Page 80 of Turn the Tide
Chapter 7
Berlin, Germany
Sunday, March 6, 2:58 a.m. CET
Logan drove one of the bulletproof cars, without wearing a seat belt, per orders. Smart move and safer for Knox, who sat in the passenger’s seat, his safety belt fastened in place, with a gun trained on him. The biggest threat should be behind the wheel, unable to put someone else in a choke hold while driving, no seat belt to discourage anyaccidents. And tonight, the roads were slick and icy.
Ashley sat behind Knox, also without a seat belt, with Ethan beside her, gun in his hand as pure precaution since it wasn’t aimed at her.
Glancing in the rearview mirror, Logan looked at Ashley. What in the hell had Knox said to convince her to hand over the thumb drive she’d been so adamant about protecting?
His stomach churned thinking about it.
The dry clothes and sneakers he’d put on from his bag in Knox’s trunk were a small comfort, but the dense tension inside the car was unsettling. Ash had flipped a switch and was in cooperation mode. She wouldn’t even look at him.
His chest constricted, his mind racing.
Mike followed in a second vehicle. They drove along a sprawling curved road past the Brandenburg Gate awash in golden light. The streets were quiet, empty. Logan turned left at the corner as Ashley directed. They were headed to a church, but she hadn’t said which one.
He glanced at the mirror, willing Ash to meet his eyes, to give him a sign this was okay.
Not a single glimpse from her.
A pair of headlights appeared behind them out of nowhere. The vehicle raced up quickly in the left lane. Logan hoped it was nothing more than a crazy driver, even though his gut told him otherwise. Watching from the wing mirror, he knew there was a chance the vehicle might simply pass them.
No such luck.
The van merged into their lane and chased up behind Mike. Logan twisted and looked out the back window, longing for the wide-angle mirror attachment he used at home to increase visibility around the car, reducing blind spots.
A black van trailed close on Mike’s rear, making Logan’s palms itch. “We have a tail.”
Knox, along with Ash and Ethan, swiveled their heads and looked.
“Shit. We need to lose them,” Knox said.
Logan’s gaze bounced between the street ahead and the mirror.
The right front of the van clipped the left side of Mike’s rear. The sedan swerved, but swiftly regained control. Then to Logan’s horror, tracer rounds from an automatic weapon pierced the night in bright flashes, hitting Mike’s car in a series of raucouspings.
Up ahead, another dark van careened out onto the road four hundred yards away. A burst of gunfire spit across the street in a fiery arc, cutting them off.
Instinct kicked in, and Logan took evasive action. He yanked the wheel in a hard right turn, despite the treacherous icy road and the disadvantage of not wearing a seat belt. At the same time, the van approaching them cut down a parallel street. As Logan nosed around the corner, the rear tires slid left. Mike careened around the corner, staying right behind them. He slammed on the gas.
The road led to a three-way T intersection, leaving them two options—turn left or right.
Shit.The other van was going to try to cut them off.
Logan had no choice but to make another hard right. He took the turn a little too fast. Rubber screamed against asphalt as they rounded the corner, and the rear tires slid left. He straightened out of the turn and gunned it, blowing into an underpass.
A third van barreled into the tight two-lane tunnel from the opposite end and swerved, bringing the vehicle perpendicular to the road, blocking the exit. They were being funneled into the passageway. But it was too late to avoid the trap. They were already inside the chokepoint.
Two men wearing balaclavas and holding automatic weapons hopped out of the van in front of them and opened fire.
Behind Logan, the second van blocked the other side of the short tunnel, boxing them in, and more men wearing black ski masks emerged with weapons.
Logan’s mind raced, trying to come up with a plan of escape, but bullets blew out two of their tires. He brought the car to a screeching halt. Mike stopped his car close to theirs.
Since they were in bulletproof vehicles, this was going to be a Mexican standoff.
