Targeted Risk (R.I.S.C. #7) - Anna Blakely Page 0,60

in need of counseling. Maybe he...

Loves you.

The voice in her head was right. Mike may have lied about a lot of things, but that wasn’t one of them. She could see it in his eyes when they’d made love. In the way he’d gone at Fuller in her honor.

For months, the man had lived every day surrounded by the darkness her family had bestowed upon this world, but despite it all, he still loved her. And right or wrong, she loved him, too.

Which meant she couldn’t let him live the rest of his life blaming himself for whatever this asshole had planned for her. She needed to act. Now.

Juliet glanced down at the gun, which was pointing down at her leg rather than her ribs. Getting shot there would still hurt like a bitch, and there was always a chance the bullet could hit her femoral artery, but it was less risky than one to the heart.

Checking to make sure his eyes were still on the road, Juliet held her breath and said a quick prayer. Then, before she could talk herself out of it, she went for the gun.

“What the hell?” The car swerved when he tried pulling the weapon out of her hands. “Are you fucking crazy?”

Not crazy. Determined.

Using all of her strength, she pushed the barrel away from her. If she could twist it in his hands enough, she could—

The gun went off, filling the car with a deafening boom. Juliet’s ears began to ring, but she could still hear Fuller’s roaring scream as the car made a sudden jerk to the left.

She was thrown against the howling man’s side, and the gun fell to the floorboard, sliding beneath Fuller’s seat.

“You shot me, you fucking bitch!” His hand flew in her direction.

A sharp, thundering pain exploded in her left cheek and eye. Juliet cried out but blinked against the white dots filling her vision. She couldn’t pass out, now. If she did, she was a dead woman.

With his right leg bleeding like a stuck pig, Fuller reached beneath his seat in search of the gun. Knowing she couldn’t let him get to it, Juliet did the only thing she could think of.

She grabbed the wheel and jerked it hard in her direction.

Fuller’s large body flung to the right, and he tried to regain control of the vehicle. It was too late.

Hoping her seatbelt and airbags would be enough, she held onto the oh, shit handle and waited. The car ran off the road and down into a ditch, taking air before its tires found the ground again.

Juliet and Fuller bounced around like rag dolls, and at one point, she felt her head smack against the passenger window. She barely had time to register the pain before a large tree came into view, stopping the car on impact and sending her into a dark and peaceful oblivion.

****

“I don’t see them, Jake. I don’t fucking see them.”

Mike sped down the two-lane highway in search of Fuller’s car. Of all the shit he’d done, all the fucked-up messes his undercover time had forced him into...he’d never experience true terror until now.

“Keep looking,” Jake spoke calmly. “You said they didn’t get that big of a head start, right?”

“They didn’t, but shit. What if I’m going in the wrong direction?”

What if I can’t find her in time?

“You’re going the right way.”

“How the hell can you possibly know that?” Mike pushed the gas pedal as far down as it could go.

“Because I know you, and I trust your gut. You need to do the same.”

“I’m trying but...fuck. I can’t lose her, man. I can’t.” But that was exactly what was going to happen if he didn’t catch up to them soon.

Mike’s stomach revolted at the thought. He’d always known he would die for Juliet. What he didn’t know was how he was supposed to live without her.

“Listen to me, Mike. I know it’s hard, but you’ve got to pull your head out of your ass and stop thinking that negative shit.”

The road in front of him blurred with a well of unshed tears. “I can’t help it.”

“Yes, you can. And before you ask, I know you can because I’ve had to do it.” Jake sighed. “Thinking I was going to lose Liv was the hardest fucking thing I’ve ever gone through. But I got through it, and so did she.”

His sister’s smiling face flashed behind his eyes. “I know, man. I know, but this is—”

“Different?” Jake cut him off. “The only difference between