Chapter 13 - The Highway Shootout
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The impact of the explosion shattered the silence of the industrial district. Our heavy SUV slammed violently into the burning wreckage of the lead vehicle, throwing me hard against my seatbelt. The airbags did not deploy, a deliberate modification for tactical driving, but the concussive force knocked the air completely from my lungs.
"Get your head down, Harper!" Damian shouted, instantly unbuckling and throwing his massive body over mine, pinning me safely against the leather seat.
Through the chaos, the night erupted in the terrifying, rhythmic crackle of automatic gunfire. The Volkov syndicate had not waited for us to reach the safehouse. They had anticipated the subterranean escape route.
Bullets hammered against the armored plating and thick ballistic glass of our SUV like a deadly hailstorm. Sparks flew wildly as armor-piercing rounds attempted to chew through the reinforced steel.
"They have heavy machine guns mounted on the overpass!" Gabriel yelled over the deafening noise, slamming the SUV into reverse. "The glass won't hold under sustained fire!"
"Back us out! Get to the secondary tunnel!" Damian ordered, his voice remarkably calm amidst the slaughter.
Gabriel punched the accelerator, tearing backward blindly through the rain-slicked streets. The trailing SUV in our convoy laid down furious suppressing fire, trying to buy us seconds.
I squeezed my eyes shut, trembling violently beneath Damian’s protective weight. The smell of burning rubber and cordite filled the cabin. Every time a bullet struck the glass inches from my face, a spiderweb of white cracks exploded outward, threatening to shatter at any moment.
Suddenly, a massive tow truck, stripped of its markings and heavily modified with steel plating, pulled out from a side alley, blocking our retreat.
We were completely boxed in.
"Brace for impact!" Gabriel roared.
He didn't brake. He slammed the gearshift into drive and floored the accelerator, aiming the heavy armored SUV directly at the weak point behind the cab of the blocking tow truck.
The collision was catastrophic. The sickening crunch of metal tearing into metal deafened me. The heavy SUV violently shoved the tow truck sideways, scraping brutally against the concrete walls of the alleyway in a shower of brilliant orange sparks.
We tore through the gap, bursting out onto a wide, deserted stretch of the lower highway.
"Tires are blown! The engine block is hit!" Gabriel shouted, wrestling with the steering wheel as the vehicle swerved erratically at eighty miles an hour.
"Keep it moving as long as you can!" Damian commanded, sitting up slightly but keeping a firm hand on my neck to keep my head low.
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He rolled down his armored window just three inches, shoved the barrel of his assault rifle through the gap, and unleashed a devastating, controlled burst of return fire at the pursuing vehicles fading in our rearview mirrors.
We careened down the dark highway, a smoking, battered fortress on wheels, leaving a trail of fire and chaos in our wake.
