Outlawed Love

by Jason Krumbine

  They instinctively ducked. Kate’s heart sped up, her adrenaline raced. She spun the steering wheel hard to the left and was greeted with a symphony of horns as she cut across three lanes of traffic.

  She swore out loud.

  The sounds of the highway roared through the shattered rear window.

  “Give me your gun!” Archer shouted, peeking around his seat.

  The SUV was racing up behind them. It cut across the traffic, which was steadily growing heavier by the minute, and rammed into their rear bumper.

  Their car lurched forward. Kate and Archer jolted in their seats, straining against the seatbelts.

  Kate jerked the wheel to right, her training kicking in, and took the car into the center lane. Bullets streaked by, narrowly missing them.

  The driver of the SUV pulled alongside them and rammed his heavy vehicle against theirs.

  Kate struggled for control of the steering wheel as the car shook, almost sliding into the far right lane. Then the rear passenger window of the SUV rolled down and the muzzle of an AK-47 appeared.

  Bullets tore through the back of the car as Kate pressed down on the gas pedal and pulled the car around the SUV.

  The SUV pulled in behind them.

  Another spray of bullets cut across the rear of the car, shattering the lights.

  Kate swerved the car back into the left lane, cutting off a silver Cadillac. The SUV followed, switching lanes. The shooter leaned out the passenger side window and aimed his AK-47 at them, letting loose another hail of bullets.

  Archer swore, flinching as the bullets struck alongside the car, sparks flying into the air. He needed to do something.

  “Give me your gun!” he repeated.

  “Are you crazy?” she shouted, her grip tightening on the steering wheel as she tried to anticipate the SUV’s next attack.

  “Are you?” he asked, staring at her with a steady gaze. “I don’t think you can drive and shoot at these guys at the same time!”

  Kate opened her mouth to argue the point when she suddenly realized the vehicle in front of her, a silver Buick, was going about thirty miles an hour slower than she was. She slammed on the brakes and abruptly jerked the steering wheel to the right and the tiny car jumped back into the center lane. The seatbelt dug into Archer, keeping him from being tossed around the car.

  Kate returned her foot to the gas pedal, but she wasn’t fast enough.

  The SUV roared behind them. What it lacked in maneuverability it made up in sheer power.

  The SUV slammed into the tiny car. It shuddered and jolted forward, nearly spinning out of control as Kate pressed the gas pedal all the way down. Her heart pounded in her ears and sweat glistened across her brow.

  More bullets rained across their car, the passenger side windows shattering.

  “I don’t think we have a lot of options here!” shouted Archer. “We need to fight back! Give me your gun!”

  Kate gripped the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles turned white. She was the good guy. He was the bad guy. But it wasn’t that simple anymore.

  Who was she kidding? It was never that simple.

  She pulled out her gun and handed it to him, clicking off the safety.

  Archer took the weapon without hesitation, handling it expertly. This was not a foreign object in his hands.

  He reached around his seat and fired through the shattered window.

  His first shots struck the windshield of the SUV. It spider webbed, but did not break.

  Archer’s next two shots went wild as the car jerked around, sliding back into the middle lane.

  The SUV returned fired and Archer ducked as the bullets danced across the rooftop of the car.

  “What are you doing?” Kate asked. “Shoot them already!”

  “Hold the car steady and I might be able to hit something,” Archer snapped. “It’s not easy to hit something when your hands are cuffed.”

  He reached around the back of his seat again, aiming for the SUV’s tires, but the bullets glanced off the front bumper.

  “That’s it,” Kate said. “I have a plan now,” she took the gun from Archer. “You might want to hold on.”

  Traffic suddenly lightened up and for the next mile the three lanes were wide open.

  Kate pushed the tiny car a little more, trying to squeeze out a final burst of speed.

  “I wasn’t kidding when I told you to hold on,” she said to Archer, then slammed on the brakes.

  Kate spun the wheel sharply, turning the car a complete 180 degrees.

  The tires squealed as the rubber burned against the pavement. Smoke billowed up into the air.

  She immediately laid on the gas pedal and the car jumped forward, racing head on towards the black SUV.

  Kate dodged around what little traffic there was between her and the SUV.

  If the driver of the SUV was shocked or even scared, she couldn’t tell.

  Bullets struck the hood of the car.

  Kate stuck her gun out the window and unloaded the clip into the approximate location of the SUV’s driver.

  This time the windshield exploded and the SUV suddenly jerked the left, ramming into one of the concrete barriers that lined the highway. The SUV flipped into the air, rolling over off the highway and into the ditch.

  Kate jerked the car around again, bringing them back into sync with traffic and pulled off the road about twenty feet from the overturned SUV.

  They paused a moment, catching their breath. They turned and stared at each other. Their eyes locked and electricity sparked in the air between them. Their breathing became more labored. Both wanted to move towards the other, to hold the other. The impulse, the desire, was strong, but neither of them moved.

  Finally Archer broke the silence, “I stand corrected. You can shoot them and drive at the same time.”

  A small smile tugged at Kate’s lips. Archer caught it and the desire to grab this woman, to hold her, to take care of her, grew even stronger.

  Taking a deep breath, Kate broke the connection and got out of the car, walking to the SUV. Archer followed.

  Two of the assassins were hanging out of the SUV’s windows. Both were Asians.

  Kate picked up the discarded AK-47. “Do they look familiar?”

  Archer knelt next to one. He checked his pulse. “No. And they’re alive, too.”

  “That last part I wasn’t too concerned with,” Kate said. “What with them trying to kill us and all. Are we even sure Bragan sent them?”

  “Do you really want to calculate the odds of two separate groups trying to kill us?” Archer asked.

  “Well, you are an accountant,” Kate said.

  “Exactly. You’d have better odds of winning the lottery.”

  She sighed, running a hand through her hair. “Point taken.”

  A moan captured their attention and the rear passenger door on the driver’s side popped open. An Asian male in a dark suit tumbled out. He was bleeding from a concussion on the side of his head.

  Kate crouched next to him, rocking back on her heels. “Who are you?”

  He muttered something incoherently.

  “I don’t think he’s going to be a wealth of information,” Archer said.

  “Do you read minds?” Kate asked, squinting her eyes as she looked at Archer. The sun was glaring directly behind him.

  “No. Why?”

  “Then I guess we don’t have any other way of getting any information,” she turned back to the Asian male and gripped him by his spiky black hair, turning his face to hers. “Who are you?”

  He focused his gaze on Kate and snarled something in a foreign language. It sounded like Chinese. Then he passed out.

  Kate turned back to Archer.

  “Don’t worry,” he said, “I’m not going to say I told you so. What are we going to do now?”

  She got up. “Get back on the road. There’s definitely a leak in the office.”

  “And what if that leak is your boss?” Archer asked. “You s
aid you didn’t speak to anyone else.”

  She shot him a narrow look. “It isn’t him.”

  Archer shrugged. “It’s the most logical choice. Sometimes the simplest answer,” he trailed off, turning back to the highway. “Do hear that?”

  Kate listened carefully. “Motorcycles.”

  “And moving pretty fast from the sound of it,” Archer added.

  Kate looked back at the overturned SUV. “Bragan could’ve hired a local gang.”

  “And they might have had a second unit on standby if the money was good enough,” Archer said. “And knowing Bragan…”

  The motorcycles sounded closer.

  “Get in the car,” Kate said.

  “This thing is not going to out run them,” Archer said.

  Kate paused at the driver’s side door. “Do you have a better idea?”

  “No,” he admitted. “But give me a second. I don’t want to be accused of not pulling my weight around here.”

  “Get in the car,” she repeated and slid in behind the wheel.

  Archer got into the passenger seat and barely had time to buckle up before Kate was pulling back into traffic.

  She pushed the gas pedal all the way down, swerving in and around the other cars as best she could, determined to put as much distance between them and growing roar of the motorcycles.

  “Am I going to have to fight for the gun again?” asked Archer, nodding at the AK-47 in her lap.

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “There’s no way you can aim and fire this thing while in cuffs.”

  “Well, now’s as good a time as any to take them off,” he raised his cuffed hands. When she didn’t say anything he lowered his hands and turned his gaze forward. The traffic around them was getting heavier. “I hope the plan isn’t to just blend in with the other traffic. The bullet holes are going to stand out.”

  Kate switched her foot to the brake and the car jolted to a near crawl, along with the rest of the I-4 traffic. Then the crawl turned to a dead stop.

  “Oh, this isn’t going to be good,” Kate said. She glanced in her rear-view mirror. It was like a domino effect. The traffic behind her was rippling to a stop.

  “Is there a plan that involves us stuck in traffic?” Archer asked.

  “No, there isn’t,” she snapped.

  “Okay. Just checking.”

  She looked at him. “Do you have anything useful to offer?”

  “Let me out of my cuffs,” he said.

  “Shut up,” she turned her gaze back to the rear mirror. She spotted them immediately. They were the only things moving.

  Four jet-black crotch rocket style motorcycles were dodging in and out of traffic. They zipped through the narrow spaces between the stopped cars, practically scrapping the paint off in their wake. The riders wore all black leather with full-face helmets.

  They were quickly approaching.

  “Okay,” Kate said, chewing her lower lip. “New plan. Get out of the car.”

  Archer looked around at the gridlocked traffic. “And go where?”

  “Right now, I’m pretty sure anywhere’s better than here,” Kate replied, one hand already on the door handle, the other gripping the AK-47 tightly.

  There was a roar of an engine, traveling through the air and then the car shook violently from an impact on the roof. A single blade sliced through immediately, landing exactly between them.

  Kate and Archer looked at the blade and then at each other. They jumped out of the car.

  Kate hit the pavement rolling, the AK-47 slipped from her grasp and slid part way underneath the semi-truck they were parked next to. She looked up to find one of the motorcycles sitting on the roof of their car. The rider turned his gaze to Kate and yanked his samurai sword out from the fiberglass roof. He spun the blade deftly and pointed it at Kate. He said something in Chinese.

  “Sorry,” she said, propping herself and reaching for the AK-47. “I couldn’t even get a C in Spanish back in highschool. So whatever you’re saying, it’s going right over my head.”

  Her fingers curled around the handle of the AK-47, then she heard the roar of another engine. Kate turned back in time to see another motorcycle racing right for her, clearly intending to split her right down the middle.

  Chapter 11

  Kate held her breath and swung the AK-47 around, pulling the trigger as she went.

  The spray of bullets danced around the pavement and run up the motorcycle. The rider lost control immediately, raising his arms foolishly to ward off the lethal lead.

  One bullet punctured the gas tank. Another lit the spark.

  Kate rolled underneath the semi as the motorcycle exploded, the flames licking at her heels.

  The hot asphalt stung her exposed flesh.

  “Archer!” she called out. Bullets struck the asphalt around her and tiny rocks exploded in her face. She closed her eyes. “Archer! Are you still alive?” she coughed. She couldn’t stay underneath the truck. The biker on the roof of her car was getting too close with his bullets.

  She sprayed the AK-47 in the direction of the shooter and rolled out to the other side of the truck.

  Please let him still be alive, she thought. If Archer was dead…

  She didn’t let herself finish the thought.

  She rose into a crouch, brushing the hair out of her face. She was stuck in a gunfight in the middle of a state highway. This was not how she envisioned her week going.

  If Archer was dead, then nothing. Then she failed in her mission. Nothing more.

  Except…

  “Archer!” she called again, hoping for some kind of reply.

  This time she was answered with a bloodcurdling war cry.

  Kate whirled around.

  The motorcycle rider with the samurai sword had made his way off the roof of her car and was jumping at her.

  She instinctively blocked the sword with the gun and pushed the assassin back.

  He swore some kind of oath and jumped at her again, swinging the blade in a wide arc.

  Kate ducked and the blade scraped across the side of the truck, sparks flying after it.

  She rammed the gun into his gut, muzzle fist.

  “Don’t make me pull this trigger,” she said. He hesitated. She couldn’t see his expression behind the full face helmet, but she imaged his gaze was switching back and forth from the gun to her, trying to gauge whether or not she would really pull the trigger. His sword arm twitched and the blade quivered. “Here’s some free advice: Never bring a sword to a gun fight,” she said.

  He said something in Chinese again.

  “Oh, cut the foreign language crap,” said Kate, glaring at him. “I know you speak English. Now who are you?”

  He responded by flicking his wrist.

  The sword quickly slide across her arm, drawing blood.

  Kate jolted, jumping back, and swore.

  He brought the sword around again.

  She lowered the gun a bit and pulled the trigger. Bullets cut into his legs and he dropped to the ground, screaming in pain. The sword slipped from his grasp.

  “I warned you,” she said and picked up the sword. She rammed the hilt into the back of the rider’s head and he fell forward.

  The driver of the semi popped out. “What the hell, lady?”

  She pulled out her badge. “US Marshal. Please stay in your vehicle for your own safety, sir.”

  The driver glanced at the sword and the gun, then at the unconscious rider. He decided not to argue and got back into his truck.

  Kate cautiously made her way around the truck, her finger secure around the trigger of the AK-47.

  “Archer?” she called out. There had been four bikers. She dispatched two of them. Where were the other two? “Please give me some indication that you’re still alive.”

  He had to still be alive. Accountant her butt.

  But as the silence grew, punctuated by loud, blaring horns, her heart pounded with the terrible possibility that the assassins had succee
ded.

  Then the third rider came flying over the hood of her car.

  Kate jumped out of the way and the rider hit the pavement. His face plate was cracked and he was clearly unconscious. She turned and found Archer standing on the other side of the car. His shirt had been torn open. Scratches of dirt and blood ran across his densely muscular chest. He walked around the car.

  They didn’t speak.

  His hands were still cuffed. Sweat glistened off his hard body.

  She realized she had been holding her breath and exhaled. In his eyes she saw the same burning that she felt in herself.

  He reached for her and saw the blood on her arm.

  “You’re hurt,” he said.

  She shook her head slightly. “It’s fine.”

  Archer looked around. One of them had hurt her. He felt the intense desire to protect this woman.

  “He’s not a problem anymore,” she said.

  He looked back at her, her gaze pulling him in deeper. “Kate,” he said, his voice a low whisper.

  Her chest heaved with each breath.

  Kate grabbed him, pulling him close, wanting desperately to feel the security of his strong body against her. Her eyes searched his face, looking for something that she couldn’t identify. Who was this man that had captivated her? He grabbed her hands, she felt so tiny against him. Her heart raced.

  She kissed him.

  Their lips connected and she felt a wave of euphoria wash through her. He pushed his tongue past her teeth and ran it along the roof of her mouth. Kate shivered with delight, her eyes closed.

  Archer pulled her closer against him, feeling her breasts heave against his bare chest. A low growl escaped from the back of his throat and Kate felt the hard ridgeline beneath his waist.

  Archer struggled against his handcuffs, wanting to wrap his arms around this beautiful woman. His mouth slid from her lips and down her throat, searing a path of passion.

  She sighed and the blare of horns brought Kate back to reality.

  Reluctantly, she pulled back.

  This time she didn’t slap him.

  They stared at each silently for a moment.

  Catching his breath, Archer nodded over his shoulder. “The other one’s back there, lying underneath a Cadillac SUV. I left this one alive in case you wanted to talk to him.”