Storm Clouds. Cheryl Wolverton

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СКАЧАТЬ not been so immersed in her own memories, her instincts would have alerted her much sooner. The dust trail might be her only chance of escape.

      If she could time it just right, she could get away and possibly live to find out what was going on.

      She leaned back and closed her eyes to slits so the driver would relax his vigil. And she waited.

      As they drove onward down the road, the dust trail got closer.

      It seemed like hours, but she knew better. A minute, maybe two at most had crept past.

      And then they were approaching the place the other vehicle would cross. It wasn’t really a road, but more ruts in a dusty trail. She could see the Jeep now plainly.

      Taking a quick breath, she wrapped her hand around her backpack, inching her other hand to where she kept her pistol.

      When the car was just where it needed to be, she acted. With a quick motion, she pulled out her 9 mm and shot the window to her side. Throwing up her feet, she slammed them into the shattered glass.

      She felt the jolt of the car as the driver jerked the wheel in surprise, heard the shouts and the sound of the window between them starting down.

      She didn’t wait, but pulled her feet under her and shoved herself out the small open space.

      Her body hit the hard ground, bouncing painfully over sticks and rocks and whatever else they had out there in the brush as she rolled away from the car. And she lost her gun in the process.

      The Jeep swerved, nearly hitting her. The sound of tires squealing, rocks and dust flying, the taste of dirt and smell of fuel all filled the air.

      The car she’d bailed out of skidded to a stop, its tires a deeper shriek.

      She didn’t wait to see what they’d do. With a fast glance around, she noted her pistol wasn’t in sight. Growling in frustration, she shoved against the rough dried-out brush as she staggered to her feet, feeling fire blazing down her right arm and right hip where she’d hit the ground. It didn’t slow her down, however, as she sprinted across the uneven ground toward the stunned driver of the Jeep.

      “Are you all right?” the stranger asked, jumping out of his vehicle and heading toward her.

      “Drive!” she shouted and leapt for the car.

      Bullet holes appeared in the front panel of the vehicle.

      The blond man’s eyes widened and he bounded back around to the driver’s side and piled in.

      Only then did she realize it was some sort of official vehicle.

      Shots rang out again.

      “If you don’t get going we’re both going to be dead!”

      “Where?” With a sharp twist of the wheel, he jammed it into gear and spun it away from the danger, not waiting for an answer as he turned.

      “Away from them!” She started searching for anything to shoot back at the car.

      The man didn’t hesitate, but popped the car into gear and tore off back the way he’d come.

      Angelina flew back into the seat, her head landing with a thud against the headrest. A grunt escaped her. At least he was driving now.

      The other car peeled out and she knew that the chase had just begun.

      And once again, she wondered just what her brother had gotten himself involved in. If they didn’t escape these men, she wasn’t going to find out.

      Chapter Two

      David Lemming pushed the Jeep as fast as he could away from their pursuers, not worried if he broke an axle. He only wanted to put distance between them and the men chasing the crazy woman.

      Glancing into the rearview mirror, he saw the car was still following. It hit a bump, bounced up and then back down, smashing against the open range of the reserve. “Care to tell me why they’re after you?” he shouted over the loud roar of the engine and wind as they raced madly across the rocky terrain. He swerved to avoid a particularly stout bush and then swerved back to avoid a dip in the landscape.

      “I don’t know,” she shouted in reply. She fell back into the seat and grabbed at it to keep her balance while her left hand searched his vehicle. David cast a wary glance at her as she rummaged about, bumping him, distracting him…Her eyes suddenly gleamed. She’d found his rifle under the seat. “Hey!” he cried, his utter shock at being shot at suddenly replaced by the fear of this crazy woman getting hold of his gun. “I don’t think you should use that.”

      Sweat broke out on the back of his neck. How had he gotten himself into this situation? He’d been out doing his rounds for the National Park Reserve and then this woman had fallen out of a car. In all of his years and all of his jobs he’d never had something like this happen.

      Now he was being chased across the reserve and the woman he’d rescued—or who had hijacked him, he still wasn’t sure which—was getting ready to shoot at the people behind them, the people who were trying to kill her…no them, he corrected, since he was in the car with this lady. On top of it all, he was having to use every bit of his skill to keep from overturning them as he cut out across the land.

      “I know what I’m doing,” she warned him as she turned in her seat and braced herself, one knee wedged in the seat as she fought for steadiness and shouldered the rifle.

      He suddenly realized the woman wasn’t from here. She had a different accent. He tried to place it and groaned when he realized she was one of those loony Americans. Yeah, she probably did know how to use it. They all had guns over there.

      They hit a nasty bump and the woman’s arm bounced. The rifle went flying.

      She let off with a loud shout, very unladylike. “Idiots!”

      He winced. “Er, be that as it may, lady, I’d hold on.”

      She looked at him. “Don’t tell me my word choice bothers you? We’re about to be killed.”

      He shrugged. He’d done plenty of drinking and name-calling in his life as a teenager, but now…not now. That wasn’t what he’d been wincing over, however. It was the fact that he’d almost lost the woman out the door. Forcing his heart back down out of his throat, he croaked out, “Hold on,” and cut sharply to the right.

      “We’ve got to get rid of them!” the woman ordered working to twist back around.

      The lady was good at keeping her balance as fresh bullets whizzed by them. He said a prayer that God would protect them.

      That’s when an idea came to him. “I think I know a place we can lose them,” he called out.

      “I’m open to suggestions,” she shot back.

      He nodded, not understanding what she meant, since he was the one driving. “We’re coming up on these canyons.” He nodded to where the terrain was rising up on each side of them. “I know a path through…”

      “They’ll follow,” she argued.

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