And that meant they needed to talk.
She reached a relatively straight stretch of back road and slowed the car. “Derek—”
“Don’t slow down.” His gaze was fixed on the side mirror. “I’m pretty sure we’re being followed.”
The rearview mirror revealed a dark sedan fifty yards back, though it was impossible to see more through the slanting glare of the late-afternoon sun. “How long?”
“I thought I saw them before we hit the highway, but they disappeared. Showed up again half a mile back.”
“It could be nothing.”
Derek shook his head, and nervous power flared between them. “It’s not. I can feel it. We should turn up here and see if they follow.”
“Okay.” She flipped on the signal and held her breath as she watched the car behind them. It did nothing, so she bit her lip, made the turn and sped up again. “Maybe it’s a different car than the one from—”
The sedan turned behind them.
Derek let out his breath and twisted in the seat to reach for the bag he’d brought with him from Alec’s house. “Now it seems kind of stupid that we never discussed if you’re good with guns.”
“I usually hit what I mean to hit.” She thought of the remaining two members of the Conclave tactical team and shuddered. “If it’s one of the guys Enrica sent, it won’t matter—”
The back windshield shattered. Nick ducked, fighting to control the car. Adrenaline surged through her, and she cursed.
She heard the bag tear as Derek ripped off the zipper in his haste to get it open. He pulled out a compact semiautomatic and straightened in his seat. “Let’s hope all the target practice paid off.”
Fear gripped her as another bullet ricocheted off the car with a metallic zing. “I don’t think I can lose him. Not on this road.” Not with the trees so close to the car and no side roads in sight.
Derek rolled down the window and leaned out far enough to get off one careful shot. She heard the bullet hit the other car, but they didn’t slow at all. Derek swore. “How much trouble do they get in if they hurt you?”
“A shit ton.” Nick spotted a road ahead and stomped on the accelerator, counting on the car to perform on par with her reflexes. “But he might not be so worried about that after what went down at Alec’s office.” If he’s still in his right mind at all.
He glanced over his shoulder for a split second. “Can you make that turn up there? That dirt road? I might get a clear shot at them while we’re turning, and I think we need to get out of the car.”
The shaky panic spiked again. “You build houses, Derek, and I’m an accountant who makes a living mixing kamikaze shots. We’re not trained. We’re not soldiers.”
“He’s a badass, but he’s outnumbered.” He fired another shot out the window, and this time she heard glass crack as it shattered the windshield of the car behind them, sending the man swerving across the road.
Even if she didn’t trust herself, she trusted Derek. “Hold on.” She waited until the last possible second to turn, and the car slid and shuddered. The road didn’t look like a driveway, but a “dead end” sign flew past as Nick stepped on the gas again.
Derek fired off three shots in rapid succession as the other car careened around the corner and hit the brakes. Metal sparked behind them, and she heard the sound of breaking glass and a screeching noise as a tire blew and the car’s bumper scraped the road.
“Shit.” Nick barely looked at the road in time to spot a fallen tree leaning across it. She managed to avoid it, but the man following them slammed into it.
“Have you got room to whip around?”
“No.” The road had widened, but not nearly enough. Still, they were on dirt, so she hit the brakes anyway and jerked the wheel.
They narrowly avoided two more trees, and the back end of the car skidded wildly before stabilizing. By the time they came to a stop, facing the opposite direction, Derek had his door open. He tumbled out, the gun still in his hand.
“Derek—” She scrambled out, dust burning her eyes and lungs, to shout a warning, but the man behind the wheel of the sedan was still. “Be careful.”
Derek reached the crumpled car and nearly wrenched off the passenger side door. He dragged the barely conscious man across the seats and dumped him onto the ground with a low snarl. “Is there a pressing reason why I can’t shoot him in the head?”
Nick grabbed his arm. “We need to talk to him. Unless you know a good medium, that’ll be hard to do if he’s dead.”
His fingers tightened around the gun. “I bet I could find one.”
“Derek, we don’t have time.”
“You’re right.” Derek swung the gun down to point at the man’s knee and nudged him in the side. When he stirred and opened his eyes, Derek smiled coldly. “The lady wants to ask you some questions. Start talking or I’m going to shoot pieces off of you.”
Nick took a deep breath. Enrica could have gone rogue and sent him after her, but it was unlikely. Not only would it jeopardize everything the woman had worked for, but she had nothing to gain by the action. Which meant the man on the ground was operating on someone else’s orders…or was just out for revenge. “Where’s your other buddy? The one who made it out with you?”
His eyes rolled back in his head, and ragged laughter spilled out of him. “No one made it out. No one’s making it out. Just tell your mutt to shoot me.”
Her blood chilled. “No one’s shooting anybody.”
“Not ruling it out,” Derek muttered. “He sounds cracked.”
“Cracked.” The man laughed again. “You should know. You and your psychic bitch.”
“Shut up.” Nick glanced at Derek. “Put him in the trunk. We’re taking him to the meeting with us.”
Derek was breathing heavily. A hint of the wolf stared out of his eyes as he lowered the pistol. “He’s talking about Kat.”
“Yes, he’s talking about Kat.” Her suspicion had been right. The man was out of his head, and the whole chase suddenly made sense. No one who’d been trained by the Conclave could have been bested by her driving.
“He’s going to go back to the Conclave and keep talking about Kat.”
Could he really think it would be the first they’d heard of her? “The Conclave already knows about Kat, Derek. Just like they know about Jackson and Mahalia and you and everyone else who has anything to do with me or Alec. They know.”
He trembled. “They can’t know what she’s capable of. I didn’t know what she was capable of. I didn’t know she could…”
Their captive bared his teeth in a challenging grin. “Scrape out a man’s brains and stick ’em back in backwards? I’ll tell them. I’ll tell everyone if you don’t shoot me.”
Nick closed her hand around the gun, her pulse racing. “He doesn’t want to go back to the Conclave and face my father. That’s why he’s saying this.”
“I know.” It was barely a whisper. He let go of the gun, but leaned down and pulled the man to his feet before throwing him against the side of the car. “So help me God, if you do anything to put my family or my friends in danger again, you’re going to wish her father had taken you apart piece by piece.”
Nick situated her finger on the gun’s trigger and stepped back. “I have some chain in the trunk.”
“Don’t do it. Shoot me. Shoot me or I’m going to—” The man’s voice cut off as Derek dragged him away from the car and slammed him back into it hard enough to knock him unconscious.
Nick could barely feel the weight of the steel still clenched in her hand. “Get him in the trunk.” She was anxious to begin negotiations. During that process, at least, Michelle and Aaron would be safe, their lives guarded by the honor and word of the Conclave.
She longed to see her father. Even if the burden of saving Michelle’s family had to rest on her, simply being near his solid strength would help. He couldn’t officially interfere, but he could advise her. He could be there.