Page 77 of Ride Long
“Who cares,” I declared. “We’ve got to move before they blow the tank on thiscar.”
Chaser curled his hand around my arm. “You’re withme.”
“Obviously.”
Gasket nodded. “Go. I’ll coveryou.”
He leaned over the top of the car and fired. Chaser and I ran, working our way around the edge of the cabin and through thetents.
Smoke and gunfire were everywhere, disorienting my movements. If it weren’t for Chaser, I would already be lost in the chaos.Deep breaths, Sloane. I breathed in, the air tinged with the rank taste of the firefight. I stepped over a body, then another, their eyes wide open and vacant, their bodies torn bybullets.
Chaser dragged me behind the workshop, and we peered around the corner, surveying thescene.
“Stay here,” he said after a moment. “Take cover, and don’t make asound.”
“You can’t bench me,” I complained, my entire body humming with adrenaline. “Notnow.”
“This is not up for debate. If anything happened to you…” His hands grasped myface.
Chaser’s eyes were full of something I’d never seen in them before. Fear. He’d lost before, and he was afraid of losing again. First Madison and now…No.
“That’s not going to happen,” I said, prying his handsaway.
Chaser let out a frustrated growl as I leaned around the corner of the workshop and scanned the yard. It was quieter around here, but I could also see the only access to the basement where Marini was being held. The cabin was on fire, the flames reaching toward the sky. The heat radiating off the building was increasing as the inferno took hold, eating its way toward theback.
There was no way of knowing if Marini was still down there or if he’d been freed before the fire was set. If he was trapped, the only way out was the window I was staringat.
“If my father tries to escape, we have to stophim.”
“If he’s still down there,” Chaser replied, voicing my thoughts. He’d seemed to have resigned himself to the fact I was going to fight no matter what. Once this was over, I was positive there was going to be a ‘discussion’ about the clear reemergence of my ‘too stupid to live’attitude.
Leaning back around, I trained my gaze on the window, hesitating when a group of men rounded the opposite side of the cabin. There were four, and they all broke off as they searched thetents.
I saw Rocket advance with a shotgun in his hands, and my bloodboiled.
“You’ve only got six shots in there,” Chaser murmured in my ear. “Don’t let them go all atonce.”
“Shotguns are slow,” I retorted. “Two shots, slowreload.”
“Wrong. He’s got five with a minimum fifteen second reloadspeed.”
The sound of breaking glass turned my head, and smoke billowed out of the basement window. I clawed at Chaser’s arm as arms and a head emerged.Marini.
Before I could do anything, Chaser strode out from behind the workshop and raised his gun and fired. One, two, three. Bodies dropped. My heart stopped as Rocket turned, aiming the shotgun right at his chest, then he fired again.Four.
Holyshit.
Marini had wormed his way out of the window, his head turning from side to side. He saw Chaser looming through the mass of tents, saw his men lying dead on the ground, and scrambled to his feet. Then heran.
Chaser aimed but couldn’t see to get a clearshot.
“Fuck this,” Icursed.
Pushing off the wall, I sprinted after my father as he broke out into a run and disappeared into thedesert.
“Sloane!” Chaser roared, but I wasn’t listening. I only had eyes forMarini.
I sprinted through the darkness, dodging cactuses and leaping over rocks, following the sound of my father’s pounding footsteps as he ran in front of me. Behind us, the glow of the burning cabin faded, and the sounds of the firefightdulled.
