17. Chapter 17
Chapter seventeen
Remington
Colton gently scoops me up from the table, lifts me into the back seat of a three-row passenger van, then slides in next to me and buckles me in. One of his teammates, I think it’s Hawk, opens the opposite door and sits on my other side.
Once everyone’s in, we drive out of the building and into the night. At least it’s dark and I’m not being blinded by the sun.
“We’re RTB,” Warlock says from the front seat.
I turn to Colton, without a clue what that means.
“Returning to base,” he tells me, answering the puzzled look on my face.
I nod in response.
Doc’s behind the wheel, and as we race through the streets, he orchestrates a complicated series of turns, changing direction often. Even though I can’t see very well, my eyesight’s finally starting to return to normal.
We’re passing through an intersection when I glance out the window.
Blinding headlights light up the darkness.
Whatever is hurtling straight for us, it’s big and coming fast. I have just enough time for it to register we’re going to be hit before the rogue vehicle broadsides us on the driver’s side.
There’s a sickening sound of metal crushing against metal. Windows explode inward, spraying glass across the van’s interior. I squeeze my eyes shut as shards hit me in the face. Then the vehicle flips—once, twice, three times.
With gravity suspended, I’m temporarily weightless.
Colton, Hawk, and I lurch to the right and slam against each other.
Then gravity drops away again, and we’re thrown the other way, smashing against each other on the left.
Even though my seatbelt is on, I’m being tossed around like a ragdoll with every flip of the vehicle.
After what feels like an eternity—but is probably only a few seconds—the van lands upside down, skidding along the road on its roof, finally grinding to a stop with all of us hanging from our seat belts.
An assortment of groans and expletives fills the interior as the team starts unbuckling themselves.
Colton turns to me. “You alright, Remi?”
“Yeah, I think so,” I tell him, even though I’m not sure that’s the case.
“Well, that was fun,” Hawk mutters sarcastically from beside me.
“Everyone whole?” Warlock calls.
“All good.”
“Just peachy.”
“Easy fucking day.”
That’s when the staccato sound of automatic gunfire erupts.
“Bail out! Move, move, move!” Warlock yells with a whip of authority.
With no time to recover, the SEAL team scrambles out the demolished passenger-side windows. Since I’m blocking the way, Hawk wriggles through to the front to follow them. But my seatbelt’s jammed, and I’m stuck.
Hanging upside down, disoriented, trapped, and immobilized, I brace myself with my good hand on the roof.
I don’t know how the SEALs got free so easily, but no matter what I do to try to unhook my seatbelt, it won’t release.
I conclude it’s because all my weight is pulling on it.
I give up when I realize there’s no way to ease the pressure and get enough slack with only one functioning arm.
“Vehicle down hard!” I hear Warlock yell from somewhere outside.
There’s gunfire all around me. It’s loud, and every now and then a bullet hits the van, making me jolt. I feel like an upside-down sitting duck.
It would seem my Venezuelan nightmare is refusing to come to an end.
The pungent, acrid scent of gasoline, burnt rubber, and gunpowder lingers in the air surrounding me.
I hear the ping, ping, ping of bullets hitting the back of the van, and I’m terrified the gas tank will be hit and blow us all to smithereens.
Time slows to a crawl. I’m afraid I might pass out from too much blood rushing to my pounding head.
“Don’t hit the girl! Don’t hit the girl!” someone with an accent bellows across the distance.
I can hear the SEAL team shouting back and forth to each other.
“We’re getting hit from three sides! Flank left! Flank left!”
“Hammer right!”
“I count ten!”
Some of the voices are closer than others. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do or what the proper response to this situation is—other than fear. I’ve never experienced anything like this. How many people have?
With no other choice, all I can do is hang here, stuck and defenseless, and wait for one of the SEALs to come save me. Again.