Nina had already leaned back out of the window. This time, she didn’t miss.
The grenade punched a neat hole through the super jeep’s rear window — and exploded, the blast ripping the three men in the cabin to shreds and blowing out all the windows. A moment later, the shrapnel-ravaged fuel tank detonated, flinging the hulking vehicle into a blazing somersault. It smashed back down on its roof, two of the oversized wheels flying off as what remained of the body tumbled to a stop.
Eddie hurriedly changed course to avoid the burning wreck. ‘Nice shooting.’
Nina dropped the MGL on the front passenger seat. ‘We’ve still got to catch up with Fenrir’s jeeps.’ She closed the window as the truck climbed again. ‘For that matter, we’ve still got to find them—’
Her eyes widened in shock as Anastasia’s GMC Yukon erupted through a snowdrift and charged straight at them.
Eddie jammed down the accelerator and tried to swerve out of its path — but too late. The onrushing super jeep hit theirs at an angle, caving in the rear wing. The impact threw everyone sideways, Nina’s head banging against the window.
The truck slewed around, for a moment travelling sidelong as the other off-roader barged against it before Eddie broke away. The Toyota lurched, flinging its passengers back across the rear seat.
Anastasia’s jeep rammed them from behind. Eddie scrabbled for the grenade launcher, but it had fallen into the footwell, out of his reach. ‘Nina! I can’t get the—’
He broke off as the lights in the mirror shifted. The Yukon pulled to the left, trying to overtake on his side, and he saw Anastasia’s arm emerge from the front window. ‘Gun!’
Flames spat from the sub-machine gun as she opened fire. Eddie dropped low, making another hard turn away from his attacker. The side window behind him burst apart, a bullet shredding his headrest. Another clanked against the hefty roll cage — but a third hit flesh.
Nina screamed as the searing round tore through her left bicep. Hot blood caught Olivia’s face, the elderly woman shrieking.
Despite the pain, Nina threw herself over her grandmother as another round whipped through the broken window. ‘I’m okay,’ she gasped, clapping a hand over the wound.
Eddie sliced back in front of the other super jeep to cut off Anastasia’s line of fire. ‘Where are you hit?’
‘My arm,’ Nina told him. ‘I think the bullet went through.’
‘As soon as we get away from these fuck-knobs, I’ll look at it— Shit!’ The Yukon veered left again to give Anastasia another shot. He turned to block it, curving across the snowfield as more rounds narrowly missed the Toyota. ‘We’ll end up going in bloody circles at this rate!’
Olivia raised her head in sudden alarm. ‘How far are we from the road to the hotel?’
‘I dunno, I can’t see it. Why?’
‘Because we might be heading for the lake!’
He gave her an aggrieved glance. ‘That’s where I want to go!’
‘But the cliff gets higher the farther you are from the road — and we’re heading away from it!’
He hurriedly looked ahead, but the truck was descending into a dip, only snow visible. Not that he had time to scan the landscape. The pursuing 4x4 jinked left again, this time accelerating enough to pull its nose past the rear of the Englishman’s vehicle, preventing him from cutting back across its path.
Instead he braked hard and made a skidding turn to the right, speeding up to pull away from his adversary. The Yukon arced around to follow him.
Anastasia leaned out to shoot, but before she could pull the trigger the Toyota cleared the next rise, dropping out of sight. Eddie wondered whether he would be able to pull off the same trick that had taken out the first super jeep — but then saw a sharp edge to the snowfield directly ahead, coming up fast.
The lake. And Olivia had been right about the rising cliff, the drop at least twenty feet.
He was about to brake and turn away when spotlights reappeared behind him, followed by flashes of gunfire. Only one place to go. ‘Hang on!’ he shouted. ‘We’re going over!’
He accelerated, the engine snarling as the super jeep surged towards the cliff edge—
The Icelander’s bullets struck home.
One of the rear tyres blew out, ruptured rubber flaying the wheel arch before ripping from the hub. The super jeep swerved. Eddie jerked the wheel back, but the 4x4 had already reached the cliff.
It flew over the precipice, the weight of the engine tipping its nose down towards the ice—
Impact.
Even with the beefed-up tyres and suspension taking the shock of the landing, the Land Cruiser still wiped out as it hit the ice, a front wheel tearing from the axle. The frozen surface cracked, stress lines shooting outwards like lightning bolts as a huge splash of icy water burst from under the truck. But there was still enough play in the surviving wheels to catapult the super jeep back upwards, sending it careering across the lake and bouncing once, twice, before slithering to a stop.
Despite being braced, Eddie had still slammed painfully against the steering wheel. He slumped back, the sudden silence left by the stalled engine almost shocking. ‘Nina,’ he said, turning his head painfully. ‘Are you—’
A new noise, the roar of another big V8 behind them — which abruptly changed in pitch as the driver tried to stop before reaching the cliff…
He failed.
The second super jeep hurtled over the edge in a spray of snow, landing short of the hole where Eddie’s truck had hit the lake. The front suspension collapsed, one of the shock absorbers stabbing up through the hood — and the ice smashed beneath it, dropping its nose into the frigid water.
More fractures shot through the surrounding surface, frozen chunks breaking loose and rolling in the waves. The jagged lines lanced across the ice towards the Toyota—
A dizzied Nina had just raised her head to check on Olivia when the super jeep pitched backwards, its rear wheels dropping through the breaking ice. Everything in the cargo bed hit the tailgate, then was swallowed by a freezing deluge as the bottom of the smashed rear window dipped beneath the surface. ‘Jesus!’ she gasped. ‘We’re sinking! Olivia, get out!’
Olivia grabbed the nearest door handle. The latch clicked, but with the 4x4 now tipping ever more steeply, the door’s own weight was holding it shut. She strained, forcing it open a few inches. Nina crawled closer to help, only to be tugged to a stop. Her foot was caught in something. She kicked, trying to free herself, but to no avail. A seat belt had entangled her leg. She groped in the darkness for the strap—
With a scrape of ice, the super jeep slid deeper into the lake.
Eddie was about to bail out when he remembered the grenade launcher. He leaned over the centre console and clawed in the footwell. The truck jolted again, grinding backwards into the water. He grabbed the MGL, then threw open the front door and rolled out.
Even dry, he was still freezing. The temperature was sub-zero. ‘Nina!’ If they didn’t reach shelter or summon help, without outdoor clothing they would rapidly suffer the effects of exposure—
Another kind of death was closer.
A bullet hit the jeep’s flank just inches from him. Eddie whirled and saw Anastasia staggering towards him, silhouetted by the spotlights of her own wrecked vehicle. The small Crucible was clutched in one hand, her UMP in the other. The Yukon was slowly sinking nose-first, the splashed blood on its cracked windscreen telling Eddie that her driver had not survived the touchdown.