Page 34 of Raven

He raised a brow. “All of you? In one vehicle?”

“We like each other,” I said with a grin. “We make it work. Just don’t get my grandmother going again.”

He looked past me at the passengers. The kids were clutching stuffed animals. Mary smiled softly. Sam nodded politely.

Then came the question I feared.

“This car—who owns it?”

I met his eyes. “It belongs to my sister’s husband. He’s meeting us at the border.”

A long beat. He stepped back and said something to another officer.

Tag’s hand slid slowly behind his back. Cyclone tensed.

Then the guard waved us through.

“Drive safe,” he said. “Watch for potholes.”

I nodded and rolled up the window.

We didn’t breathe until we were five minutes down the road.

“Okay,” I said, exhaling. “That was too close.”

“Your Russian is good,” Cyclone muttered.

“Let’s hope that was the last stop.”

* * *

A black military-styleSUV appeared behind us three hours later, less than an hour from the border. It had no lights or sirens, but it kept pace—too close, too steady.

“Tail,” Cyclone muttered, checking the mirror.

“They’ve been on us since the last town,” I said. “Probably caught onto the missing officers.”

Sam’s voice dropped to a whisper. “They’ll take me. And they’ll hurt my family trying to get to me.”

“Not gonna happen,” I said.

We needed a distraction. A delay. Something.

“Tag,” I said, eyes still on the road. “In my bag is a smoke charge. Can you think of something to do with it?”

Tag rummaged in my gear bag, found it, and handed it up. “Toss it out your window; they’ll see me.” I cracked the window and yanked the pin. Thick white smoke exploded behind us.

I turned off the road onto a dirt trail, hidden by trees and overgrowth.

The SUV behind us drove straight through the smoke, then overshot the turn.

We were gone before they knew what happened to us.

* * *

An hour later,we reached the border. Our safe contact was waiting—an older man with sharp eyes and forged documents that would get us through.

He looked at the car full of people and just shook his head. “You really brought the whole damn village.”

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