Chapter 12, need for speed
Speeding through the night, Alex yawned. Even though the car was luxurious and did hold quite a few surprises (Mounted machine gun and amazing speed capabilities being only two), he was stiff and bored. After finishing his call, all three of them had returned to a taciturn state of silence. Stretching uneasily, Alex accidentally knocked his phone from where he'd left it on the centre console. The device fell into the back by Ivana's knee.
"Can you grab that for me?" Alex asked yawning. As she leaned over, Alex's fatigue dissipated immediately. All of Ivana's left side was soaked in blood; her shirt had gone an odd red-black.
"What the hell happened?!" He burst out, horrified. What was worse, Alex could see that fresh blood was still trickling out of a wound somewhere.
"What is it?" Yassen asked, never taking his eyes off of the road. Ivana wordlessly passed the phone back to Alex, glaring at him. It was obvious she wanted him to say nothing. However, her strained expression only furthered his resolve.
"Ivana's injured." Alex said quietly.
"Idiot!" she hissed lividly.
Silently, Yassen turned the car around a corner and parked outside a 24 hour pharmacy. He got out of the car and opened Ivana's door. Getting out as well, Alex offered a hand to her.
"I can get out on my own!" She snapped. Slowly, she stood and moved forward. On the first step, what little colour there was drained from her face and Ivana passed out. Yassen caught her before she hit the tarmac parking lot. Alex was startled to see a cold look on the Russian's face. He wasn't happy. Yassen carefully propped Ivana into a sitting position against the car, then he slapped her once across the face. With a jerk, she came to, still very pale. She didn't seem bothered by the way Yassen stood over her, eyes glinting angrily. To the average passer-by the Russian would appear to be mildly stressed, but Alex knew better.
"Why didn't you say you were injured?" He asked softly, voice quietly menacing. Ivana looked away and didn't answer. Unwilling to waste time arguing, Yassen disappeared into the store. After a few minutes of awkward hostility between Alex and Ivana, he returned, carrying supplies. Wincing, Ivana gingerly took off the dark jersey she wore. Underneath, her black tank top left enough skin exposed to show what had happened. From her shoulder down, Ivana's left side was studded with various pieces of shrapnel. Alex flinched, thinking of the pain of having metal and glass embedded in you flesh. The worst injury however, was a deep, still bleeding gash that ran from her left shoulder, across Ivana's collarbone and ending on her right shoulder blade. Alex tensed as Yassen took all of Ivana's injuries.
"I'll ask once more, why didn't you say something?" His voice was calmer then before, but Alex still felt edgy. Ivana hesitated before answering.
"I wanted to keep moving, so I said nothing." She muttered, eyes cast down. For a second, Alex thought he saw Yassen smile. Certainly, the Russian's cold aura vanished for a spilt second. Wondering at that, Alex refocused on Yassen's words.
"I don't think so Ivana, you're lying to me."
She started to protest, but Yassen silenced her with a look.
"However, I'll let you go with this. I see no point in pushing the matter."
Turning back to the task at hand, Yassen poked carefully at the gash.
"This'll need stitches." He noted grimly, shaking his hand to rid it of blood. Suddenly, Yassen stiffened, staring out into the dark road. All three watched as a black Audi moved slowly down the street, purpose obvious.
"Get in the car now." Yassen said quietly. For once, Ivana accepted Alex's offer of help without snarling. As soon as they were all in the car, Yassen slammed on the accelerator. The Mercedes leapt forward, almost alive in its power. Immediately, the Audi followed, headlights focused on them like lasers. Quickly, the highway turned into a path through rolling hills and farming country. The road begun to wind, hairpin turns one after another.
"Bikes left and right." Yassen said quietly.
Looking behind them, Alex groaned. They were now being pursued by four motorbikes and two cars.
"Open the centre console Alex." Yassen said, voice level and unconcerned. Obeying instantly, Alex found a handgun laying in the compartment. Picking it up, he glanced at Ivana.
"You do know how to use it right?" she asked.
Alex nodded insulted. Then, he positioned himself by the window, ready to pull the trigger. Behind him, Ivana had produced a mini oozie from somewhere. With a high pitched roar, one of the bikes came alongside the car. Before she could fire, Yassen took another turn, throwing Ivana onto her injured side. Alex winced, but took the opportunity. He fired over Ivana's head and clipped the motorcyclist on the arm. Immediately, he toppled from the bike, nearly being run over in the process. Pulling herself upright, Ivana shot at the next to try stopping them. The dead Audi driver slumped over the wheel, foot falling to the brake. Despite their efforts to stop in time, two more of the bikes slammed into the car, exploding into balls of flame. Smiling grimly, Ivana reloaded her weapon. Her smile faded a little as one car and bike sped out of the smoke, gaining on them. Suddenly, one of the men in the car leant out of the window and started firing. Bullets whined overhead, one hit a side mirror and carried it off into the night.
Frowning, Yassen spoke.
"They are becoming a problem now."
Thinking quickly, Ivana turned to Alex.
"Can you fire in front of you?" She asked.
Alex nodded, he knew what Ivana had in mind and so did Yassen. With a touch of the brakes, their pursuers went screaming ahead. Simultaneously, Alex and Ivana leant out the windows and fired at the vehicles. Alex's target, the motorcyclist, flew off his bike and slammed into the hard road. Ivana on the other hand, emptied the entire clip, hitting everyone in the car. The car itself lunged off the road and slammed into a stone wall. A fiery explosion devoured the vehicle, but the Mercedes was already a mile down the road.