Oath Bound (Unbound) - By Rachel Vincent Page 0,60
bucket seats, banging my knee on the center console. The interior light came on. And that’s when the bullets began to fly.
Rifles are loud. So is the collision of bullet and car.
Bent almost in half, I stepped on the brake pedal and shoved Sera’s key into the ignition. I turned the key, and when her engine growled to life, I shifted into Drive and stomped on the gas without even peeking through the windshield. It was a straight shot into the yard. The blissfully dark yard.
But I forgot about the curb. Tower’s stupid backyard parking lot had a stupid fucking curb all the way around it.
The front tires slammed into the raised concrete then rolled over it. My chest hit the steering wheel and Sera hit the back of my seat.
She screamed as more bullets ripped through the trunk. Several shattered the rear windshield and lodged in the headrest of the driver’s seat, and I hoped she’d stayed down and the bullets had all gone up.
I stomped the gas pedal again, and as soon as night washed over the windshield, I swerved sharply to the right and slammed the gearshift into Park. “Out!” I shouted as bullets ripped through the passenger side of the car. I dove out the driver’s door and rolled onto the grass as Sera’s door opened.
She crawled out onto the grass, shaking, and I pulled her up by one arm, pinning her computer bag between us when the strap fell off my shoulder. More bullets flew, but most of the guards were shooting handguns. Bigger bullets, but less power.
“Give me your hand!” I said, pulling her farther into the dark.
“What?”
“I have to be touching your skin.” But all I could find was her sleeve.
She fumbled in the dark, but couldn’t catch my hand, so I shoved the computer bag at her and picked her up as though giving her a bear hug, one hand sliding beneath the back of her shirt.
Two steps later, the air changed. Silence descended with the weight of my own conscience, and we collided with the closed closet door. Sera fumbled with the knob and the door flew open before I was ready. We fell to a heap on the hall floor. When I looked up, I found three different guns aimed at our heads.
Gazes focused on us. Tensed postures relaxed. Everyone seemed to exhale in relief all at once. Kori, Ian and Liv holstered their guns, and Liv bent to offer Sera a hand up. “I take it you didn’t get the car.”
I stood and brushed off my pants, then picked Sera’s computer bag up from where it had fallen on the floor. “I’m just happy that we made it out unshot.” I handed Sera’s bag to her and her eyes widened. Instead of taking it, she unzipped it while I still held it and pulled out her laptop. Or, what remained of her laptop. A bullet had punctured the computer’s case and lodged in some part of its electronic guts.
“Seriously?” Her forehead was deeply furrowed. “I’ve known you for all of four hours, and you’ve managed to destroy my phone, my car and now my computer. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were still trying to cut me off from the outside world.”
“Would it help to remind you that your computer died a noble death, in defense of both our lives?”
She snatched her bag from me, busted laptop and all. “No. That wouldn’t help. If I’d never met you, my life wouldn’t need defending.” With that, she turned and marched into the living room where she sat next to Hadley, pretending to watch TV while silent tears rolled down her face.
Kori gave me a silent, brow-raised look as she pushed the closet door closed behind me.
“I don’t think she likes me, Kor.”
“Yeah, I can’t figure that out. You’re the friendliest kidnapper I’ve ever met.” My sister shrugged. “She probably hates puppies, too.”
* * *
That night, after Anne and Hadley had gone home, Vanessa loaned Sera something to sleep in and Kori dug out an extra toothbrush from the linen closet and told her to help herself to any toiletries she needed from the bathroom. While Sera showered, I sat backward in my sister’s desk chair, conferring with Kori and Ian in their bedroom.
It was nearly twice the size of mine, and the bed looked all rumpled and...used. I tried not to think about that. At all. Ever.
“I asked Van to do a search for murdered families with