Grave Secrets (Manhunters 1)

Jesus Christ. Ian was glad Savannah couldn’t hear this.

His mind darted from the cops to another potential avalanche. They’d already passed from the meadow into another valley flanked by skyscraping mountains.

“Roman?” Ian said. “How do you want to handle this?”

“Handle what?” Savannah asked, still trying to catch her breath.

“I don’t know that we have a lot of choices,” Roman said.

He cut a look at Savannah. “The cops know better than to shoot at us under these conditions, right?”

She shook her head with a simultaneous shrug. “Some do, but…”

“Sam,” Ian said, evaluating options. “Where is the next meadow?”

“Three-point-four miles. It flattens out on the right, near the base of the next campground. But you won’t reach it before the cops reach you. Right about…now.”

A sheriff’s SUV barreled around a bend, headed straight for them.

“Ready for some chicken?” Roman pulled to the right of the road, leaving room for Ian to move up next to him, effectively blocking the entire road.

Savannah was going to have a coronary, but Ian moved into position.

“What are you doing?” she asked, her voice shrill.

“You know how the flight attendants tell you to brace for impact?” He pushed on her back. “Curl up in a ball. Head between your knees. Arms covering your head.”

“Ian—”

“I know, baby. I know. Just do it.”

He met Roman’s gaze over Savannah’s head. His boss gave Ian one approving nod, and they both focused on the cruisers headed toward them, one in front of the other, lights and sirens blazing.

The sting of fear buzzed over Ian’s breastbone. He repositioned his grip on the steering wheel, settled deeper into his seat, and matched Roman’s speed.

The next ten seconds passed like minutes while Ian absorbed every detail in sharp relief. And in that second when someone had to decide to bail on this challenge or risk the very real possibility of death, Ian prayed they came out of this alive so he could tell Savannah he loved her.

Ian pushed out one quick breath a millisecond before the first cop veered right. In the next second, the other cop veered left.

He cut a look at Roman at the same time Roman met his gaze. They were both grinning like idiots. Roman saluted Ian and accelerated. Ian fell in behind him, and he ran his hand over Savannah’s hair. “We’re good. You can sit up.”

But when he looked in the rearview, he found the cops pulling out of the snowdrifts and turning to follow.

Savannah sat up and turned to look out the back.

“Sam,” Ian prodded.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m trying to learn to breathe again here. Okay, let’s see. You’ve got six more coming at you from the south. No telling how many civilian members of the posse are with them. There are more side roads coming up. Okay, take the third one on the right. It turns into a public road about two miles down and eventually winds you down into a town called Bleak. Jesus, Hazard and Bleak? What’s next? Grim? Harsh? Clusterfuck?”

Punk, punk-punk-punk. Shots dented the body of the SUV.

“Seriously?” Ian said, yelling at the rearview. “Didn’t you learn anything from those other idiots?”

Punk-punk, pink-pink-pink-pink.

Ian swore. Savannah pulled her knees into her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs, her terrified blue gaze tilted toward the sky. Watching the snow on the mountains, he knew. If he didn’t have to concentrate so hard on his driving, he’d be doing the same thing.

“Hang in there, baby,” he told her. “I’ll get your feet on solid ground soon.”