Page 27 of Owned (Office Intrigue Duet 8)
I breathed a sigh of relief, trying to dislodge my stomach from somewhere in my throat.
That was too damn close for comfort.
Unfortunately, the sigh was a bit premature, because the next thing I knew, I was careening off the road, bouncing down an embankment. The terrain was rocky, the car jarred and jolted. I nailed my foot to the brake pedal, but the car was having none of it. I flew past a few scraggly trees, grateful they weren’t—
The enormous tree rising proudly from the dead grass and ice-covered dirt was the last thing I saw before the car came to a jarring stop, my body maintaining the momentum despite the lack of movement. The airbag blew, but not before the front of the car accordioned, pinning me to the seat.
Pain bloomed hot and bright, ignited into a firestorm of agony, and the blackness took over.
“Ransom!”
I was vaguely aware of the rough, gravelly voice, hating that it had drawn me back to the brink, back to this godforsaken, pain-filled reality.
“Can you hear me, Ransom?”
It came from somewhere outside the car, muffled by the dull roar that filled my ears.
“Ransom! You gotta wake up, man. Come on.”
I managed to lift my head, coughing from the smoke filling the inside of the car. For a second, I thought it was because the airbag deployed, but I felt the heat, saw flickers of orange and red.
Not from the airbag.
Nope. Not that damn lucky.
The fucking car was on fire, and I was trapped, my legs twisted at an odd angle, the steering wheel lodged into my sternum, making it nearly impossible to take a deep breath.
Instinct had me twisting in a desperate attempt to free myself. Pain had my head fogging once more, my eyesight dimming.
“I’m gonna break out the back glass!”
Yeah, you do that. Whoever you are.
I barely had time to process it as a warning before I heard something hard slam from behind me. A few more tries and then it shattered. I jerked my head away as the shards began raining down into the car thanks to a big booted foot kicking it out of the way. It was then I realized the car was tilted at an angle, one door pinned by the ground, the other trapped by what looked to be a wall of trees. Not quite on its side but not upright, either, hence the reason this guy was making a path through the back.
I craned my neck around in an attempt to see who he was.
“Oh, good. You’re awake.” He sounded amused. “Ready to get your ass outta here?”
I had no idea who the Good Samaritan was, but I wasn’t about to tell him to leave me be. Getting out of this inferno was the only hope I had of saving my sister.
Then it hit me. Was this guy a Good Samaritan? Could be he was one of the assholes who’d been chasing me and he wanted me out of the car so he could execute me the old-fashioned way.
“Ransom, I need you to help me here,” the raspy voice demanded.
It still didn’t register that he knew my name, even as I dug for the seat belt release, my shoulder screaming in pain.
“That’s a start,” the man said as he crawled in through the gaping hole in the back. “You might wanna brace yourself. I’m gonna break the seat.”
Break the seat? What the fuck?
He didn’t hesitate, gripping both sides of the driver’s seat and yanking it violently until something snapped and it abruptly reclined. Guess he didn’t know there was a button for that.
Good news: if he was going to kill me, he didn’t sound eager to do so. Bad news: torture was still a possibility.
I could see flames in front of me, feel the heat on my legs.
“Goddammit, Ransom. If you wanna live, you’re gonna have to give it your all here, man.”
Oh, I wanted to live. If only to ensure my sister was safe. She was my motivation, the reason I managed to work through the godawful pain igniting in every nerve ending. It took effort and a good three minutes, but with the guy’s help, I managed to get out of the car with him dragging me. Once out, I tumbled onto terra firma, rolling away from the heat. I tried getting to my knees, but my arm wouldn’t work, so I fell, gasping through the pain.
I screamed when he got a good grip under my arms, dragging me a few feet away, telling me not to move.
I expected the bullet. Waited for it, even as I turned my head to the side, looking for something that might save my ass here.
It was then I saw a body. The guy wasn’t ten feet away, and despite the smoky haze in the air, I could see the neat little bullet hole in his forehead, his eyes wide and lifeless.
