“You see that big, fuzzy mound ahead?” Cassidy said. “That’s a mountain. The bridge runs into the heart of it. Miss, and we’re fish food. Oh, and dodge left now!”
The second missile smashed the ground apart at their right wheel. Cars on the opposite side of the carriageway took shrapnel and swerved to a halt. Fire washed over the front of the car this time, its heat making those inside bow their heads and close their eyes.
Cross took his foot off for a second. The car slowed. The drone adjusted overhead and came in even closer.
“Can’t you shoot it?” Cross blustered. “Why aren’t you shooting at it?”
Heidi wrenched her weapon from her waistband, scrambled across Bodie and jabbed at the electric window. Bodie leaned back, trying to remove his own gun. Cassidy glanced at the crazy shuffle the two were doing in the back seat.
“Erm?”
“Wanna shut it and get your gun out?”
“I guess.”
Cassidy found her own handgun and lowered the window. She fired at the same time as Heidi, their bullets barely missing the drone as it hovered in the air. The machine backed off, its next missile delayed as the operators evaded several more shots from the car. Bodie finally pulled his own gun free and tried to get in on the action.
The drone shot higher and further away. Cross made the car veer to and fro, approaching a coach from behind and focusing on getting by as fast as he could. The drone tracked him, swerving sharply toward the mountain to get ahead of the coach.
“Punch it, punch it,” Heidi shouted as she leaned even further out of the window, her hair ruffled by the wind. Cassidy was hanging out of the same side of the car, nearer to the front, her red hair whipping back toward Heidi. Bodie tried to join them.
Cross pushed the throttle through the floor, hit the limiter. He didn’t change direction, not wanting the coach to bear the brunt of any attack meant for them, but he did veer even further toward the central divide. In the end, it proved to be a good move as a rocket smashed and smeared all over the upraised concrete, debris shooting everywhere. The three shooters ducked back inside the car so fast they landed in a heap.
Then fought to get back up.
Cross swung the vehicle past the coach and across to the other side of their carriageway. The drop to the side loomed big, straight down to the flat black lake.
“It’s not that far,” Jemma was saying. “We could survive that.”
Gunn glared at her, almost frothing at the mouth. “Are you kidding?”
“What? You worried it’ll mess with your hair gel?”
Gunn looked away, refusing to continue the argument. They were nearing the end of the bridge now and approaching a tunnel cut into the mountain. As Bodie, Cassidy and Heidi reached the open windows, they got one more chance to fire at the swooping drone.
The car bounced into a pothole, throwing their aims off. Bullets went high, but Heidi’s cut through the air just a few millimeters low of the drone. Sudden darkness hit them and they were inside the mountain tunnel, their eyes struggling to adjust, the road and walls lit by high-powered lamps.
Cross found he had to slow now as they came up behind a camper van. The road was a single carriageway in here, and no divide meant it was doubly dangerous,
Bodie stared through the rear window. “It’s coming.”
“It followed us inside?” Cross exclaimed. “Son of a bitch.”
“And now,” Heidi said as the speeding drone raced up to their back window, “we’ve nowhere to go.”
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
The drone flew close, so close Bodie could clearly see its weapons and unblinking eye, its odd wings and markings. They could hear its high-pitched shriek.
“Do something!” Gunn shouted.
“All right,” Cassidy replied. “Just let me get out my drone repellent.”
The drone backed off a little. The tunnel stretched long, dark and very narrow.
“It’s gonna fire,” Jemma said, wincing.
Cross jammed the brakes on. The drone flew in hard, almost colliding with the back of the car but swerving up sharply at the last moment. Cross set off as fast as he could again, putting some distance between them and the readjusting drone. Bodie almost clapped in amazement.
“ ’Kinell, Cross,” Cassidy said. “You hero.”
“Good move.” Heidi coughed. “Unexpected. Maybe give us a heads up next time.”
“I think he just thought: ‘what would David Hasselhoff do?’” Cassidy cackled.
Bodie motioned for Cross to keep his eyes on the road as the ex-military man turned around to retort. The drone dropped from the side this time, easing its way around the back. A car traveling in the opposite direction missed it by mere inches, causing Gunn to curse their lack of luck.
“Get down.” Cassidy lined the drone up through her sights.
Everyone scrambled down, hearing the no-nonsense tone in her voice. Bodie pressed hard into the leather seats and jammed his fingers into his ears. Cassidy fired, four shots in succession, whilst Cross bellowed in pain.
“You could have fuckin’ warned me!”
“Ah, well, touché.”
The rear windows shattered, the bullets flying true. They smashed the drone aside, destroying its body and wings, and sending it crashing into the mountain. As it fell away the car left the tunnel and sunshine flooded the interior.
“Nice,” Bodie said, slipping his head up over the back seat and gauging the terrain.
“We should get off this road,” Heidi said. “If they found us once they’ll find us again.”
“And a new car,” Gunn said. “Fast.”
“Not that many roads in Hungary,” Cross said. “But there’s a town not too far ahead. Maybe we can replan there?”
“Good thinking,” Heidi said. “Make it fast. We need to get out of sight.”
“I’m doing the best I can.”
“Says Miss Daisy.” Cassidy flicked at the shattered glass that littered the back seat. “Bit of a mess.”
Heidi stared at her. “Don’t know whether to be cross or thankful,” she said, also brushing at the glass.
“Ow,” Bodie said. “You just flipped a piece of glass at my arse.”
Heidi sniggered. “Your arse?”
“Yeah, my arse. Is that a problem?”
“No, Mr. Darcy, it’s all good.”
Bodie noticed the only one not smirking was Cross, who was concentrating on navigating the windy route. Even Gunn was smiling. “It does sound a bit hoity toity,” the geek said.
“From you? Shit. Now I know I’m off kilter. So I guess it should be ass then?”
“Not ass,” Cassidy corrected. “It’s aassssss. Draw it out. Sounds ruder.”
“I can’t say it the way you do.”
“Well, try. The—”
“Quit!” Cross shouted. “We just barely escaped a rabid drone attack and you guys’re having a schoolyard debate. Get the goddamn maps out and find us a safe place in this town.”
“Already on it.” Gunn was flicking through his cellphone as was Jeff. “But we don’t get our maps out, mate. We use an app to get them up.”
“Whatever.”
Bodie shuffled further toward the window as Heidi picked glass out close to his legs. The CIA agent was a conundrum, on the one hand able to destroy his life and imprison his friends but on the other a highly capable and trustworthy ally. He saw the road ahead starting to wind down toward a medium-sized town and nudged Gunn with an outstretched knee.
“You there with the location yet?”
“The signal’s crap,” he said, holding the phone at various angles.
Cross grunted from the front. “And that’s why your app’s bullshit, brother. You wouldn’t get that from a paper map.”