Sharon Sala - Race Against Time

“This whole situation is harsh,” he muttered, then glanced up in his rearview mirror and frowned. “We have a tail.”

Lacey turned to look.

“Are you sure? That seems impossible.”

“See that right headlight on the car behind us? See how it’s shaking?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know how they found us that fast, but it’s been behind us ever since we left Vegas.”

“Oh no,” Star moaned.

She started to turn and look when Lacey stopped her with a shout.

“Get down!”

Star lay down on the floorboard with the baby clutched against her chest as Ryker pushed the accelerator all the way to the floor. The engine vibrated like a roar in her chest. The high-pitched whine of tires against the highway was close to her ears as they raced off into the night.

“They’re gaining,” Lacey said and grabbed her cell.

Ryker’s fingers curled even tighter around the steering wheel as the car began to vibrate, too.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Calling the chopper,” Lacey said.

Ryker’s jaw was clenched. The highway was a blur as he listened to her make the call.

“What did they say?” he asked, as she disconnected.

“They’re still en route. Not even at the pickup site yet. What the hell’s up with that?” Lacey cried.

“How far to the pickup site?” Ryker asked.

Lacey glanced at her GPS.

“Almost four miles.”

“We aren’t going to make it,” he said.

Star started to cry. Softly, hopelessly.

“I’m so sorry,” she cried, but she was talking to Sammy, not them. She’d tried so hard to get him away. God only knew how this would end.

Lacey was on her knees, her gun drawn.

“Open the sunroof,” she said.

Ryker frowned, but the headlights were closer and he didn’t argue. The glass ceiling above them slid back, opening most of the roof to the night. The loud roar of the engine and the shrill whistle of the wind inside the car was shocking.

Suddenly glad they’d doped her baby to sleep, Star held him tighter and started to pray.

Someone in the car behind them got off the first shot, exploding the back window of the car, covering Star and the baby in shattered glass.

She screamed.

Ryker cursed.

Lacey popped up through the sunroof and fired two shots back in rapid succession before the force of the wind nearly blew her out of the car. She stayed up long enough to see their windshield shatter. The car behind them was now the one in trouble as the driver fought to stay on the highway.

She ducked back down but stayed on her knees, her gaze focused on the car behind them. For a few moments they had the edge and were putting some serious distance between them and their tail—until another car came up fast behind it, passing the damaged vehicle like it was sitting still. The new threat was suddenly at Ryker’s side and swerved into them with such force that it threw their car into a spin.

“Hold on!” Ryker shouted, as the car spun backward, sliding off the highway into the desert.

He righted the spin and stomped the accelerator again, sending up a rooster tail of sand in a desperate attempt to get back onto the highway. But now both cars were coming at them fast.

“Where the hell is that chopper?” Ryker yelled.

Lacey was bleeding from her forehead and trying to focus as she reached blindly for her phone, but it wasn’t in the console.

“I can’t find my phone,” she cried.

Star was on her knees on the back floorboard with the baby in her arms, praying the same silent prayer over and over. Please, God, please, don’t let Sammy die.

Another round of bullets hit their car.

One tire blew, launching the car into a spectacular skid that threw them sideways into a roll.

Star closed her eyes and held Sammy tight, certain they were going to die. The first roll tumbled them from the bottom of the car to the roof and back down again. Just as they went into the second roll, Star and the baby shot through the open sunroof and up into the air. She felt the heel of her shoe hit the side of Lacey’s head on the way out, and she hit the ground with such impact it slid her across the desert on her back. The blow knocked the air from her lungs and set her back afire. But none of that mattered, because she still had Sammy in her arms.

She was struggling to catch her breath when there was a deafening explosion. She gasped again and again until her lungs finally expanded, and was trying to get up when fire shot straight up into the sky behind her. She felt the heat as the car was engulfed in flames.

Sammy whimpered.

She panicked. Was he hurt or waking up? The fact that he still wasn’t crying scared her, but if they found her now, they’d kill her and take Sammy. She couldn’t bear to think of Anton Baba raising him as the heir to his criminal world.

There was always some traffic on this highway. Someone was bound to see this fire at any moment. If she could just hide Sammy and run, she’d let them take her. She was going to raise hell with Anton until he, too, believed their son died because of his orders. She’d lost her chance to get away, but she wasn’t going to give up on someone saving Sammy.

His pacifier was still in her pants pocket, and she took it out and popped it into his mouth. Every muscle in her body was aching as she struggled to her feet and ran toward a small stand of scrub brush.

Both of the cars were driving toward the fire now. Her voice was shaking, her heart was breaking, but there was no time to waste.

“Sammy, my little Sammy. Mama loves you so much, but God is going to watch over you now.”

She kissed him quickly, trying to imprint the feel of his soft cheek against her lips, then tucked him beneath the brush and ran. She was sprinting toward the highway when they saw her and gave chase.

“Help me, God,” she muttered and kept running.

The night air was cooler now, the sand was in her shoes and her blouse was sticking to her bloody back. Her footsteps were jarring as she ran, adding to the thunder of her heartbeat.

All of a sudden one car sped past her and then swerved, blocking her path. The other car came up behind her, skidded to a stop, and the driver, Ian Bojalian, took her down within seconds.

Star screamed.

“Where’s the kid? Where’s your son?” he yelled.

She was already crying now, as she pointed back to the fire.

“He’s dead! You killed him! You killed him!” she cried.

She never saw the fist coming, but when he hit her, she dropped like a rock.

Dev Bosky, the driver who was now missing a windshield, frowned.

“Baba is not going to be happy about this.”

“He told us to stop them. It’s her fault for taking him away,” Ian said, then gagged her and tied her up before tossing her into the trunk. “I’m going back to Vegas. You make sure nothing that would tie you to this scene blew out of your car. Without a windshield, there’s no telling what shit you strung about out here.”

“Someone is going to see this fire any second. I don’t want to still be out here,” Dev growled.

“Then make it snappy,” Ian said from the front seat as he slammed his door and steered the car toward the highway. The moment his tires hit the pavement, he gassed it and disappeared.

Dev Bosky jumped in his car and put the headlights on bright, intent on making a quick sweep through the area for any evidence he might have left. He was on the back side of the fire and a good distance away when he saw a single light come into view out on the highway, heading toward Las Vegas.

“Damn it all to hell. A biker. If you wanna keep living, man, you better keep riding.”

* * *

Quinn O’Meara was southbound on her Harley, heading toward Las Vegas on Highway 93, when she saw fire in the sky. At first she thought it was fireworks, but the flames weren’t burning out; they were growing bigger. She sped up, topping the slight rise shortly afterward, and realized the flames came from something burning out in the desert.