“It’s less safe to let the cops catch up,” he told her.
They turned onto the forest service road, and the four-wheel drives lumbered up the rough terrain. Private homes disappeared, replaced by scattered government admin outposts, campgrounds, and tourist information booths. All closed until summer returned.
Savannah pressed her hand to the dash to steady herself. She stared out at the mountains looming on either side of them as they approached a narrow pass. “This area is a bad avalanche zone. With the heavy snow we’ve had this last week—”
“Sam,” Ian said into the mic. “Can you pull up avalanche risk information?”
“On it.”
The trio of vehicles rumbled over a particularly rough stretch of road.
“Oh my God,” Savannah said, her voice humming with fear and tension. “We could get stuck. Are you sure this is plowed all the way through? I’ve never been this way in the winter.”
“It’s plowed,” he assured her, “just not as often as the main roads. We’ll be fine. Try not to worry. Sam will keep us on the right roads.”
“Bumpy, right?” Sam said to Jamison as he climbed into the back seat. “Think of it as a roller coaster.” He put his arm around the kid and snugged him against his body. “There. Better?”
“What’s he doing?” Savannah said. “What’s wrong?”
“He’s just making the ride more comfortable for Jamison.”
“Ian…” The tension in Savannah’s voice drew his gaze from the road. She was looking out the back window. “There’s someone behind us.”
His gaze cut to the rearview, where a white SUV thundered up behind them. “What the… Sam. Unidentified behind us. Did you miss a cop?”
“Dude,” he said, his tone offended. “I’ll let that pass, what with you being all hung up on a chick and all. There’s no cop behind you.”
“Then who the fuck is crawling up my ass?” A distinct plunk-plunk sounded against the tailgate.
Savannah chirped a squeal.
A surge of adrenaline heated Ian’s veins. “They’re shooting. Long gun. Probably a hunting rifle.”
“Must be from Lyle’s band of dimwits,” Sam said. “And they must have radios, because two cops just changed directions, heading toward us.”
Taking hold of the steering wheel with a steel grip, Ian reached behind the seat and grappled in the equipment there. He dragged out the first Kevlar vest he felt and tossed it into Savannah’s lap. She wouldn’t need it inside the car, but at these speeds, there was no telling what could happen.
“Put it on,” he told her. “Now.”
She dropped the vest over her head without argument and tightened the Velcro side straps.
“We’ve got a short straightaway up ahead,” Sam said, “a small meadow area between mountains.”
Ian split his attention between the road ahead and the car behind. When the other SUV bounced, veering right, he caught sight of another truck behind him. “There are two assholes on our bumper. Repeat, two vehicles.”
“Copy,” Roman came back. “When we reach the straightaway, Ian and I will spin and open fire. Shaw and Slaughter, you keep going.”
That wouldn’t go over well with Savannah, but it was the right thing to do. “Copy.”
Plunk-plunk, pink-pink. Another couple of double taps hit the SUV.
“Did that hit the back window?” Savannah asked, confused and shocked.
“You do know a thing or two about shooting.”
“Why didn’t it shatter?”
“Bulletproof,” he said, prepping for the firefight that would erupt in about sixty seconds.