“I know you can, little warrior.”
I smiled at his words, warmth coursing through me. It gave me the confidence that I needed to swallow down my fear and focus through my swirling, panicked thoughts.
“Was he carrying a piece on him?”
“Uh… no. I didn’t see anything, no giveaways either.”
“All right, check his glove compartment, sweetheart.”
Reaching over, I flipped it open and found a Beretta inside. “A handgun,” I reported.
“You’ve got a hostile coming up on your left side.”
I shot a glance at my side mirror. “Shit.”
“It’s not a big deal. It’s easy enough to sort.”
“Finn.”
“You’re not going to shoot anybody. Just roll down the window and make the gun visible for two seconds only, then pull it back inside and roll the window back up.”
“What? That’s not gonna—”
“Just trust me.”
I took a breath, then did as he said, rolling down the window, then shoving the gun out the window at the biker coming up on my side. To my utter astonishment, a second later, he slowed down and backed off.
“It worked.”
“Yeah, they’re not gonna shoot you. You’re their meal ticket. They can’t risk harming you until they get you to Knox. It’s also clear they thought it’d be a simple snatch and retreat op.” There was a slight chuckle in his voice as he said, “They underestimated what a fighter you are.”
“Wait. How do you know that?”
“I can see you on the border camera.”
Oh. “Figures.”
“All right, listen up. When you hit the first road, turn right and park. The turn has to be real quick, Ashley.”
“Okay,” I breathed, eyeing the road just a few yards up ahead.
The truck lurched, jostling me violently. I threw out my hand to stop my face from smashing into the window. I eyed the rearview mirror and saw one of the guys riding the bumper. He slammed into me again and then I watched his buddy come up on my right side. They were going to run me off the road!
“What’s going on?” Finn called anxiously down the line.
“I thought you were watching.”
“You’re out of range of the camera now.”
“Oh my God.” Panic was rising up, so close to taking me over.
Finn’s voice cut through it all, “Help is almost there. Keep calm, deep breaths. It’s almost over. You’ve got this.”
“Yeah,” I murmured. “I… I’ve got this.”
I knew what to do.
Gathering my courage, I braced myself, then slammed on the brakes. It forced the guy riding the bumper to fall back.
And then I gunned it for all the truck was worth, pushing it to its limits.
I reached my saving grace, made a hard right turn, screeching around the corner.
And that was when I saw a familiar bike zoom around the left corner, just narrowly managing to edge past me on the narrow road without clipping the side of the truck.
Talk about some skilled riding.
“Dad,” I breathed, as I hurriedly parked, then grabbed Kyle’s gun and hurried out of the truck, using it as cover as I looked on.
I could hear Finn’s breath of relief down the line. “Stay put. Swear to me.”
“I swear.”
“Good girl. Now, get back in the truck and keep your eyes off them. I don’t want you seeing that shit.”
He was too good. He must’ve heard me slam the door of the truck and maybe my hurried footsteps too.
I was about to follow his orders when an all-too-familiar rumble sounded, growing louder with every passing second.
To my horror, half a dozen bikes sped down the road I’d just left. They weren’t Iron Kings. I could make out the Rogues cuts. They were coming to back up their guys, leaving my dad outnumbered eight-to-one.
Suddenly, I saw my dad pull something from his pocket, some kind of remote it looked like. He pressed a button on it, then a traffic spike strip shot up on the road I’d only just left. It must’ve been something Finn had put in as a last-resort security measure. It was good. I hadn’t even noticed it being flush with the road, before my dad had activated it.
The incoming convoy slammed on their brakes, rubber burning, tires screeching, as they struggled to avoid the metal spikes. Some of them failed to stop in time or swerve away and their tires blew, the impact sending a couple of them flying off their bikes.
The next thing I knew, my dad was tearing down my way.
“Let’s go, baby girl,” he urged, holding out his hand as he idled beside me.
Before I had a chance to grab his hand, a guy tore around the corner on foot. It was the same asshole who’d been leading the charge and rammed my bumper.
“Roy,” my dad seethed. “Your dumbass Prez has sent you on a suicide mission.”
Roy glared hard at him as he drew a blade from his ankle holster. “Got orders to keep you alive. Prez wants you to himself. He’s got some nasty shit planned for you.” He smirked. “But first we’re gonna have some fun with your daughter. Everybody gets a turn. We’ll be sending you a video of every moment of it.”
I shuddered at their despicable plan.
My dad was known for his cool, calm, collected state in dangerous, stressful situations. But I was his Achilles Heel. It meant all bets were off.
A vicious snarl tore from his throat. “You’re a dead man.”
Roy’s eyes flashed dangerously.
And then he came at us.
My dad shoved me back with a hand to my chest and I stumbled into the side of Kyle’s truck.
His move cost him big, his decision to protect me over himself leaving him no time to defend against the incoming attack.
Roy lunged, using my dad’s unstable position atop his bike to his advantage. He slammed into him, tackling him off the bike. As my dad hit the ground with a brutal thud, Roy rolled off him, then threw his full weight into my dad’s Harley. Because my dad had only been idling and hadn’t stabilized the bike with the kickstand, it toppled easily under Roy’s attack. I screamed as it came
