Page 52 of Burdens
I started thinking we were in the clear, but just as we reached the exit, the car barely passing the iron gates, the sound of a gunshot erupted behind us.
“Stop the car,” someone yelled.
I glanced over my shoulder to find one of the guards standing in the middle of the gravel driveway with his weapon drawn up.
Noah yanked on the stick shift and stomped down on the pedals, tearing off into the night just as the guard who sat in a chair outside to the side jerked awake. The older man fumbled for his old rifle, but it was too late because he was already far in our rearview mirror.
Noah raced down the long, deserted street that connected the rest of the world to Barrera’s property, but a few moments later, headlights cut the darkness around us.
I threw a glance behind us and said, “We have company.”
“I hadn’t noticed,” he deadpanned as two more cars emerged, joining the party. Their headlights loomed close with each passing second and then bullets started flying.
Before I could instruct Noah where to turn, he slammed on the brakes and sharply veered the car into a dirt path off the road, the car skidding around the corner with a deafening screech that drowned the sound of gunfire.
I held back a shriek, almost flying off my seat. I tightly gripped the handle above the window as he sped down the dirt path.
How the fuck does he know where to go?
We always masked prisoners coming in so they wouldn’t know how to get out and there were no blueprints out there of Barrera’s property since he’d bribed the city’s officials to keep everything off record.
“Where are you going?” I asked, holding on tightly. The car bounced and jolted over the uneven terrain, the three cars joining the road behind us one by one.
“Hang on,” he warned a moment before he merged onto the main thoroughfare, the city’s neon lights flickering in the distance. He hurtled down the boulevard, weaving between cars that were most likely heading for a night out, but the three black SUVs were still trailing us.
With every passing moment, tension mounted and Barrera’s men were closing in on us, their bullets unrelenting.
Noah clutched the steering wheel, his eyes fixed on the car ahead. One moment, we were behind it and in the next breath, he swerved hard to the left, his foot pressing down the accelerator as he shot past the vehicle that was in front of us.
The nearest SUV on our tail mimicked the movement, following us on the opposite side of the road.
What the hell is he doing?
My eyes narrowed on the road in front of us. “Noah, watch out,” I screamed as I spotted a construction site ahead, a barricade of orange cones and flashing lights.
“I know,” was his only answer as we closed down on the site in our path.
“Noah, what are you doing?” I yelled as we were about to enter in a head-on collision with the site.
He ignored me and kept his focus ahead.
At the last possible moment, Noah swerved back to the right side of the road, almost hitting the car now behind us. The sound of tires screeched as they skidded across the pavement and honking resounded in the night air.
Oh, he’s fucking crazy.
I glanced behind to find the SUV that was trailing us had slammed its brakes a moment too late, colliding straight into a parked excavator.
One car down. Two more to go.
“You’re fucking crazy, you know that?” I said, turning my attention to him.
“Better crazy than dead.” He briefly looked over at me with a satisfied smile, but it was short-lived. His eyes widened, an alarmed look painting his features.
Everything that came next happened in a blur. Noah yelled, “Watch out,” and reached over for me with one hand to pull medown in the same breath, trying his best to cover me from his side.
The car skidded off its lane as the passenger window next to me exploded, shattered glass raining down on us. Noah quickly righted the car, but the SUV veered in our direction, metal scraping against metal.
“Barrera, pull the fuck over,” the driver shouted in Arabic, but Noah floored the gas pedal even more, the speedometer almost reading the hundred miles mark.
