Page 53 of Heartless
“Where were you at on gas?”
“Just filled up the tank this mornin’.”
I rubbed a palm over my head, shooting an annoyed look at Mari still sitting astride my idling bike. The worst part about diagnosing car issues was having to pull the answers out of the owner like teeth.
“Alright, when’s the time you topped off the oil?” I crossed my arms, trying to keep my tone patient.
“Uh…” The guy’s hand shook slightly as he wiped at something on his pants. “Not sure.”
“Okay, man,” I sighed, not wanting to be dealing with this. “I can give you a lift into town, just gotta get my wife home first—”
“Run,” he whispered.
“What?” I watched him closely, the tremors now taking over his hands. His pupils became pinpricks, filled with fear.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to but…justrun!” He screamed the last word at the top of his lungs, scrambling to the side of his car and ducking down as if to hide.
“What the…”
I whipped around, hearing the low rumble of another engine just as Mari cried, “Jandro, someone’s coming fast!”
“Go, go!” I jumped onto the bike behind her, drawing my handgun from my holster. “Head away from town, top speed!”
She accelerated hard, jerking the bike into motion as two figures cut a corner, driving off-road on sport bikes heading straight for us. I cursed under my breath, raised my firing arm and took aim. They’d catch up to us in no time on those fucking crotch rockets.
“Fast as you can go, babe. Don’t slow down even a tiny bit,” I told Mari.
“I don’t want to crash!”
“Better we crash than get taken by them.”
The two riders, all decked out in black, had reached our stretch of road and were coming up on us fast. I fired off a shot at the one in front, but it went low, hitting the frame of the bike with a metallicplink. Mari was weaving the bike slightly, her balance off-kilter at such high speed.
“I need you to keep her steady for me,” I said. “I got them, you can do it.”
“Who are they?” she demanded, panic choking her voice.
“Tash’s people,” I said through gritted teeth. “We’re no one important, so they have to be.”
Deja vu set in as I turned in my seat, shielding Mari with my body as I took aim at the enemies right on our tail. This was too reminiscent of our ambush from Razor Wire. My dumbass didn’t think to bring extra ammo, so I had to be careful with my shots.
The riders couldn’t zig-zag much, but they hunched low over their crotch rockets. Black gear on back bikes made it hard to get a clear shot. The rider in the rear straightened up and began firing rapid semi-automatic rounds.
“Fuck!” I pushed Mari’s head down low over the dash, bowing my body over hers. “Don’t slow down! No matter what, do not slow or stop!”
“Well don’t get fucking hit!”
I decided not to tell her about the burning graze on my calf, my pant leg already wet and dark with blood. It felt like little more than a bad scrape, but I knew that was the adrenaline talking. Mari didn’t need to worry about me right then. More than anything, I needed her to just drive.
When the onslaught of bullets finally ceased I returned fire, but the shooter had ducked down, shielded by the rider in front.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. My aim was shit and my shots limited. I was running out of options, especially with two of them to deal with. I’d have to do my damn hardest to make this a two birds with one stone situation.
“Slow down just a touch,” I told Mari.
“You said not to!”
“New plan, babe. Just trust me and ease up a little bit. Then when I tell you to,” I leaned close to her ear, making sure only she could hear me, “hit it hard, back to full speed. Got it?”
