Rebecca came level with the window and peered inside. Adam’s body was angled toward the driver’s-side window, the airbag pressed tight against his chest, his head lolling against the doorframe. She could see an angry gash on his forehead, and his face was pale and still.
Cait was slumped over the airbag, her dark curls stark against the white. Her eyes were closed. She looked peaceful, almost. Like she was sleeping. Rebecca reached a hand in and touched her, gently. “Cait? Can you hear me?”
Please don’t be dead.
Cait’s eyes opened and locked on Rebecca’s. A mewling sound escaped her mouth.
Rebecca’s knees almost gave out. “Thank God. Are you hurt?”
Cait shook her head gently. “I don’t think so.” She coughed, winced. “Nothing too bad.” The chemicals from the airbag clung to her clothes and her skin like a fine dust.
“Do you think he’s—” Rebecca didn’t want to say the rest, didn’t dare jinx it.
Cait looked over at Adam and nodded. “I think so.”
“Let’s get you out.” Rebecca wrenched at the crumpled door, but the handle was jammed. “I can’t open it.” She tugged on it again. “You’re going to have to climb out through the window.”
Cait nodded and began the slow, careful work of disentangling herself, one eye always trained on Adam’s slumped, still body. When she was free of the airbag and the seat belt, Rebecca reached inside and helped pull her through the shattered window. “Come on,” she said, shouldering Cait’s weight. Her eyes were trained on the dark smoke billowing out of the truck’s hood, thicker by the second. “We have to get clear.”
The two women limped toward the Jeep. Rebecca was reaching for the handle when she looked over to see the truck’s door swing open and a pair of boots hit the ground.
She saw then that the gash on Adam’s head was bleeding badly against the pale white of his skin and that one leg of his jeans was stained dark with blood and that he tensed when he put weight on it, but still he raised the gun he held in his hand and aimed it squarely at her chest, and in the split second before he pulled the trigger, she saw that he was smiling.
Cait heard the creak of metal from the door’s hinge and turned just in time to see Adam emerge from the truck. She caught the look in his eye and the glint of metal in his hand and pulled Rebecca down to the ground right before the gun went off. The bullet lodged in the Jeep’s side, just to the right of where Rebecca’s body had been a half second ago.
Next time, Cait knew, he wouldn’t miss.
They scrambled through the dirt, another bullet ricocheting off the rear door as they dove behind the bumper. “I didn’t know he had a gun,” Rebecca whispered.
Cait shook her head. “Neither did I.”
Footsteps in the dirt. He was limping, they could hear that in the way one of his steps was heavier than the other. Cait was glad she’d plunged that pen into the meat of his thigh when she had the chance.
He was hurt. They were hurt, too, but the fact that he was hurt was something. An advantage, maybe, if they played it right. First they had to get the hell out of there. They were sitting ducks behind the Jeep. And the footsteps were getting closer.
Cait saw her moment. Rebecca had risked her own life to save her. Now it was her turn to return the favor. Besides, she’d always liked a grand gesture. “Listen,” she whispered, “I’m going to go for his legs. You run as fast as you can. No matter what happens, you keep running.”
Rebecca shook her head. “We both go for his legs, and then we both run.”
“Let me do this for you. Please.” Cait heard the desperation in her own voice. “This is your chance.”
Rebecca held her eye. “Our chances are better if we stay together.”
Step, drag. Step, drag. Cait could see the edge of his boots and his shadow in the dust. He was so close, she could almost smell him.
Rebecca was right. If Cait went for him and missed . . . well, neither of them stood a chance. Together, though . . .
She nodded, held up her hand. Started ticking off fingers. One. Two. Three. They would go on five.
BOOM.
The explosion tore through the desert, the noise deafening, the heat rippling out in waves, scorching their