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“It’s better than nothing,” Dinah said. “Is it close?”

“Pete keeps it hidden behind his building,” Seamus answered. Pete reached into his pocket, throwing a ring of keys at his best friend.

“Hurry,” he said.

Seamus nodded, running off. Pete and Dinah followed closely behind. “They’re getting into the car,” Dinah informed him, panicked.

“Do you know who their target was?”

She looked at him meaningfully. “Who the hell did I knock to the floor?”

Pete cursed. “Do you know why?”

“Me,” she said, running out of the alley. Seamus wasn’t there yet and she was getting antsy.

“What do you mean, you?” Pete asked, twirling her around so they faced each other.

“Well, not
me,
me. Me as in Weapon X. Someone isn’t too happy you defended me this morning.”

“Bloody hell!” Dinah jumped. He spun, crashing his fist into the building behind him. She flinched, wondering how much that must have hurt. “I’m going to kill him,” he said, breathing deeply.

“Who?”

“The fucking General,” he growled.

Dinah didn’t have time to ask more as Seamus rolled up beside them. She jumped into the back while Pete took the passenger side.

“Go,” she ordered. Seamus slammed on the gas. The two shooters were driving just north of them. No one drove in the ghettos, so they were keeping a low profile by driving slowly. Good for Dinah, bad for them. They also didn’t know who Pete had with him. Another point for her, she thought happily. Her shoulder was throbbing, her sleeve wet and already a bit stiff with blood. She hadn’t looked at it yet, but it felt like she might need stitches. How on earth was she going to explain this to Ludwig and Roman?

“Turn left,” she called out. Seamus obeyed, the other car coming into view right away. Unlike them, Seamus was definitely not being discreet with his driving. “Faster,” she told him. She rolled down her window, the wind blowing her hair back, tears instantly filling her eyes. She blinked them away, lining her gun up with their tires. She sensed when they spotted them, and the other car picked up speed. The tires were just in line when the car drove over a pothole. Dinah bounced in her seat, her shot ruined.

“Damn it, Seamus. Keep this thing steady!”

“It’s not my fault,” he defended. “The roads are horrible.”

“They’re picking up speed,” Pete said. “You got to go faster, mate.”

“I’m trying! This thing doesn’t go faster!”

Dinah popped her head out of the car again and lined up the shot. She pulled the trigger, and the left, back tire of the other car burst. Pete was hanging out his window, trying to take out the other back tire. Dinah heard the thoughts of the passenger in the other car as he got ready to shoot back at them. They were confused how Pete and Seamus even knew to find them. One was thinking of Weapon X and connecting him to the long, dark haired girl that’s with them. Dinah knew these two had to go. No one could make those sorts of connections. It was too dangerous for both her and Pete.

She slid over to the other side of the car and rolled the window down with her bad arm. She groaned, but pushed through the pain. Pete glanced over the back of the seat at her.

“Are you okay?” he yelled over the sound of rushing wind and engine.

“I’m fine.”

Seamus was glancing in the mirror at her. “You look a little pale, Dinah,” he said, worried.

“I said I’m fine. Just worry about the road and keeping this thing steady.” She leaned out the window, gritting her teeth against the throbbing in her arm. Her hand shook. Shit, how much blood had she lost? Her forehead was slick with sweat, and her teeth were chattering slightly. Just the cold, she told herself. She was fine. Pushing everything else to the back of her mind, she focused her sight on the other tire, aiming.

The guy up front leaned out the window, gun ready. “Watch out, Pete,” she warned.

“Me?” he shouted. “You’re the one with your head out the God damn window, woman. Get back inside before you get yourself killed.”

Ignoring him, she fired twice but the car ahead swerved, avoiding the bullets. They turned sharply, wheels squealing, sparks shooting up from the blown tire as the rim scraped against the street. Seamus followed, the car tipping dangerously on Dinah’s side. She gripped the door tightly as the car levelled out again.

“You need to get closer,” she shouted.

“I can’t!” Seamus argued.

“If you can’t, I will. Move!” She tugged on his shirt. “Pete, take the wheel!”

“Are you nuts?” Seamus gasped.

“No. Now get your ass back here and switch with me. Quickly.”

He looked at Pete for help. “Just do it,” Pete said, resigned.

They made the switch, with some difficulty, while Pete kept the car relatively straight. Their speed was dropping, so she maneuvered into the driver’s seat as fast as she could. When the wheel was gripped in her hands, she floored it.

“Oh shit!” Seamus yelled. She heard him scrambling in the back, and then the sound of the seatbelt clicking. “The engine is going to explode!”

Dinah pushed it faster, gaining on them quickly. With one hand on the wheel, she stuck the other out the window and aimed it across the windshield at the right tire. She pushed the car faster, the whole thing making a rattling sound that made her nervous. Just a little closer, she told herself. BANG. She pulled the trigger, the tire exploding like the other one.

The car in front of them did a tailspin, the driver losing control. She could hear them, and then nothing as the car hit the side of a building at full speed. The sound of crushed metal set her teeth on edge. She drove past the wreckage then turned the wheel, pulling the e-brake so the car spun.

They came to a jolting stop, all of them breathing loudly in the small confines of the vehicle. Dinah was the first to get out, running to see if either of the men had made it. She didn’t think they had, but they could just be unconscious. One look told her there was no way either of them would survive. Pete and Seamus came up behind her. The three of them stood in silence for a moment.

“Where the hell did you learn to drive like that?” Seamus asked, not taking his eyes off the totalled car.

“That was my first time driving a car,” she said.

She felt him turn to look at her, aghast. He might have said more, but the ringing in her ears had gotten louder and her vision started to dot with black. Suddenly her legs gave out beneath her and she was falling. Pete cried out, and then two arms were holding her. It was the last thing she was aware of before everything went black.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Get in the car, now!” Pete shouted, holding Dinah’s limp body close. He ran over to the wagon and waited for Seamus to open the door for him.

“What the hell is going on, McKay?” Seamus asked, helping him position Dinah over his lap in the back. He closed the door, getting into the driver’s seat.

“I’ll explain it later. Right now, I need you to take me to my da’s.”

Seamus nodded without further questions. They’d been friends a long time, and Seamus knew when Pete had reached his limit. Now was one of those times. So many emotions were racing through his body, he was having a hard time sitting still. The fact that Dinah was pale and unconscious on him helped. He was worried about her, furious at how reckless she had been, grateful to her for saving his life and taking a bullet for him, but mostly in awe at how amazing she truly was. He was also barely containing his anger toward the General for pulling this crap
again
.

They drove in silence, taking all the back roads they knew weren’t patrolled as regularly in hopes they wouldn’t get caught by New World army soldiers. When they reached the city limits, Seamus sped up, driving through the countryside. Normally they walked to Michael’s, which took a couple of hours, but in the car they were there in no time. Michael came out of the house as they parked, his face already lined with worry.

“What are you blokes doing here, in a car no less?” Michael asked. When Pete stepped out, holding Dinah his father cursed. “Get her in the house, boy,” he ordered. “Back room.”

Pete walked through to the spare room and laid her gently on the twin sized bed. Seamus stood anxiously by the door.

Without looking at him, Pete said, “Go get my brothers and bring them here. We need to talk.”

Seamus obeyed without protest, just like he always did. Michael came in with his first aid kit and sat down beside Dinah. “What happened?” he asked.

“I think a bullet grazed her right arm,” Pete said.

“I can see that, boy, I’m not blind. I mean, why does this poor thing have a bullet wound in her arm?”

“I’ll tell you about it later. Just make sure she’s alright first.”

“I am. In the meantime you can tell me what happened.”

“Da,” Pete pleaded. “I really just want her patched up before we get into it.”

Michael looked up at him and must have seen the anxiety there because he didn’t argue further. He turned back to his work, and began cutting up the sleeve that was now stiff with blood.

“Who is she to you?” he asked.

“I’m not sure,” Pete admitted.

“Someone special?”

Pete looked down at her pale face. Her long hair was spread around her, her lush lips blue and slightly parted. He knew she probably just passed out from blood loss, but seeing her like this did something funny to him. He’d never felt this panicked over someone being hurt. “Yeah, da. She’s special.”

Pete rubbed his head, pacing the room.

“How can we be sure it was the General?” Trent said, his face dark and pensive.

Pete didn’t stop moving as he answered, exhausted from the entire day. “Because Dinah and I heard them talking about it from inside the alley,” he lied.

Seamus stood by the doorway leading to the bedroom Dinah was still sleeping in. He looked just as beat as Pete felt.

“This is so messed up,” Seamus muttered. “Those guys were aiming right for him.” He looked into the room thoughtfully. “Good thing Dinah has some cat-like reflexes.”

His dad humphed. “I can’t see Douglas doing this.”

Pete stopped to look at the man who raised him. “Michael, he is
not
the same man you once knew. He’s not even the same man
I
knew. He’s becoming everything he hates about Ludwig. If we let him take over, we’ll just be replacing one tyrant with another.”

“He can’t be that bad,” he argued.

“Things have been a mess for a while,” Trent said, supporting Pete. “The whole council is on this power trip. We’re shedding more blood these days than the damn New World army.”

“You need to talk some sense into him,” Pete said to his father.

“He’s not going to listen to me,” he replied. “I was never part of the council, you know that.”

“Maybe not officially, but we both know you have a certain influence in all this. They respect you, da. If you got out of the damn house once in a while, you’d realize that.”

His father stiffened. “Even if I were to talk to him, do you honestly think he’d admit to me that he’s tried to have my son killed? Think, boy. He’s not going to be telling me anything. He’s a lot more likely to kill me along with ya.”

“Talk to the other council members then. Get them to see reason. We’re fighting to release our people from repression, not put them into another one with a different man at the head of it all.”

“The reason he’s after you, son, is he knows you’re a threat. If anyone could rally the rebels and have them looking at things differently, it would be you. Maybe that’s exactly what you need to do. I’m not going to be of any help outside of here.”

And there it was, the end of the conversation like always. Him urging his dad to actually get out and have a life, and his dad refusing to leave. Pete kicked at the small chess table sitting in the corner. “God damn it!” He swirled around to glare at him. “Staying here won’t change a thing. Don’t you get that? She’s not coming home, Michael. She never was.”

“Enough, Pete,” Trent said calmly. Garrett was red in the face. Pete knew that out of the three of them, Garrett had always been more sensitive to their father. Trent had zero patience, Pete had some up to a point. Well, he reached that point, and he was sick of this crap. Their mother had left when Garrett was two, and their father still had it in his head she’d just show up again one day. It was pathetic and sad. They’d spent their lives watching their father become more and more of shadow.

“I need you, da,” Pete said hoarsely. “Everything is crumbling down around us. And not just our family, but everywhere out there,” he continued, pointing to the outside. “Sitting in this cottage and ignoring it can’t last forever. Not when your sons, the only family you’ve got, are out there fighting to get our lives back. You’re the only man I know with enough brains and wisdom to see things clearly and make the right choices.”

His father grunted, taking a sip of his tea as he stared into the fire. Another typical conversation ender from Michael McKay. Pete looked at his profile for a moment before turning.

“I’m going to check on Dinah,” he said to no one in particular, and walked away.