Love or Money - Elizabeth Roderick Page 0,66

hitting a tree. There were more gunshots from the cops, and Riel cowered with her head between her knees, wondering what it would feel like to be hit by a bullet. Would she even feel it at all? Or would she just be…gone?

There was a heavy lurch, and for a moment Riel thought the car had been hit, or had run into something. But then their ride smoothed out, the tires hissed on the pavement; they’d come over the embankment and onto the road.

“What are you doing?” Marty yelled. “You can’t outrun them!”

“I can sure as fuck try.” Isaias floored it, slamming it into second and then third, the engine bellowing. The wind hissed through the broken windshield and caused more chunks of tempered glass to cascade onto the dashboard. The hole in the back window made an eerie howl.

“You’re fucking chiflado, wey,” Marty said.

“I’m not just laying down for these assholes.”

Marty wiped his forehead. “We’re gonna get killed.” He said it with a sort of surprised certainty, as if announcing they’d get carnitas for dinner, and Riel’s chest tightened; he was probably right. The FBI wouldn’t worry about keeping her or anyone in the car alive in this sort of situation.

The sound of sirens started up behind them. Isaias took a curve at full speed, the tires screeching. Another chunk of the windshield fell, the pieces skittering over the dash and sliding onto the floor. Riel put her head back between her knees, biting her tongue. After all that shit, I’m going to die anyway.

“Watch out!” Marty yelled, and Riel was thrown sideways into the door as Isaias swerved hard. Her neck snapped up just in time to see a car barreling toward them off of the shoulder, missing the passenger door by inches.

“Fucking fuckers,” Isaias said.

“They’re gonna have people all along this road, brother,” Marty said, his voice shaking. “Just pull over. Just give up or we’re gonna be killed. There’s always a way out of prison, but no way out if you’re dead.”

“Better to die like a warrior than live like a panocha,” Isaias said. “Stop sitting there like an old turd and shoot out their tires. I know a back way if we can dump them.”

The sirens were closer now. Riel risked a glance back and saw two sheriffs’ cars and an unmarked SUV swinging around the last corner.

“Shit,” Marty said quietly. He passed his hand over his grey face. Then he rolled down the window.

He turned in his seat, squinting back at their pursuers. Then he fired three shots before quickly pulling his arm back inside.

There was a burst of return fire. Riel clutched herself, but none of the shots hit the car.

“I fucking missed them,” Marty muttered. “It’s a hard shot.”

“Try again!”

Marty’s nostrils flared as he looked back at their pursuers. Riel could see beads of sweat on his pallid forehead. He heaved a sigh and raised his arm again, aiming out the window.

Just as he fired, there was a loud noise under the car and it began to swerve wildly. Riel screamed; Isaias cursed and grappled with the wheel.

“Those goddamn nail strips!” Isaias said. “Shit!”

There was another bang, and they skidded off the road, crashing over a small embankment and coming to rest on the shoulder. The engine shuddered to a stop.

“I missed their tires, but they got ours,” Marty said weakly.

Cop cars pulled up on either side of them, and the SUV behind. The sirens quit. Men poured out, aiming their weapons. Riel’s cheeks felt cold; she realized they were wet.

“Put your guns down and step out of the car!” a voice bellowed through a bullhorn. “Now!”

Riel was shaking hard. She unbuckled her seatbelt, so eager to climb out of the car and surrender that she didn’t notice Isaias’ arm come back until it was already around her throat.

She screamed hoarsely and struggled, and he dove between the seats, catching her in a headlock again. She felt a sharp blow to the back of her head, and then the pistol barrel being pressed to her temple. Isaias’ fingernails dug hard into her shoulder. “Fuck off and stop kicking, Riel!”

She tried to go still, but she was trembling so badly that her body still twitched away from him of its own accord. Isaias’ fingernails dug deeper into her skin. He jerked her roughly through the gap between the seats. Her hip banged hard against the center console, and she fell with her left shoulder in Isaias’ lap, the gun still jabbed into her