He broke away from her and headed over to the bike, where Ace was already sitting in the seat.
The redneck patted the seat behind him. “Hop on there, cowboy,” he drawled. “You about to get way closer to me than you ever wanted to.”
Dante got on and Ace flicked the switches on the handles. He readied himself to kick-start it and then glanced over at his cousin.
“As soon as I get this thing fired up, you push open that door and then stay outta sight,” he instructed. “You got it?”
Lily nodded and got into position as the boys got situated on the bike. Dante gripped the gun tightly in his hand, psyching himself up to strike.
“You hit that throttle and never let up on it,” he said. “Doesn’t matter if I hit them or not, we just need them to follow.”
Ace chuckled. “Well, there’s eight of them and we have one handgun,” he drawled, “so if you could hit at least one of ‘em that would help us out.”
“I’ll do my best,” Dante replied.
“Hold on to your ass,” Ace declared, and then hit the kick-start. As soon as the engine roared to life, he slammed the accelerator and picked up speed, bursting out of the gas station as Lily pushed open the door.
They tore out of the parking lot and onto the road, racing towards the two SUVs. The one remaining mercenary guard, who was relaxing against the driver’s side door of the front vehicle, perked up at the noise.
He walked around in front of the hood, clutching his assault rifle, trying to get his bearings on the noise. When the dirt bike came into view, he raised his gun.
“Contact, contact!” he screamed, and took aim.
Dante aimed over Ace’s shoulder and fired, his bullet missing side and punching through the windshield of the vehicle. It had the intended effect, and the mercenary dropped to one knee, giving them another second to fire again.
The second bullet hit the guard in the throat, and he fell to the ground, gripping his neck as he rolled back and forth gasping for air.
The bike blew past the vehicles as the other mercenaries poured out into the road, firing wildly after the duo. Ace didn’t let up despite the bullets whizzing by them, keeping up his speed and putting distance between them. Luckily they were moving fast enough that the retaliatory shots missed them by enough of a safe margin.
Dante glanced back and saw the guards leaping into their vehicles, slamming the doors and spinning the SUVs around to give chase.
“Did it work?” Ace yelled.
“Yeah, and you need to get a move on,” Dante yelled back. He looked over his shoulder again, keeping watch as the vehicles gained speed, slowly but surely closing the gap. He started to worry as they came within fifty yards, and mercenaries began to hang out of the windows, rifles in hand.
“We need a turnoff!” Dante cried.
“Interstate is another mile up!” Ace called back.
Dante looked again, noting the SUVs only forty yards behind now. “We don’t have that long!” he warned.
“Fuck, hold on!” Ace bellowed and veered to the left, nearly toppling them right off with the sharp turn. They bumbled through a shallow ditch, getting settled in the grass, and then gaining traction up the other side to hit a small dirt road through the countryside.
Ace rose back up to top speed as the tires gripped the dirt, and Dante looked back over his shoulder again. The SUVs spun out for a moment in the ditch before gaining traction, giving them a chance to gain more distance again.
“How we looking?” Ace asked.
“Bought us a few seconds, but that’s it!” Dante replied.
“Dammit!” the redneck barked.
They raced down the dirt road as the SUVs started gaining again. They could hear the faint sound of rifle rounds firing, even over the high-pitched whine of the engine.
There was another dirt road a few hundred yards up on the right. Both men kept their heads down as bullets whizzed by them, hoping to make it to the turnoff in time. Dante looked back, and the vehicles were gaining again, so he aimed and fired his gun as best he could on the bumpy terrain.
The bullets pinged off of the front end of the lead SUV, causing no damage but forcing the gunmen to duck back inside for cover.
Ace made another dramatic turn, nearly losing it on the loose gravel, but correcting at the right second and managing to keep them upright. As soon as they made the turn, they nearly crashed into a cow, but he managed to deftly swing around it.
Up the road a bit, a fence portion had broken loose, allowing for dozens of cattle to escape their enclosure. They dotted the road, most of them off to the side to feast on the grass, but several in the road.
Ace wove in and out between them, putting them at a safer distance from the pursuing vehicles. Dante turned and looked, watching the SUVs swerve and smack into a cow, knocking it down and denting their hood in the process. It slowed them down a bit, but they were still managing to cut a path through the obstacle course.
“This helps, but now what?” Dante asked. “We’re still miles away from Ridgeland.”
“I got an idea, but you’re not going to like it,” Ace called back.
His passenger took a deep breath. “Seems to be the way the day is going,” he muttered. “Do it!”
Ace sped up again, keeping the distance but not getting so far ahead that the SUVs wouldn’t be able to see them. The whole point was to lure them away, so if they lost them they might head back to the gas station and spot Lily’s escape with the others.
At the end of the dirt road, they hit a paved two-lane road. Across the street there was a sign to the left reading Ridgeland - 3 miles. A small orange and
