Blackbird Broken (The Witch King's Crown #2) - Keri Arthur Page 0,55

“Her parents will need to be informed.”

“The investigators will handle that.” I paused as she turned right around the roundabout and continued on to Penrith. “Did you ever meet Winter or Max outside your home with the twins? Or did they always come to collect them?”

“Generally the latter, but there was one time where I had to meet Winter in London. It was a fucking long train trip with two kids in tow, let me tell you.”

My heart began to beat a little faster. While it was very unlikely that whatever address they’d used would still be in use, it would at least give us a starting point. Right now, he very much remained an enigma. “Can you remember where in London?”

She wrinkled her nose. “It wasn’t far from Euston Station—Goodge Street, I think. There was a Botanicals place opposite it. I remember that because Reign pointed out the bear on the sign.”

“Can you remember what floor?”

“Top, I—”

The rest of the sentence ended in a yelp as the Estate was hit from behind and sent flying toward the side barrier and the thick pole of the overhead sign that stood behind it.

Darkside hadn’t quite finished with us yet.

Chapter Nine

“Brake!” I yelled, automatically bracing for impact.

The tires squealed and the car fishtailed violently as Gianna fought to keep control. But we were going too fast to stop so quickly, and we hit the metal barrier with a bone-jarring crunch that threw us both forward and sideways. As the seat belts snapped taut, the airbags exploded, filling the cabin with smoke and dust. It felt like someone had deployed a sledgehammer against my chest, and for several seconds, breathing hurt.

I sucked in the foul, powdery air and caught a glimpse of movement in the side mirror—a man walking toward the vehicle, a gun held against his right leg. They definitely weren’t playing this time.

“Gianna?” There was no immediate response, and I risked a quick glance at her. There was blood on the side of her face, and she was out of it. She must have smacked her head against the window when we’d slammed side-on to the barrier.

I swore softly, dragged Nex and Vita free of their sheaths, and then glanced at the side mirror again. The stranger with the gun had reached the back of the Estate. I undid the belt but didn’t immediately release it, allowing it to retract slowly to lessen the chance of the stranger seeing the movement.

Then, after silently praying the deflating airbag didn’t get tangled in my legs, I thrust the door open and pushed out.

The stranger was quick, I’ll give him that. There was a soft thwock, thwock and several bullets hit the lower part of the door, close to my torso.

I unleashed the power of the daggers and burned him to a crisp, then quickly glanced under the car and saw a pair of sneakered feet edging toward the rear door. I flicked a stream of lightning at him, heard a yelp that cut off abruptly, and watched his ashes spray across the ground. A heartbeat later, an engine roared to life; the truck that had sent us into the barrier was reversing. Whether he intended to leave or he simply wanted to gather enough momentum to finish us off, I couldn’t say. I certainly wasn’t going to wait and find out. I crossed the blades and sent a deadly arc of lightning straight at him. The front windshield exploded, and the driver disintegrated. With no one on the accelerator or guiding the wheel, the truck swung back into the barrier and stopped.

Our means of escape, if we moved fast enough.

I scrambled upright and tugged open the back door. Reign didn’t appear to have been injured—the car seat, with its inbuilt five-point harness, had obviously done its job, though it was hard to be certain given he remained fast asleep. I reached past him and shook Gianna. She swore—whether at me or in pain, I wasn’t exactly sure.

“Gianna, you have to wake up. We need to get out of here.” And before someone came around the corner and stopped to offer assistance. We’d been lucky so far—both sides of the road had remained empty, but I doubted such luck would hold for long. “Gianna? Move—now!”

“What happened?” She thrust a hand through damp hair. Her fingers came away red. “Why am I bleeding?”

“We got hit from behind and pushed into the side barrier,” I said. “Either something in your belongings is bugged or this car