Rhia gunned the engine at the same time the starter kicked over. Like a bucking bronco, the old box of blue metal rocked and sputtered before the engine caught up with her heavy-footed demands. A dark shadow cut through the pelting rain and made its way to her position.
A second thug made the bad decision of jumping on the hood of her car while Maddox busied himself with two others coming out of the warehouse, their guns unloading sprays of bullets in their direction.
If the man on her hood didn’t freak her out, the murderous glint in his eyes and his intent of pounding through her already cracked windshield did the trick. Like a bad nightmare, she couldn’t wake from, glass splintered and gave under the monster’s weight. Massive boots punctured the last fragments. Another kick and she would have nothing between her and the end of his loaded gun.
“Like hell!” she snarled.
Wide eyes met hers through the water-drenched glass as she didn’t play favorites and dished out another round of pain. She swerved left then right and repeated when the thug’s grip didn’t budge.
Death stared back at her.
She knew what would happen if he managed to get a better purchase and take control instead of floundering like a fish on her hood.
Not to this girl. They could kill her father and for that, she would see justice was served, but they would not kill her. She refused to die in the slums where rats would eat her body. Or worse, cats.
Foot hovering over the brake pad, she tossed the phone into the passenger seat, fastened her seatbelt in record-breaking time, and slammed her foot down hard.
Smoke billowed and burned rubber hit her nostrils just as a deep-sounding scream of fear cracked through the night.
Pain splintered across her chest, but it was the least of her worries. The other guy fared much worse. Her would-be killer flew from her hood to land hard against the road and skidded across several feet with an unforgiving metal of a dumpster as a cushion. Hood attached to his hand.
She gunned the car and prayed it survived the abuse long enough to get her far away here. She stole a glance in the rearview but didn’t see Maddox. Hopefully, he got out alive too.
Nothing she could do for him now. She hit the speaker button on her phone and wasn’t left wondering if Sevastyan had hung up.
“Rhia! Rhia, answer me, answer me God damn it!”