Hope kept blooming until she saw several vehicles coming from the compound they just blew up. “Cass…”
He glanced up at her in the rearview mirror and saw for himself what she was about to tell them. “Shit.”
The stomp on the gas pedal followed by the rev of the engine sent them off on a high speed chase. There were too many vehicles coming out. They thought they had blown up the entire lot of humans living in that place. ACT UP had survived.
She could feel the souped up van rev its motor and Cass stepped on it. They flew down the road towards the highway leading back to Turnabout.
“Cass, where did they all come from? I thought we took care of them,” Bounty yelled out.
Topaz shook her head. “We need to call Red and tell him we’re rolling hot.” Opening her cell phone, she found Red’s number and called.
Red answered the phone. “Talk to me Topaz.”
“Buildings gone but we are being chased by several vehicles. We have to pass Berrington, which way you think we should go? Where do you want us to bring them?”
“Keep heading toward Berrington. We’ll be waiting.” Red disconnected. Her lifeline to the club severed.
“Cass… Red wants you to drive straight to Berrington. Can we outrun these peckerheads?” Topaz leaned forward to the front of the van checking on the speed of the van. They were going seventy miles per hour. “You can go faster can’t you?”
“Topaz I’m going a safe speed. So far, they are just following us,” Cass yelled back.
“There’s something in Berrington for us. Can we get there today?”
“It’s fucking deer o’clock. I’m trying to make it home. Not just to Berrington, but home without hitting Bambi and killing us all.”
Tension was thick in the van. All of them watching the vehicles behind them in their own way.
An SUV came up fast and nearly rear-ended them.
“Cass move it!” Bounty yelled.
Cass gunned the van and they careened ahead hitting top speeds of over a hundred. The van was charged up by Baldy and used in several rescues where they needed to outrun people chasing them.
Topaz turned around and saw the SUV was right behind them and several other vehicles were coming up onto them. “They’re going to try and run us off the road. How far are we from Berrington?”
“We’re still too far out. Call Red back and tell him what is going on,” Cass ordered. “We’re at least five miles away still.”
Topaz quickly called Red.
He answered on the first ring,. “Hello.”
“They’re gaining on us. We’re still too far out. Cass wanted me to call you. Says we’re about five from town.”
“Keep coming. We’re set up a mile outside town. Hollywood has the road blocked by deputies behind us. Tell Cass to avoid pursuers as much as possible the van can take a hit. It’s a strong vehicle made for this.” Red kept her on the phone.
She leaned closer to the front. “Red said to keep coming. If you’re hit, the van can take it.” Topaz flung forward from a nudge and she looked back to see the SUV right on their rear end.
Cass pushed the van hard and sped until they were separated from the pack. Up ahead, the glow of lights on either side of the road left a van size hole. Cass just needed to thread the needle.
17
Every fiber in Onyx’s body was alive and his eyes couldn’t believe what they were witnessing. He stood beside his brothers and waited. The call from Topaz to Red saying they were coming in hot, and being chased by members of ACT UP, didn’t even begin to describe what he saw in the distance. A set of headlights followed a cacophony cutting through the silence of early dawn.
“We need to be ready,” Red announced as he stood in the middle of the abandoned highway. “When they shoot through, we need to take out the vehicles that are chasing them.”
Three prospects were farther up the road with spike strips to roll out once the van passed them. He prayed the men rolling them had reflexes for the near impossible task. With only three sets in the county, they couldn’t make too much of a barrier. As long as they let the van pass, they should be all right.
Onyx wondered if they had been caught setting the explosives at the compound? It had always been they were going to be outside Berrington just in case of stragglers, what he wasn’t prepared for were the number of vehicles rolling behind the van. Whatever information Red had, he wasn’t sharing. Why were they being chased and were they going to really make it without an accident happening?
He was worried sick. He watched the horizon as the glow of headlights got brighter and wider as the leader of the pack drove down the middle of the highway.
Roadkill, Cream and a handful of the women were waiting with them. Everyone had a weapon and they were setting up trucks to block parts of the road. Red didn’t want anyone to be at the ranch if shit went south. Only a handful of prospects were there keeping watch over the older women and children.
Even if ACT UP knew where they lived, they weren’t going to destroy what was built there. Outside of Berrington, people were used to the Steels causing a little mayhem and having sunshine on the other side of it. When the sun rose today, there would be smoke, there would be death and the world would emerge a better place.
Red yelled, “Get ready here they come.”
As the van screamed by them, several vehicles continued on their tails. The prospects rolling spike strips as fast
