Ruthless Game (GhostWalkers #9)(47)
Author: Christine Feehan

He launched himself into the air, knife in hand, gaze fixed on the landing. Something hit him hard in his left side, spinning his body around, the sting turning into a blossoming pain, driving his body back and away from his landing. He hit the sand hard and rolled, only then realizing he’d been shot. The marksmen had made an extraordinary shot from some unknown location.

Headlights caught him as Fargo wheeled his truck around, howling with laughter, as if they were playing some fun game after a drunken party. The truck bore down on him, flying at him at a high rate of speed. With the truck spotlighting him, the shooter couldn’t fail to hit him, and there was nowhere to run—nowhere to hide. He couldn’t even defend himself exposed as he was. He kept rolling, testing his body, leaving a blood trail, drawing his legs and arms up in readiness to push himself to his feet.

Rose spun the Humvee around and drove hard to intercept the truck. Kane managed to gain his feet, facing the oncoming truck. He saw Fargo’s head disappear into a raw mass of blood and tissue as the marksmen shot again. The windshield and seat turned bright red. With no one at the wheel, the truck began to veer over the uneven terrain, every bounce taking it on a different path.

Rose once again inserted the armored Humvee between Kane and the shooter. He sprinted for the safety of the vehicle, jerking open the door and diving inside. Rose took off away from the line of advancing headlights, trying to get every ounce of speed she could out of the multipurpose vehicle.

“How bad?” Rose demanded.

Kane inspected his side. A hunk of skin was missing, but little else other than his pride. He slapped a pressure bandage over it. “Maybe he wasn’t going for the kill and he knocked me away from Fargo’s vehicle on purpose so he could kill the man. Who the hell knows?”

“Who is he?”

“Whitney’s cleanup man. Get us the hell out of here, Rose. The cartel is on our ass, and we’ve got another player in the game.” He took a quick look at the baby to make certain the boy was okay.

Sebastian opened his eyes and looked back at him. Kane smiled at him. “You’re good, son, just hang in there a little longer.”

“I’m going to try to take out the shooter, Rose. In any case, the cartel is going to be on us in another few minutes. We can’t outrun them. We’re too far away from the ravine to go to ground, so I’ll have to give them something to think about.”

“I don’t like the idea of you exposing yourself to the shooter. We don’t even know where he is. How are you going to get a fix on him?”

Their eyes met in the mirror. She shook her head. “No. No way. You are not going to give him another shot at you.”

He grinned at her. “We’ve got the weapons to protect ourselves, Rose, and we’re going to need to use them.”

“Look at the truck,” Rose said, pointing at the pickup that had been careening through the desert out of control.

The driver’s-side door flew open, and a body hit the ground, bounced, and then lay still. The truck swerved back and forth before the new driver took control. She spun the truck around and headed back toward the line of lights, now much closer.

Kane opened the hatch above his head. The shooter would no doubt have his eye to the scope, but Rose was pushing the speed of the Humvee past sixty-five and redlining the heavy vehicle.

“Sweetheart, we don’t want to kill the engine,” Kane cautioned as he took a slow look around. He had an arsenal mounted on the roof, and he could sit inside safe and warm, if he knew where the bastard was.

He reached back and pulled out a helmet, raising it slightly. A bullet tore into the top, knocking it out of his hand.

“Got him. He’s at three o’clock. High ground. He’s on the slope up there.” Rose kept her heading toward the ravine, as though they still had no idea of the sniper’s position. “And just so you know, Kane, that bullet could have taken your head off.”

“Yeah, I got that.” He’d been hoping the sniper’s first shot had been a miss on purpose. “I think they have no idea who I am, Rose. It’s possible they think I’m Carlson stealing you away. Whitney set his watchdogs on Carlson and Fargo. They’ve eliminated Fargo, so they’re coming after me.”

“I agree that it’s got to be Whitney’s man,” Rose called back to him. “So if he’s driving us toward the canyon and away from that slope, what does that mean?”

Kane had a sinking feeling he knew what it meant. Whitney had a crew waiting for them. He didn’t bother to answer the question. Rose knew what it meant as well. Of course Whitney still had no way of knowing that Rose had given birth to Sebastian. They thought she was still pregnant. With the cartel behind them and the sniper driving them in a direction, Kane was certain Whitney was dropping—or had already dropped—more men into the combat zone.

“The canyon offers the only viable cover, and we can’t run in this thing forever. We have enough ammo to give it a good fight, and I can take out a good portion of the cartel’s vehicles and men when they close the distance. Forget luring them to open fire again. Drive straight for the ravine.”

“We might be driving right into Whitney’s men.”

Kane shrugged. “Then we make our stand there. I think we’ll have more of a chance. Otherwise all they have to do is wait for us to run out of gas and then water. We’ve got Sebastian to think of, Rose. Head for the canyon.”

She nodded and kept to the course, the Humvee bumping over the uneven ground, followed in the distance by a stream of bouncing lights as the cartel followed.

Chapter 10

The canyon was several miles away across open ground, but it was their only real cover. The M1165 Humvee with frag armor included two-inch-thick bulletproof glass. The doors alone weighed a good 250 pounds. Along with the state-of-the-art CROWS system mounted on the roof, they had firepower and protection but little speed.

Kane liked the idea of staying inside the Hummer now that they had half the cartel on their asses as well as a sniper and spotter. With the CROWS system, a remote-controlled weapon platform mounted on top of the vehicle, the gunner could sit in the vehicle and use a joystick, watching the action through a “TV” screen. The system had the capability to zoom in, use night vision, infrared, daytime, or heat sensor, with some very heavy-duty weapons. If necessary, and he hoped it wouldn’t be, he could disengage and use the system manually.

“They’re coming up behind us,” he said.