Blowback (The Black Cipher Files Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

the bars after tossing back a few cold ones, and business people with suit jackets off and rolled up sleeves, competed to see who would get home first.
    I assessed the traffic, the open median, and the waning sun. A potential nightmare to shoot through but I could, if needed. The weight of the Glock settled in my cut-up hands. I adjusted my grip for maximum efficiency.
    We would pass them in a second.
    I saw the two men in the Suburban just as Lucas jerked the car into the right lane. He’d spotted the sniper rifle too. Clear shot into our car.
    I lunged for the window crank, but it was too late. A dart punctured Lucas’s neck.
    “Same kind--” He slumped over.
    I grabbed the wheel, then crawled on top of him, wrestling to keep the car straight. The driver’s seat of a Ford Focus is not made for one large person. Forget about two regular-sized people. Lucas’s head lolled on my shoulder, while the dead weight of his body pressed against my back. Between his bulk and my height, we were jammed in.
    “Too bad they couldn’t have caught up with us while we were still in the SUV.”
    No answer. I hadn’t really expected one.
    He wasn’t dead. I could feel the slow, somnolent rhythm of his breath along my neck.
    My heart pounded against my rib cage, thudding in double time, booming as if it would leap clear out of my chest. My hands tingled with adrenaline as I gripped the steering wheel in my left and his Glock in my right.
    I needed three hands. Still holding the weapon, I steered with the heel of my right hand and contorted to reach around and yank the dart out of his neck. My gaze shot to the rear view mirror, waiting for our company to find us again. As soon as I could, I pitched the dart out the window in case it housed a homing beacon.
    So far, the Suburban, the only vehicle I’d spotted, wasn’t behind me. Hopefully, I wasn’t up against team surveillance.
    Time to exit.
    Fortunately, I’d planned to get off the freeway again and had already mapped out a route along country roads. I took the second exit and coasted down the ramp. At the bottom, I turned away from the town proper and the smattering of fast food restaurants and gas stations.
    The road quickly turned rural. Grids of fruit trees lined the state route, with the occasional oasis of farm house and out buildings set back a few hundred yards.
    I should dump Lucas.
    It would be easy. And expedient.
    My gaze roved the open landscape, searching for a good place to leave him. After the last eleven hours I’d determined he really did just want information on the kid, Johnny Wishbone.
    He’d wake up eventually. If the dart had the same drug I’d been given, he’d be a little woozy and have a slight sensitivity to light, but basically fine.
    Unless he had some adverse reaction.
    Unless it wasn’t the same drug. I couldn’t be sure. And somehow a sense of responsibility I didn’t want to have, smothered me.
    After about thirty miles, I drove through a small town. A feed store, general store, restaurant and bar all rolled into a single establishment sat on one corner and a gas station on the other. I checked my speed appropriately and knew this was the perfect spot to unload him. But as I crossed through the minuscule town, I left Lucas where he rested, his weight pressing uncomfortably against my back. I estimated I had another hour or so before he woke up, less assuming the dart had been meant for me.
    I forced myself to think logically.
    Something was seriously out of whack. I had people shooting at me with tranquilizer darts instead of bullets. People tracking me when it shouldn’t be possible, followers with high profile tracking capabilities. Two abductors who acted like scientists not like spies.
    Lucas stirred, much sooner than I’d anticipated. A muted groan rumbled from him, pleasantly scrambling my insides. His arms curved around me, snug against my ribs, and his sandpapery cheek rubbed my shoulder.
    A feeling I couldn’t identify curled