178

The sound of a car speeding up the driveway let us know Lucas had returned. We heard him say something, but his voice was slightly muffled from the closed door of the barn. I still had my uncertainty about Lucas; he seemed willing to just turn Optimus in for money, apparently.

From what I'd seen so far, Cade was doing a good job fixing Optimus. Even though he didn't have all the materials he needed, Optimus was gradually looking better. It relieved me to see that.

He walked into the barn and handed Cade the supplies he needed. I watched Lucas carefully. He seemed a little...off. Like he was hiding something. I narrowed my eyes a little. He was hiding something. There was a vibe he was giving off, one that made my stomach churn.

Cade and Lucas talked for a little bit before Lucas went back outside.

I hadn't realized Optimus was watching me until I looked at him. He had sensed my suspicions, but neither of us wanted to say it.

Cade continued working on Optimus until Tessa called. He put his stuff down. Hesitantly, he left.

He had left the door slightly ajar. I peeked, just to see who was there. Black SUVs were scattered on the lawn; men dressed in black, wearing their sunglasses, were slowly inspecting the property. I stiffened.

"Someone called them," I hissed to Optimus. "You need to hide."

Optimus tried to argue but thought better of it. From where he was kneeling, I saw there was a space underneath big enough for him to hide in. I was able to move a lot of Cade's junk and Optimus carefully got in.

I boarded up the top, hoping I wasn't making a lot of noise. I heard arguing outside. I quickly found a place to hide with the girls. They were being quiet, which I silently thanked them for.

The barn door opened and the sound of footsteps, slow, carefully placed footsteps, made up for the noise in the tense, quiet barn. I wasn't sure how many men had entered, but they murmured amongst themselves, I knew they'd have devices for scanning Energon Signatures, but I knew Optimus could hide his. Would they still be able to find him, though?

They weren't searching as thoroughly as they could have, not even that long in their search in the barn, one of them concluded nothing was in the barn. I felt slight relief when I heard them leave.

There was a few minutes of silence before the arguing started up again. I heard the sound of guns, Tessa's cries. Whatever was going on out there, it wasn't good. I debated going out there, but I was already working on a shoulder wound and trying to keep the girls safe.

"You're going to shoot my little girl?" I heard Cade shout. He kept shouting at the Cemetery Wind agents, Tessa's cries mixing with it. "I told you everything that I know! They're gone, they left. They were in the barn, I swear to God! Just let her go!"

I closed my eyes, pursing my lips. Cade was trying to cover for us. He was trying to protect us and his daughter. I didn't know what to do. I considered throwing some mini All Spark bombs at them, but that would cause them to inspect the barn and discover us.

I mentally cursed myself. I didn't want them to get hurt.

Their cries and pleas got louder. Was Optimus going to do something? I swallowed thickly.

I didn't move a single inch from my hiding spot. Though it was eerily silent, I had a feeling there were still agents lurking around, just waiting to find us.

A gunshot from outside made me flinch. I could still hear their cries; it was a warning shot.

Not even a second later, Optimus burst from his hiding place. I abruptly stood up, holding the girls. I saw Optimus hit some of the lurking agents away, a look of pure rage on his face. Taking his gun, he burst through the side of the barn. I stood there for a single moment, stunned, before I rushed out. I saw Cade grab something; Optimus shot at the Cemetery Wind agents, they shot back; I helped Tessa up, trying to get her away from the crossfire. Some of the agents were injured from Optimus.

"Cade! They're trying to kill you, get out of here!" Optimus ordered. We all stayed down as they continued firing at one another.

As we ran, a loud explosion shook the ground. We looked back and the Yeager property had been blown up.

We kept running; until we made it to a large pool of water where a racing car came to a skidding halt. The driver, a scruffy looking young man, opened the door and yelled at us to get in the car. I looked back, Optimus was still fighting them.

"Desirée!" Tessa cried.

I looked at her. Did I want to leave Optimus? No. But...I shook my head. I managed to squeeze my way in. There was no way in hell I would've been able to fit in the race car, but there was no time for arguing.

We weren't on a road. The driver was taking us as quickly as we could from the property. I kept wondering how it was either a miracle or a weird coincidence that a race car driver would show up the day we needed a quick escape.

"What's happening, baby, who are they?" the driver exclaimed, an Irish accent lacing his words. He quickly looked behind him before focusing on his driving.

"It's the truck," Tessa said quickly, "they want the truck!"

I looked between Tessa and the driver. He looked a few years older than her. I felt the motherly instincts kick in: why was he calling her baby?

"Who are they?" Cade asked. "Who're you and who're you calling 'baby'?"

The driver and Cade exchanged a look. It didn't take rocket science to put two-and-two together, but Cade didn't seem to believe it.

"I know you heard me," he snapped.

"I'm her boyfriend!"

"He's my boyfriend!"

Tessa and the driver said it at the same time.

"What?!" Cade exclaimed. "You're not her boyfriend!"

"His name's Shane and he drives, dad!" Tessa explained.

We continued speeding down the way; constantly looking back for the black SUVs. Other black vehicles, built for the terrain, came in other directions.

"What kind of cars are those?" Lucas called. "They're so scary!"

I could tell he was putting up a façade; he was the one who called them. He was the one who ruined that little moment of peace.

I couldn't blame just Lucas. I asked a civilian to fix a damaged Autobot. If I had known it would've led up to this, I wouldn't have done it.

Shane did his best to swerve away from the incoming vehicles. Cade was giving him orders, telling Shane to lose then in a nearby corn field.

We made our way through the field, knowing they'd be right on our tail. The girls squirmed in my arms, frightened and uncomfortable in the small area.

A helicopter flew overhead, a specialized gun attached to it.

Since no one was really paying attention, we didn't notice one of the vehicles cut us off last minute and ram into the driver's side. Tessa gave a surprised screech.

Glass shattered from the impact, but Shane managed to get us away from the incoming vehicles.

We crashed through a fence and sped through some backyards, the helicopter following us the entire time.

Some of the vehicles followed us from the corn field, almost cornering us. We lost them. We managed to make it to a highway, Shane swerving in front of cars, putting some distance between us and them. There were still plenty of them behind us, trying to keep up

I struggled to look back. Some of the cars were equipped with guns.

"Mr. Yeager, this is not how I wanted us to meet, OK?" Shane said. "I'm Shane, and I'm a..."

"And I am not talking to you, drive the car," Cade snapped.

A few of them caught up to us near an intersection, but Shane did a last minute U-turn in front of an incoming truck. The truck came to a stop as we sped off.

The ones who followed us let off some warning shots, shooting a nearby building. Shane managed to avoid getting the car shot and went even faster, if that were possible.

Making it to a main road, we would have gotten blocked off, but there was a gap between two buildings just big enough for the car to fit through and make an escape.

"This may be primarily my fault, OK?" Lucas admitted. "They said they were going to bring a check! They didn't say anything about a death squad!"

We swerved and drove until Shane took an abrupt turn, stopping. He was planning on driving through a bingo building. I held the girls closer to me, tensing.

"Hold on," he exclaimed.

He made it through the building, and once we made it to the other end, the speeding commenced.

"We lost them," Lucas said. "Good job, stranger of the corn fields."

I found myself getting angrier each time Lucas spoke. Now wasn't the time for him to attempt to lighten the mood (if that was what he was trying to do), we were in the middle of a high-speed chase.

We managed to make it to an old factory. Optimus and Lockdown had arrived there, as well; their fighting continuing on top of some of the older, surrounding buildings. Some of the Cemetery Wind cars had followed us, with Lucas confirming that they were behind us.

"Lose them in the factory, Shane!" Tessa exclaimed.

Shane made an abrupt turn.

"I thought you knew how to drive this thing, go!" Cade yelled.

Driving through a chain-linked fence, we took some more turns to lose our attackers. Optimus and Lockdown's fighting continued on the rooftops of nearby buildings.

Optimus managed to find us and destroy some of our attackers. The remaining ones were able to get out of the way of Optimus. Shane sped up, trying to get to whatever destination him and Tessa were talking about.

"Take them upstairs," Tessa said quickly. Going to an old parking garage, Shane sped up; taking us to each level in that rundown place. Our remaining pursuers were on our tails instantly.

"We'll lose 'em on the fifth floor," Shane said.

The vehicles had us cornered in no time. There was no way we would be able to get out of it.

"Do that thing, Shane," Tessa said.

"You know it."

"What thing?" Cade exclaimed.

"What we're about to do is going to be kinda scary," Shane informed.

I scowled. It couldn't be as scary as being chased by gunned government men. But if this kid was honestly a race car driver, then certainly he would have some tricks up his sleeves.

Shane shifted gears and sped up. Doing that, we left our attackers behind. It was a moment of relief, but the fear still hung above our heads. The relief was short lived when they started shooting at us, but none of the bullets hit the car. Not yet, at least.

"Tessa, grab my stick, grab my stick!" Shane exclaimed.

Cade gave the young Irishman a look of horror. "What?!

"She's got the best hands in the business," Shane said proudly. Tessa squirmed her way so she was leaning toward the front, grabbing something. Shane made a very sharp turn toward a ramp after telling Tessa to pull. Cade tried to tell him no, but it was too late. We had already driven off the edge of the ramp. Time seemed to have slowed down once we were off that ramp. Somehow we managed to make it safely to another ramp just at the bottom. A few of the Cemetery Wind SUVs tried mimicking what we did, without the ramp of course, but they ended up crashing.

We came to a stop, Shane cursing.

"The rim's cracked," he said.

I hadn't realized how tightly I'd been holding onto the girls until the car came to a stop. Optimus had found us, having transformed back into his truck form, and honked the horn at us. He came to a skidding halt, waiting for us.

"Optimus," Cade sighed in relief. "Come on, move, move!"

We all got out of the car, running toward the Autobot leader.

We stopped when we heard Lucas's voice behind us. He struggled to get out. We stopped for a minute to wait for him. Once he made it out, he ran toward us.

I looked up. Lockdown was coming toward us from one of the rooftops. He pulled out a grenade and was getting ready to throw it.

"We have to go!" I exclaimed.

The moment the grenade hit the ground, it exploded. The sound of the ground cracking, the feeling of it shaking, made us run faster. It wasn't a normal grenade; the sound of it exploding kept happening around us. Smoke and debris was quickly catching up with us. By the time the grenade had truly stopped its destruction, we had managed to make it to Optimus on time. But as we gathered into the cabin, we saw Lucas's body, the skin being burnt off and his clothes burned, standing upright, in the middle of a running position. He didn't make it. But the strangest thing of all, his remains looked as if they were coated in metal.