The driver had turned to watch Eddie’s head hit the wall – but instead took the pointed stake in his left eye. He screamed, reflexively bringing up both hands to pull out the cross. The F-150 swerved away from the wall – and towards the precipice.
The change of direction swung Eddie into reach of the doorframe. He hauled himself inside. The rebel was still screaming, one hand pressed to his face as blood gushed from his eye socket. The truck jolted over the road’s crumbling edge—
Eddie grabbed the wheel. The Ford lurched back across the track, throwing the driver against his door. Flailing for balance, he looked across the cab with his remaining eye – to see Eddie twist in the passenger seat and slam both feet against his chest.
The battered vehicle’s door flew open, the rebel shooting out of it like a cannonball. With an echoing wail, he vanished into the abyss.
Eddie pulled himself across and took the controls, rounding the next bend to see the Land Cruiser and the Hummer ahead. He shut the door, groped for the Steyr, then accelerated after them.
A radio crackled on the parcel shelf, a voice speaking in Spanish. Pachac.
Pachac looked back at the F-150. Only one figure was visible inside it. ‘Mateo, did you get him? Mateo!’
The reply was in English, almost calm despite the struggle that had just taken place. ‘No. He didn’t. He’s dead. And Pachac?’
The terrorist leader exchanged a worried look with his driver before answering. ‘What?’
‘You’re next.’
Pachac stared at the walkie-talkie, then yelled orders to his men in the Land Cruiser. This time, there was no anger in his voice, only fear. ‘Stop him! Kill him! Kill him!’
Eddie dropped the radio, eyes fixed on the two 4×4s ahead. The Land Cruiser was falling back from the H3. He could see two men inside it, the passenger climbing over the seats into the cargo space.
He also glimpsed the unmistakable silhouette of an AK-47 in the rebel’s hands.
The Steyr was wedged under his thigh. He pulled it out and switched it to his left hand. The Toyota was still slowing. The tailgate hatch swung up, the man inside aiming his AK out of it—
Eddie fired his remaining bullets from the side window as he accelerated. The revolutionary ducked for cover behind the lower half of the tailgate. By the time he realised the shooting had stopped and looked up again, the F-150 had caught up—
The Ford slammed into the back of the Land Cruiser. The driver’s head whiplashed backwards as he let go of the controls - and the 4×4 swerved towards the rockface. The man in the back was thrown against the side wall.
Eddie saw an opening and swung to pass the Toyota on the outside. The pickup drew alongside the off-roader. The Ford’s left wheels were less than a foot from the cliff-edge.
The Land Cruiser’s driver shook off his pain and grabbed the wheel, turning hard to sidewipe the F-150—
Eddie did the same thing, trying to ram the Toyota into the hillside. The vehicles clashed together with a crunch of crumpling metal. Eddie’s truck was more powerful, but the Japanese 4×4 was heavier. He turned the wheel harder, but the rebels were bullying him inch by inch towards the precipice.
And the man in the back was raising his rifle again.
Death by fall, or by firepower—
Eddie braked hard – then swerved at full throttle to smash into the Toyota’s back quarter as it pulled ahead. The 4×4 slewed around, almost side-on to the pickup’s blunt nose, before its right rear corner struck the hillside and it abruptly swung back, hitting the rock wall side-on like a door being slammed. The F-150 shot past, ripping off the Land Cruiser’s front bumper.
A glance in the mirror told Eddie that it wasn’t out of the hunt, though. It bounced back across the road, right side caved in, then the driver caught the skid and turned back into pursuit.
The Hummer was not far ahead, its driver being cautious on the dangerous road. Eddie switched his attention back and forth between Pachac’s vehicle and the one in the mirror. Even though he was gaining on the H3, he wouldn’t reach it before the Land Cruiser caught up with him.
An AK poked out of one of the Toyota’s left-side windows. Eddie moved as far over to the right as he could to deny the rebel a clear shot. But the road’s curves meant it would only be a matter of time before he