Page 1 of It's Always Been You

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Bullets shatteredthe rear windshield as their car careened dangerously close to the steep embankment. Their vehicle swerved left, the motion catapulting Caitlin to the right of the backseat. She lost hold of her gun.

“Are you all right?” Jase yelled from the driver’s seat.

“I will be once you learn how to drive.”

“Stop fucking around, Caitlin. Did you get hit?”

Caitlin didn’t answer him; instead, she groped through the darkness for her Beretta. Finding the weapon, she resumed her shooting position. With the barrier of the windshield gone, it was now easier to fire from the car.

Another spray of bullets zinged past their car. If their attackers managed to shoot out their tires, it would be game over.

“Keep the car straight!” Caitlin screeched as she hunkered down, keeping herself steady by kneeling on a leg and bracing her other foot against the seat in front of her. With two hands gripping the gun, she focused below the glaring headlights of the black SUV pursuing them.

“Steady…” Caitlin muttered more to herself.

Deep breath and hold. Focus. Squeeze trigger.

Almost simultaneous with the recoil of her gun, their attackers’ car listed to the right and then fishtailed before screeching to a halt.

“Fucking A!” Jase enthused, thumping the steering wheel with his fist. “Good job, buttercup!”

Caitlin grunted and shook the shards of glass from her hair. She hadn’t had time to gather her blonde locks in a ponytail. The minute Jase had barged into their apartment and ordered her to get moving, she’d known that there hadn’t been a second to spare.

She scooted in between the front seats and plopped down on the passenger side. After his initial exhilaration, Jase had gone deathly quiet. And he had winced.

“Are you hurt, Jase?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Where?”

“I said it’s nothing!” he snapped.

“Pull over.”

“Are you nuts? You know they hunt in pairs. Their backup won’t be too far behind.”

Caitlin knew he was right. She could feel some glass cuts on her knees and forearms, but they were superficial. If he was shot, he needed attention. Bleeding out was not an option. They couldn’t go to a hospital without attracting attention, and the quicker they attended to the injury, the less likely they’d wind up there.

“If it were me—”

“Damn it! Left shoulder blade, okay?”

“Is there—”

“No exit wound.”

“Jase—”

With a muffled curse, he pulled off to the side of the road. They were twenty miles from Berlin on a two-lane country road lined with trees, tall grass, and miles and miles of nothing. This was their eighth escape in three years. They hadgotten better at evading whoever wanted them dead. The first time was challenging because Caitlin had been encumbered by the casts on her leg and arm. She had cried for Jase to leave her, but he had refused, and somehow they had made it out alive.

Caitlin shuddered at the memory as she got out of the car. “The medical kit is in the trunk.”

Just as she reached the back of their vehicle, it shot forward twenty feet.

Her heart leapt into her throat.Was Jase abandoning her?What the hell?

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