Leopard's Wrath (Leopard People 11)

“Stay down,” he hissed. “Sevastyan, lower the screen now.”

In the darkness, they could see the other two cars giving them chase. Flashes lit up the darkness as more bullets spat at them. Spiderwebbing appeared on the windshield and the driver’s side window. An SUV crashed into them, driving them sideways, pitching Ania off the seat. Mitya tried to catch her, but he was pulling up his trousers and missed.

The windshield shattered on the driver’s side and Miron pitched to the side, slumping down in the seat. Sevastyan caught the steering wheel, but the weight of Miron’s foot was on the gas pedal. The car fishtailed out of control, careening off the SUV.15ANIA practically leapt over the seat into the front, yelling at Sevastyan to drag Miron from behind the wheel. She was already sliding behind the wounded man, moving so fast Mitya didn’t have a chance to yank her back to him.

“Seat belts,” Ania yelled, her hands on the wheel, the car miraculously and impossibly sliding around the SUV as if they were in some movie scene.

Sevastyan used his leopard’s strength to drag Miron over to the passenger side and away from Ania. She glanced in the rearview mirror, and to both sides, but how she could see anything with the car in a spin and everything happening so fast, Mitya didn’t know. Like Sevastyan, he pulled weapons out of compartments and moved to the driver’s side of the car to cover that side. It wasn’t easy with the car in a spin, but he managed.

“Seat belts,” Ania snapped a second time.

Clearly her mind should be on controlling the vehicle, and not her passengers, but under the circumstances neither man mentioned it.

The car straightened out and shot away from the SUV and the other car pursuing them. Sevastyan had his phone out and was texting his men. “They’re not that far out,” he reported. “Can you handle this, Ania?”

“Don’t insult me,” Ania said. She glanced at Miron. “How bad is it?”

“He’s holding,” Sevastyan replied tersely.

The two cars were trying to sandwich them, coming up on either side. Mitya let off two rounds, hoping to keep the shooter from making a try at Ania. He detested her being exposed like that. The driver’s side window was bulletproof. It shouldn’t have shattered the way it did. Now she was the one the shooters were targeting, wanting to stop their vehicle.

She suddenly hit the brakes, and the moment both cars were a foot in front of her, she spun the heavy town car as if it were small and sporty. Mitya nearly ended up in the front seat with the others. The car flew back down the road, leading away from their residence and back toward the main highway.

Mitya glanced at the speedometer. She was still accelerating, and she showed no signs of letting off the gas. He noted she looked cool, hands steady on the wheel, eyes ahead, while his heart was pounding like a runaway freight train. He detested not being in control. She’d turned the town car into a road rocket. He had no idea one could get those kinds of speed out of it.

As they approached the on-ramp, a long winding curve that spilled out onto the main highway, a large Ram truck shot out of a side road, one unpaved and barely a trail. It should have plowed into the side of them, sending them careening into the boulders and hill on the other side of the road.

Somehow, and Mitya honestly didn’t know how she did it, Ania had spun their car once more, away from the new attack. The breath slammed out of his lungs as he looked back at the truck that had nearly taken them out. It had to stop before its momentum carried it into the very boulders it had planned to send the town car into.

“Fuck!” Mitya yelled at the top of his lungs. “Turn around, Ania. Fucking turn around.”

She didn’t hesitate, and she spun them back, taking them right to the bumper of the truck that had tried to assault them. She stopped like she did everything, fast and efficiently. Mitya didn’t give a damn, he was already out of the car, going up on the driver’s side, Sevastyan matching his long, angry strides on the passenger side. Both fired almost simultaneously, nearly emptying their weapons into the four men in the truck. Mitya went for head shots. He didn’t recognize any of them, and he could have cared less who they were.

Ania laid on the horn, snapping him out of his fury. He glanced up to see two cars speeding toward them. He and Sevastyan ran for their vehicle and dove in as she once more headed for the highway.

“Feel better?” she asked.

Was there amusement in her voice? He met her eyes in the rearview mirror and glared. There was a hint of laughter in them. “Damn it, Ania, you could be killed.”