ve got to go,” Nolan called out.
“The box!” Erin couldn’t leave it.
“I’ve got it. Get Riley!”
She wrapped her arms around Riley’s arm and pulled him toward the front of the vehicle. He followed her, almost tripping over her feet. Nolan met them at the curb.
“Where the hell are the others?” Riley pitched his voice too loud.
“Don’t know. Run. Move. Keep going.” Nolan shoved at them.
Where were the police? The dozens of security? What had happened to the rest of the team?
Erin snatched the box from Nolan and followed Riley through an alley while Nolan brought up the rear. Each step sent a jolt of pain through her body. Whatever happened when they hit the pavement, it wasn’t good.
“Grant? Vaughn? Brenden? Anyone?” Nolan called out.
“Where are they?” Erin asked.
“No clue.”
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Ask Riley.”
“He can’t hear me.”
Riley slowed their pace at the end of the alley. He peered out onto a street that hadn’t seen the same kind of action they’d barely escaped.
“Anyone hear me?” Nolan asked again.
“Come on.” Riley slid his gun into his holster and grabbed Erin’s hand.
They walked out onto the sidewalk, glancing over their shoulder every few strides.
If the rest of Lepta Team wasn’t answering their comms, what were they doing? What had Erin gotten them involved with?
This was her fault. This whole mess. It was her doing, and now more innocent people could die. Hell, they might have, if a stray bullet hit a pedestrian or someone inside a building. This wasn’t a war zone. It shouldn’t be like this, and yet something she knew was worth all this destruction.
“Be calm,” Riley said.
“What about the others?” She glanced at Riley.
He frowned at her.
Right, because he probably couldn’t hear her yet. The bullet must have hit the box, right by his head, and knocked them both over. All that paper and cardboard might have saved his life and deadened some of the blast. Maybe his hearing would come back.
“We need to find the cops. Where are they?” Most days Erin felt like she couldn’t take ten steps without seeing some sort of military presence. Now, when they needed it, they weren’t anywhere near.
“In here.” Riley pulled Erin into a little shop, Nolan following close on their heels.
A truck rolled down the street, going slower than most of the other traffic.
“Grant? Grant, I can hear you,” Nolan said.
“Where are they?” Erin turned toward the other man, her heart beating in her throat.
“Just a few blocks over at a checkpoint.” He pointed in the direction they’d been headed.
“Can they make it to us?” Riley asked.
“No, they’re being held.” Nolan pressed his fingers to his ear. “But
