Chapter 6 - Blood on the Highway
The rain came down in sheets as Adrian’s armored Maybach sped along Lake Shore Drive.
Inside, the atmosphere was thick with unspoken tension. Adrian was still holding Emma’s hand, his thumb tracing soothing circles over her skin.
“You did incredible tonight,” Adrian murmured softly.
“I almost stepped on your polished shoes three times,” Emma teased, smiling.
“I wouldn't have cared if you broke my toes.”
Suddenly, the front windshield shattered with a deafening *CRACK*.
“Sniper! Down!” Marcus roared from the front passenger seat.
The Maybach violently swerved as two heavy black SUVs slammed into their sides, trying to force them off the road toward the concrete barrier of Lake Michigan. Gunfire erupted like fireworks, shattering the reinforced side glass into spiderwebs of cracks.
“Emma, get down!” Adrian threw his heavy frame entirely over her, pressing her onto the floorboard and shielding her with his body.
A bullet tore through the rear window, grazing Adrian’s upper arm. A hiss of pain escaped his teeth.
“Adrian!” Emma cried, feeling warm, sticky blood soak into her dress.
“I’m fine,” he gritted out, reaching beneath his seat and pulling out an automatic pistol.
The driver slammed the brakes. One of the pursuing SUVs overshot them, flipping violently over the highway divider. But the second SUV screeched to a halt, and four masked gunmen leaped out, assault rifles raised.
Marcus took out two of them through the driver’s side window before a bullet caught his shoulder, knocking him out of the fight.
“Stay here,” Adrian commanded Emma, his face covered in rain and blood.
“No! You’re bleeding out!” Emma grabbed his arm, tears mixing with the rain pouring in from the shattered window.
“If I don't move, they will flank us and you will die,” Adrian said fiercely, his hand cupping her cheek. “And I would burn Chicago to ash before I let them touch you.”
Adrian kicked the door open, firing with pinpoint lethal precision. He eliminated two more shooters, but a fifth man emerged from the shadows of the rain, aiming directly at Adrian’s blind spot.
Emma didn't think.
She saw a heavy steel fire extinguisher bracketed beside the Maybach’s jump seat. With an adrenaline-fueled roar, she yanked it free, lunged out into the pouring rain, and smashed the heavy metal cylinder straight into the gunman’s helmet with all the strength of a girl who had spent ten years lifting fifty-pound bags of coffee beans.
The man collapsed like a sack of stones.
Adrian turned, stunned, smoke still curling from his barrel.
He stared at Emma, who stood in the freezing rain in a torn emerald dress, holding a dented fire extinguisher, her hair plastered to her face, breathing heavily.
Adrian let out a breathless, disbelieving laugh despite the blood pouring from his arm.
May you like
“Remind me,” Adrian murmured, stepping toward her and pulling her into his arms, “never to get on your bad side, Miss Brooks.”
***