"Must have been real nice to sleep in a bed," Alonzo said from across the table as the six of them sat eating a late morning breakfast on the outside patio of the tiny café the hotel provided.
The smile that was a living expression on Jill's face was the topic in question when she paused her hand over her plate of pan con chicharron.
Peru cooked the dish a little differently. The pork had been boiled with seasonings and then fried in its own fat before it was placed on a sweet roll bun and delivered with slices of fried sweet potato, spicy onions, and a chili pepper relish called sarsa criolla.
Jill met Alonzo's look while she continued to chew the bite she had taken; refusing to rise to the challenge that was cast with his growing grin.
Alex, who looked like he had been hit by a bus—maybe two buses—was groaning with his head in his hands beside Carlos. He had requested to sit in the shade from his horrible hangover, but Jill suspected there'd be no quelling it until he ate.
"Tell me," Jill finally said after she swallowed her bite and dabbed the napkin at her lips. "Which one of you was the ass end of the spooning train last night?"
Carlos choked out a laugh into his water glass and David darted his gaze over to Pedro as if he was revealing a big secret.
"Hey!" Pedro uttered, dropping his spoon from the ceviche he had been digging into. His long black hair had been tied in a bun behind his head and the glossy strands were starting to come out when he darted his head toward her. "You know I sleep funny; I can't help—"
"Where you the littlest spoon, Alonzo?" Jill leaned forward slightly while she kept her eyes on the man in question.
Alonzo's eyes were delighted when he began to cackle. He shrugged while he mopped up a sauce on his plate with his own sweet roll.
"A man never cuddles and tells," he said before he gave a saucy wink over to Pedro.
"Jesus—fucking—Christ, I hate you guys right now." Alex moaned into his hands while his shoulders shook from the laugh that was more than likely spearing along in his pain.
"You need to eat," David said beside him. He was back to his normal quiet demeanor, but Jill wouldn't forget the joyous man she had seen the previous night.
"Might want to sleep it off in the truck while these two do their shopping," Pedro gestured toward Jill and Carlos as he spoke to Alex.
"I'll be fine but," Alex lifted his face to reveal the bloodshot eyes beneath. "Did I really…"
"Lap dance with someone dressed as the mayor?" Pedro asked.
"Take shots from between the legs of the woman on stilts who also invited you back to her tent?" David provided next.
Alex was whipping his eyes back and forth between them.
"Or," Alonzo added last. "Did you really smell Pedro's cologne last night and whisper—"
"Alright!" Alex exclaimed while he sunk his hands into his curly short hair.
"Fuck," Carlos was tilting his head back with a laugh as his hand covered his partially full mouth. "We need to do this more often."
When they were done with breakfast, Jill quietly paid the bill while Carlos was distracted with helping Alex out of his seat. When he caught her sneaking away from the hostess counter, the expression told her of their own version of war crimes she had just committed.
Jill gave a simple finger wave and waited for the pack of them to meet her near the foundation that led toward their exit. They had already brought their bags down and checked out before coming to breakfast.
David and Pedro offered to carry Alex and the bags back to the truck and jeep while Alonzo, Jill, and Carlos continued toward the shops.
The day after the festival showed the streets lined with smiling vendors. Brightly colored merchandise was once again catching Jill's eye as they passed. Carlos caught her eye and Jill lifted her wrist and gave it a little twist to jostle the bracelet.
As if to say, I got what I wanted.
Carlos looked more than pleased when he interpreted that silent message beside his brother.
Purchasing the bed was first on the list and had been a rather quick affair. They wouldn't be able to fit a king size mattress and box spring in Carlos' truck, but he had suggested the smaller bed would promote cuddling. Not one to ever question the gift in a horse's mouth, Jill had agreed easily before she snagged a few different sheets.
"Don't forget the blankets," Carlos called while he and Alonzo began to move the first portion of the set out of the doors.
"I'd rather ask Rosha to make us some blankets at home," Jill replied while she adjusted the bag on her arm. When she looked up, both of the brothers were staring at her.
"What?" she uttered looking down at herself to make sure she hadn't grabbed something she had forgotten to pay for
Alonzo glanced at his silent brother before he looked back at Jill.
"Nothing, kullaka," Alonzo provided serenely. "You just stun him every time you naturally know what to offer."
She blinked a few times and looked once more toward Carlos. The sudden bashful look on his face had her lifting her brows.
"Come on, close your mouth," Alonzo scolded his brother playfully before he jerked the mattress slightly, knocking Carlos into movement again. "Need to pack this up so we can finish up and start heading home."
Carlos stumbled back into action but not before he bid Jill one more pleased look of his own.
When the bed was strapped down in the truck bed, the rest of them continued back to the markets to do a little shopping. Only Alex remained with the vehicles and was currently passed out in the front seat with his mouth hanging wide open.
Alonzo locked up the jeep before he turned and saw Jill giving him an odd study.
"What?" Alonzo asked.
"Should probably crack a window," she said slowly.
"For the smell?"
"No," she bit back a grin. "You can get in trouble for leaving people and animals in a hot car with no ventilation."
"Animal is the right description," Pedro muttered. "No more tequila for Alex. It's going to be a rule of the house."
Jill took an hour to browse through the clothing district and found enough pants, tops, and undergarments to help her make it through the everyday wear and tear for a while. When her eyes caught on a light blue Peruvian Mara-styled dress, she stopped and touched the soft material. Inca whorls lined the long sleeves while red flowers decorated the pointed lapels.
With a turn of her head over her shoulder, she glanced out toward the window of the shop where she knew Pedro was waiting for her. Carlos and Alonzo had their own shopping to do, but they both had refused to let her wander alone. Pedro was happy to accompany her, but he drew a line at the clothes shopping and waited outside.
"A lovely dress," the young woman who ran the shop with her mother called to Jill while she continued to write in a ledger across the counter. "Handmade by locals and made with care."
The young woman wore a black bowler hat and indicated with its position and designs that she was unmarried and from Ayacucho. A beautiful face that housed dark eyes that were similar to Carlos' were shining back at her while Jill considered her words.
"I'll take it too," Jill responded with her own warm demeanor adding to hers. "Can I change into it here?"
"Of course!" The girl beamed before she turned to her register and began the transaction. After a moment, the girl paused and glanced down at Jill's shoes. "That won't do though," she was spinning away from the counter and making her way toward the far-left wall.
With two fingers laced under the straps, the smiling girl was carrying black, Peruvian ojotas. When she set them on the counter, Jill took in the dark durable looking material. They were rubber sandals, and someone had taken the time to also etch in the design of the same looking flower through one of the crisscrossing straps.
"Half-price," the woman said with an excited look. "It will complete the look but if you don't already have a pair, you'll be wishing you did next summer."
"What's your name?" Jill laughed with a pleased note to the easy sale.
"Laka," she responded with a surprised look. "What's yours?"
"It's Jill. You've got taste, Laka," Jill bid before she passed over the currency needed for the transaction. "I'm trying to impress someone today and I think you started me off well."
"Is the man waiting outside the shop now?" Laka's eyes were gazing out toward the window.
Jill started to say 'no', thinking that she was spotting Pedro, but when she looked, Carlos and Alonzo had returned, and he stood before the shop; waiting but allowing her to finish her shopping, uninterrupted.
"Yeah," Jill said with her pleasure lacing through her response.
"Alright," Laka said with invigorated energy and Jill watched her focus skitter toward the other men. "Let's get you dressed; this may be the most important thing I do today. I'll bag this other stuff up, but you go on in and get ready."
In the tiny dressing room, Jill made quick work of pushing off her current pair of jeans and pulling off the pale-yellow blouse she had adorned that day. Leaving her bra on, she shimmied into the dress and took time to tie the drawstring cord that cinched at the waist. Stepping into the sandals last, she dared to look up slowly into the mirror and at her reflection.
Her gasp echoed in the small changing space while she viewed the woman who stared back at her.
In just over a week, she took in the subtle transformation that didn't have much to do with the clothes. Truthfully, Jill hadn't seen her reflection since she had used the restroom in the South American airport, but the difference was already startling.
Back in the airport restroom, a woman with tired, blank, violet eyes had stared back at her. Gaunt cheekbones from her lack of appetite in the last year had given her a sharper and fiercer look. Collar bones had jutted out from below her neck like two daggers while pale skin from her lack of pigmentation caught harshly in the fluorescent lighting and the willowed frame seemed weary even beneath the small portions of muscle that lined her arms and legs.
Wraith. That's what she had looked like, and at the time, Jill felt it an appropriate appearance from how wrong she had felt inside.
Although her skin was still pale and would remain so despite her freedom, she had been consistently eating and the bones no longer appeared so sharp, nor did her face seem to be etched from marble. In fact, the woman in the lightly colored dress seemed to have a natural flush that highlighted her cheek bones, and the emotionless eyes that had even put Chris Redfield on edge held notes of life that hadn't been present in years.
The woman in the mirror looked euphoric and beautiful. When Jill lifted her hand, she was surprised when the woman in the mirror did it too.
"I have something a little extra to complete the look," Laka called from beyond the door.
Jill jumped and looked away from herself. Scrounging up her older clothes from the ground, she stuffed them into the bag she had brought before she pulled open the door to greet Laka.
"Wow," Laka's eyes widened as she beheld Jill. "You look beautiful!"
"Thank you," Jill said and meant it.
Laka paused her perusing gaze and seemed to remember the flower she was holding in her hand.
"This," Laka said before she held up the red flower that had six petals. Each petal was about two inches long and streaks of black decorated a few of the center petals. It was the same flower on Jill's new dress and shoes. "Is for your hair."
"What flower is that?" Jill asked when she pulled her blonde hair from its ponytail.
"A Peruvian lily or better known as the lily of the Incas." Laka answered with her eyes crinkling in the corners. "Universally seen as a symbol of grace, purity, majesty, and honor. They are received by a beloved or a friend, but the meaning is up to you."
Laka gestured to her hair before she said, "Can I?"
Even at her 5'5" height, Jill was still taller than the petite woman before her. She suppressed a smile when she had to lean her head down toward Laka so she could begin to fluff out her hair at her shoulders and tucked the flower behind Jill's ear.
"Do you want to see the full result?" Laka asked excitedly when she finally stepped back.
"No," Jill said, letting her lips curl in her amusement. "I trust you, Laka."
"Thank you," Laka responded quietly before she glanced back toward the window. "Are you ready?"
"I think so," Jill murmured as she adjusted her bag on her shoulder and took the bag of her other purchases from Laka. "Would you like to come out with me?"
"Me?" Laka pulled her gaze she had let drift to one of the other men outside. Jill wasn't sure which one.
"Oh, yes," Jill gave her one of her knowing smiles then. "Can't have too many friends, right? We may be back here pretty soon."
"Well…" Laka cleared her throat before she glanced down at her own attire. "No, I suppose you're right."
"I know I am," Jill chuckled and began her trek toward the door. Laka's timid steps followed behind her.
The door caught the attention of the full party of men waiting outside and the glare of the afternoon sun had Jill's eyes squinting slightly while she stepped out. She caught bits of their ongoing conversation before it was suddenly quiet.
Lowering the hand she had brought up over her eyes when her vision began to adjust, the first sight Jill caught was the absolute dumbfounded expression on Carlos' face. Alonzo who had been standing beside him lifted his brows and his unique wheezing laugh was one of joy and not mockery.
Jill only had eyes for Carlos and the deliberate tilt of her head had the man's eyes latching onto hers with the intensity she loved drawing from him. His eyes dropped low before they crawled their way back up her body.
"Guys." Jill broke Carlos' stare before she turned to view Laka who now stood beside her. "This is Laka. A friend I made while shopping."
"Hi," Laka bid softly but managed to keep her chin up as she stared at the five men who all still looked stunned.
When Jill took in her line of sight, she tracked the gaze Laka let linger on Pedro far longer than anyone else.
"Did you make the dress?" Pedro asked, seemingly not unaware of the interest. His eyes flicked up toward her hat.
"No, but I…" Jill heard Laka say before her attention was on Carlos who was stepping forward. He hadn't stopped staring.
He stooped low to grab the shopping bag in her hand and when his eyes were level with hers, he whispered, "You look absolutely beautiful, Jill."
Feeling that bashful emotion mixing with her sense of Pride, Jill didn't even protest when he slipped her other bag from her shoulder and slung it over his own.
"Thought I'd try something a little different today," she breathed when he led her to the side.
Jill paused and looked back toward the circle of men that were now talking animatedly with Laka. Alonzo noticed her attention and tilted his head slightly downwards before he raised his brows.
His look seemed to say, you only brought one friend?
Figure it out, Jill tried to convey back, and it made Alonzo laugh and look away.
"Different is good," Carlos responded beside her. When Jill turned her attention back to him, she noted the amusement he held. He had seen her silent communication with Alonzo. "Is this a reward for the bed?"
"Reward?" Jill jutted her hip before she gestured to herself in a sweep. "Number one, you're edging 40 and don't need to be sleeping on couches. Secondly, I am always the reward."
"Edging 40?" Carlos kept a straight face while his tone turned provocative. "You may actually put the 'super' in the name Supercop now, but let's not forget who groans when they get up in the morning. Additionally," he leaned forward and stole a kiss. "I'll agree that you're always the reward."
She had no immediate rebuttal while she attempted to hide the flush of pleasure his new attention was causing her. Carlos caught on fast and that transition to male pride was a quick draw on his visage.
"You look happy," he said next, watching her expression.
"I am," she agreed. "I feel happy. I feel different. Laka suggested the full look and I can't help but notice the difference."
Carlos nodded while he let his eyes drift again.
"Did you plan to pair Laka with all of them?" he jerked his head toward their group.
"Well, no," Jill glanced over to see David, and Alonzo had walked over to sit at the fountain in the center of the plaza. Pedro still stood with Laka, and he had a rather fond smile stretching across his features. "I was hoping she'd just pick one."
"Matchmaker," Carlos muttered. "They're all going to ask for it now. I hope you know that."
"I need to pick the right ones first. I was hoping it was Alonzo she was staring at." Jill provided before she glanced back at Carlos.
"Oh, that's not gonna work for a while." Carlos said with a sigh.
Jill paused and tilted her head up toward his. She was remembering their dancing last night and Alonzo's comments this morning. "Shit, is Alonzo gay? Now I feel like an asshole—"
"He definitely isn't picky about his company," Carlos responded with a sly look. "But no, orientation is not what I meant."
Jill raised a blonde brow.
"Jesus," Carlos gave her a contemplative look. "You really don't see it do you? My brother likes you, Jill."
Jill scoffed before she said, "You've teased me about that several times now, and he's been nothing but respectful."
"Of course he has," Carlos agreed. "He's an Oliveira and we revere our women. Plus, you're mine, so he'd never. However, if you have a twin sister who's also a badass, now would be time to mention it."
"Well, shit," she muttered.
"It'll be fine," Carlos shifted the bag to the arm that also held the backpack. His now free arm wrapped around her while he began to stroll them back toward the others. "However, don't throw anyone his way right now."
"And Pedro?" she asked out the side of her mouth as they neared.
"Well, if this works out, he'll probably build a statue of you for their ceremony." Carlos laughed quietly when they both paused again in the street. His fingers skimmed the back of her thigh discreetly and Jill sucked in a breath before she heard him add, "Did I mention how much I like this dress?"
Jill gave him a proud smile before she leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. When he wrapped the arm he had tighter around her waist, she leaned up on her tiptoes to tell him in a whisper what she'd do for him when they got home.
With an energized laugh, Jill Valentine decided one of her most favorite things to do in the world was to make Carlos Oliveira flush red.
In a warm exchange, Jill had bid her new female friend a goodbye. She had promised to return, and the shorter woman seemed to glow from the newfound, promised friendship. Pedro also seemed pretty enthusiastic about returning soon and he hadn't stopped smiling when they all reached the truck.
"You check in with the base?" Pedro called over to David as they began to unlock the vehicles.
"All quiet," David confirmed with a nod before he looked toward Carlos. "No new movement from the borders."
"Are we sure we don't want to go to that meeting with Peru's leader?" Alonzo asked before he checked his watch and ruffled his long hair that curled further in the heat.
"Not interested in going to war with Colombia as well as with the cartels," Carlos answered in a tight voice.
Jill thought again to DeAndros' claim against Tatiana Rani, and she blew out her breath before she climbed into the truck. Gently setting the bags behind the front seat, Jill glanced up at the bed that was now strapped tight in the back. It occluded most of their vision out the window, but Jill caught sight of the decorations that were still on some of the buildings for the festivals. She bade a soft smile at the experience before she turned to view Carlos climbing into the truck from his side.
His eyes were on her while he held the keys near the ignition.
"Did you buy any more of those dresses?" He asked, glancing at her bare crossed legs.
"Just the one," she responded with a curious look.
"I'll be careful then," he said with that slow smile cresting his lips before he looked down at the keys in his hand. "Do you want to drive?"
Jill's mouth opened in silence.
"You know the way now and I want you to feel comfortable driving back and forth one day since you're makin' friends and maybe a sister-in-law soon." His eyes glittered in pleasure at her shocked look. "Come on." He was sliding back out of the truck but had left the keys on the driver's seat for her.
Grasping the keys, Jill slid behind the wheel of the truck before buckling in. She glanced over to see Alonzo's shocked face in the driver's seat of the Jeep idling beside her. She gave him a beaming smile and she could see him laughing beside a still queasy-looking Alex.
"You're not gonna make me regret this, are you?" Carlos closed the truck's passenger door with a teasing look in his eye.
"You've watched me fight bioweapons, handle firearms, know I operated the Sword of Paracelsus to defeat that tyrant, watched me dispose of a room full of men—" Jill began as she turned the engine over.
"Modest about it all too—" Carlos was spitting out between his laughter.
"—And still you think I can't handle a stick shift?" she was trying not to break her half-assed attempt at condemnation.
"No, no," he held up a hand when Jill pinned him with her playful glare. "Now, see here, when I met you, you were crashing a 1979 Camaro Z-28 into the ground, so—" Carlos dodged her swipe at his shoulder and seemed to be fully enjoying her mock-anger.
"I was out of options!" she cried while she recalled crashing the car from the top of the parking garage in Raccoon City.
"That car was a classic, Jill!"
"I changed my mind," she answered as she glanced over to check for traffic. When she pulled out onto the street, she continued, "You can still sleep on the couch, and I'll take the bed."
"That violates the cuddle-buddy doctrine, sorry; that's a lifelong oath you swore. To back out now would just make you a car-crashing, dirty, little oath breaker." Carlos was scooting closer to her, his face a living testament to the joy he got from bantering with her. "But you also look really hot in dresses, so I suppose I can forgive one or two infractions."
"You would have really loved the cat suit." Jill let out a hum when he leaned over and pecked her cheek like she had done so many times to him.
The city of Ayacucho was whipping past them when Carlos sighed out, "I still get the best parts though, but yeah, that's a serious loss that will be felt for years."
"Did you buy another vest?" she questioned as she settled into her seat and shifted when they hit the 3S highway.
"Stop pretending it was just the vest you liked, Jill." Carlos laughed when she wacked his arm playfully. "You do look really beautiful in that dress though and I'm glad you did something nice for yourself. You deserve it."
"Thank you." Something vulnerable quaked in Jill but it was different than when she had first arrived. A perceived guilt she still struggled with but not as much anymore. "Let's go home, Carlos." She glanced over at him while he viewed her with that special reverence he had spoken of earlier.
"Home it is, Supercop," he murmured lovingly.
Jill forgot how much she loved driving. She'd only had a small taste of it in Alaska when she had driven to meet Trent, but in the five hours they had been traveling, she found herself slipping into the peaceful state that came with coasting down empty dark roads at night.
The conversation had flowed back and forth between her and Carlos with comfortable silences in between.
He had told her of his brothers he had lost. His brother Tonio had been his idol since his father had fallen to alcoholism when his two other brothers had died before he had even been born. Tonio seemed to have been a steady presence for the rest of the remaining children in Oliveira line, but he had died to gang violence when Carlos was only five years old. Tonio had been shot in front of him and when Carlos described Tonio's bloody rosary, Jill had reached over to grasp his knee as his voice hitched.
Alonzo was only 6 years younger than Carlos, making him 28 currently. It had been Carlos who had followed Tonio's footsteps and helped to raise his remaining brothers that followed after. When Carlos had been captured and subsequently saved by Umbrella, his biggest regret had been leaving his only remaining sibling behind. However, to remain in his home country would have put another target on his village's back and so Carlos had continued into the future while working for the pharmaceutical company.
Lulled into a sense of comfort by his presence and the peace of the drive, Jill found herself sharing the details of her mother passing away from cancer when she was ten years old. It had been her mother who had reared her at that point as her father only ever visited for birthdays and holidays. When he had been contacted by the hospital the night her mother had collapsed from the undiagnosed stage 4 lung cancer, he had shown up in only a matter of hours to collect Jill.
The weeks and months that followed were an awkward affair of a man with a chained responsibility and a risky profession to boot. Richard Anthelme Valentine hadn't ever wanted to be a father, but he had been a good one when it mattered. Still, his life of theft hadn't stopped when Jill waited for him to arrive home most nights.
When he began to create games for her to unlock simple locks in the house, or sneak around him without being noticed, Jill hadn't been any wiser to what he was teaching her to do. At 15 he had her casing houses and making note of the different factors one had to consider before breaking and entering. At 17, she had made her first score alongside her father, and despite what she knew to be wrong at that age, she had wanted nothing more than his approval then.
At 19, Dick Valentine had finally been caught breaking into a high-rise apartment that happened to belong to a foreign diplomat. It was a job he had decided not to bring her in on and while she had sat in one of her college classes, he had been sentenced to prison.
Jill still remembered the harsh-faced detective who had shown up at their door with the warrant to search the place. They hadn't found anything worthwhile. Dick Valentine had never kept any of his 'work' at their home. Their fence had been a swotty man that went by the name of Jameson, and he had vanished shortly after her father's incarceration.
The detective had warned Jill that he'd be keeping a close eye on her. With her associate degree nearly finished, she had found her home empty once again while she held the United States Army pamphlets. Her professors had encouraged her to finish school and continue on as normal, but Jill understood even then that she didn't know what normal meant anymore.
Now the head of their finances, she had quickly liquidated what she could, and met with a recruiter six months after Dick Valentine had been gone. She had continued to converse with him via letters through her time serving her country and when she had continued her fight with bioweapons. When she arrived at the Alaskan BSAA headquarters last year, she had sent him a letter for the first time in the years she had been missing.
She hadn't received a return letter by the time she left over a week ago, and Jill hadn't had the courage to try again.
Carlos listened quietly beside her in the dark cab as they approached Alejo Pata, Peru. The stretch of land in between Uripa and Alejo Pata was a smattering of different green foliage that was highlighted again by the full moon above. The mountain range around them was currently lowering into the valley beyond.
The clock on the dash read 10:56 p.m. when Jill glanced at it; she planned to drive well into the night so that they would have a shorter drive in the morning. Considering their previous late night, she also wanted to give Alonzo a chance to rest or at least switch drivers.
She was opening her mouth to suggest it when the crack of distant gunfire interrupted the serene drive.
Jill jumped and glanced in the rear-view mirror only to be blocked out by the bed they still had stored in the back of the truck.
Carlos was immediately leaning toward the right-side mirror, and Jill did the same with her side.
Behind them, Jill could make out the headlights of the Jeep but beyond that, she could see another car had joined them on the road. The jeep swerved behind them, and the third car seemed to be gunning it closer to Alonzo's jeep.
"Carlos, gun—" she uttered.
"Way ahead of you," came his sharp reply when he pulled his rifle out from behind the seat. He also pulled out her magnum that was still in a holster and placed it on the space in between them on the seat.
Another round pierced the air and this time when Jill looked back at the headlights, she viewed the Jeep that was beginning to drift back and forth across the road. The jeep careened hard before it suddenly veered off the road and tumbled down a slight embankment off to the right.
"Fuck—" Carlos began to shout before Jill was slamming on the truck's brakes and slowing them down to around 35 MPH.
"Brace," she commanded to Carlos.
With her teeth grit, Jill was gripping the steering wheel with her left hand while she reached for the handbrake and yanked hard upwards with the button depressed. The truck's backend began to slide to the right and Jill controlled the counter steer just enough before she pushed the handbrake back down and completely turned the car back on the road toward the incoming enemy vehicle.
Dirt from the spray of gravel was floating in the air in front of the vehicle's headlights when Jill put the truck back into gear and began to gun it toward the other vehicle on the road.
"Return fire," she barked at Carlos. Her eyes searched for the overturned jeep's own headlights that were pointing toward a grassy knoll on the side of the road. The jeep was lying on its side.
Needing no further encouragement, Carlos rolled his window down, and he was bracing against the dash with his knee while he lined up his scope.
A second enemy vehicle was veering out from behind the first and Jill knew then this wasn't going to end well for them.
Carlos' first shot had the front vehicle veering and coming to a complete stop where the jeep lay overturned.
Lights shined in the side view mirror again beside Jill, and she glanced down to see another vehicle pulling onto the road behind them now.
They had driven into an ambush.