Scott jumped back into the driver’s seat, twisted the knob to Drive as he buried the throttle. The SUV leapt forward on a wave of acceleration causing Angela to cry out from the backseat.

 

“I didn’t know,” she said again. “I swear to God, I didn’t know.”

 

“She’s bleeding badly, Scott!” Jess cried, her hands already red with Angela’s blood as she tried to stop the bleeding. Don’t pass out, don’t pass out, don’t pass out she chanted to herself, her head beginning to spin again and the edges of her vision darkening.

 

“Take your shirt off and press it over the wound!” he snarled from the front just before breaking hard and muscling the SUV around a corner. The Durango was surprisingly quick and, with its bulk, it would be difficult to stop. But it was still six to one odds, and hyenas can take down a lion given enough time. He kept the accelerator hard down, the truck giving its all for their escape as he snapped his seatbelt.

 

“Hang on!” He braked hard and wrenched the wheel hard to the right, the SUV bounding over the curb before he floored it again. They blasted across open lots where houses or business were once located, the SUV banging and thumping as they roared across the rough ground in a cloud of dust before bounding over the curb again and back onto the street.

 

The bikes couldn’t cross the lots as easily and had to take the longer way around. He had put almost a block on their pursuers and he began to breathe a little easier. He skidded around another corner and raced down another empty street, the speedometer twisting rapidly around the dial. One thing about Detroit, there wasn’t a lot of traffic to worry about.

 

He saw the Angels round the corner and he had put another half block on them. The SUV and bikes were evenly matched on the straights, but he was faster through the turns. He glanced in the mirror and saw Jess’s terrified eyes looking at him.

 

“We’re going to make it. Just hang on a little longer,” he said, worried over her reaction to all the blood, before standing on the brakes, the anti-locks growling in anger as he flung the SUV around a corner.

 

He tried to carry too much speed through the corner and nearly lost control, the truck sliding sideways until it kissed off the curb with a jolt that made Angela cry out again.

 

“You’re going to kill us!” Jess yelled as Scott quickly spun the wheel, trying to catch the skidding truck and prevent from spinning out of control, while her heart tried to climb out of her chest.

 

“If we don’t get away, we’re dead anyway!” Scott looked into the mirror, watching until the bikes round the corner, now almost two blocks back and falling rapidly behind. “They’ve given up,” he said more calmly.

 

“Thank God!” Jess said.

 

“How’s she doing?”

 

“She’s still bleeding a lot, Scott. I don’t know what I’m doing!”

 

“She still conscious?”

 

“Yes,” Angela gasped. “No thanks to your driving. You’re crazy as shit, you know that?”

 

“We should have left your ass behind!”

 

“I didn’t sell you out! I don’t care what she did; I wouldn’t sell her out like that. Not to anyone.”

 

Scott pursed his lips. No, she probably wouldn’t, not after the way she went after that woman at that party. “All right, fine, you didn’t rat us out. But now what are we going to do with you? We can’t take you to the hospital. They have to report gunshot wounds.”

 

“I know a place. There’s a nurse and she does some work for the Angels. You can drop me there.”

 

“I’m not leaving you,” Jess said firmly.

 

“Can you trust her?” Scott asked.

 

Angela hissed as she pushed herself more upright in the seat. “She’s on the payroll, and yes you are,” she said turning her attention to Jess. “You’re going to drop me off and then you are going to get your skinny ass away. I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but they were shooting at you.”

 

“We noticed,” Scott said from the front.

 

Angela ignored him. “They must have tailed me, hoping that I would lead them to you. And I did.” Angela pouted a moment then bared her teeth as an invisible hand twisted an invisible knife in her side. “I’m sorry, Jess. I fuck everything up.”

 

Jess pulled the blood soaked shirt back and looked at where she had it pressed. There was blood everywhere, but the bleeding seemed to be slowing. “It’s okay. I shouldn’t have asked you to bring clothes. Scott tried to warn me but I wouldn’t listen.”

 

Angela swallowed hard and grimaced as another wave of pain rolled over her. “Listen to him the next time. Getting shot sucks.”

 

“Where are we going?” Scott asked.

 

“This thing have a GPS?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Tell me when you’re ready for the address,” Angela said, and then looked at Jess. “Thank you for coming back for me,” she said softly so Scott wouldn’t hear.

 

“I couldn’t leave you behind.”

 

“But now you have to, right?”

 

Jess stared into Angela eyes. “I don’t want to.”

 

“I need you to. I need you to do this for me, okay? I’ll be okay. Glendal will sew me up then I will call Ed and he will come get me. We’ll compare scars.”

 

“Angela, I—”

 

“Shhh. You have to. I’m no shape to kick your ass, but Glendal makes me look like you. Don’t make me sic her on you.”

 

“Ready,” Scott said.

 

***

 

“You think she’ll be okay?” Jess asked as they stepped out of the Urgent Care where Glendal worked. She had on a pale green scrub the staff had found for her since her shirt was ruined.

 

“She’s fine. I’m sure it hurts like hell, but it’s a clean in and out. Another two inches and they would have missed her completely.” Scott pulled her to a stop. “How’re you doing?”

 

She had spent a long time in the bathroom scrubbing the blood off her hands, far longer than necessary, but she couldn’t stop. She shivered at the remembered sight of the red tainted water running down the drain. “Okay, I think.”

 

He opened the passenger door for her, holding it open a moment after she settled into the seat. “You did good, Jess. Real good. You held it together when you had to.”

 

Jess shuddered again as he slammed the door. “I almost passed out when I saw her bleeding. And the smell…” she said as he crawled behind the wheel. She could still detect a hint of the smell of blood, but the alcohol smell from when Scott cleaned the back seat was far stronger.

 

“But you didn’t; that’s the important thing.”

 

“Why did they shoot her? She didn’t do anything.”

 

“It wasn’t her. It was me. She just got in the way.”

 

“Then they’re lousy fucking shots.”

 

“Which is why we are alive now. Would you prefer they were better shots?”

 

“No, but I don’t understand why they were shooting at us at all. There were eight of them and only two of us. Three if you count Angela.”

 

“I guess after yesterday they weren’t taking any chances. It’s personal now.”

 

“For who? You?”

 

“Val.”

 

“Shit,” Jess mumbled as she looked out of her side window. “Yeah, you’re probably right. What are we going to do now?”

 

“First? First we are going to go see if my bike is still there. I’m still making payments on that bitch. Plus this rig is white hot. Bike there or not, we’re going to have to ditch this turd.”

 

“Then what?”

 

“Then…I don’t know. Val and I are going to have to settle this, somehow.”

 

Jess pursed her lips to contain her frustration. “How?”

 

“I don’t know. Your mom is his sister, right?”

 

“Yeah. So?”

 

“Maybe she can talk some sense into him. The way we are going, this can only end one way.”

 

Jess didn’t like the way that sounded at all. “Maybe.” She looked out her window, watching the dilapidated houses and stores pass by. Maybe I should just leave. Maybe I should just ride away with Scott, if he will have me, and leave this all behind.

 

“Shit!” Scott spat as soon as they turned onto the street with Jess’s no longer so super-secret hideout. His bike was gone. They creeped by the abandoned drug store but didn’t stop. “The fuckers took my bike. Or it has been stolen.”

 

“What are we going to do now?”

 

“Damned if I know. But we are going to have to dump this rig somewhere as far from the motel as possible. This shit just keeps getting worse and worse.”

 

Jess wanted to cry. This is all my fault! He told me it was dangerous but I wouldn’t listen! Now his Harley has been taken and we have no way to leave. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled, trying hard to not cry.

 

He wasn’t happy about the loss of his bike, but Jess looked so miserable that he couldn’t lash out at her. He took her hand into his own and held it, glancing between the road and her eyes until she looked up at him.

 

“We’ll get it back, okay? You know this city. Where can we abandon this thing so it will get stolen and still catch a cab?”

 

Jess thought a moment, trying to help him figure a way out of the mess she had created. “I have a better idea,” she said as she drew her phone from her pocket.

 

She flipped through her contacts until she found the name she wanted.

 

“Dad?” she asked when Ron Nebbles answered the phone. “It’s Jessica. I’m in trouble, bad trouble. I need your help.”