Bounty Hunter

Reed

“Zinnia,” I yelled out, struggling to get out of the harness of my seatbelt. A high-pitched sound echoed into my ears, at the same time, causing an excruciating pain all over my body from the shock of the car capsizing.

Next to me, Hermine groaned. I watched her lips move, but I could barely hear a thing. My thought at that moment, was making sure Zinnia was conscious.

“Zinnia, say something dammit,” I screamed more forcefully. Now free from the hold of the seatbelt, I jolted backwards, ignoring the terrible ache in my body. I managed to grab Zinnia’s arms and abruptly shook them, yet no response from her.

“What…” Alex murmured from the backseat. Her body was turned upside down with her neck in a bad position.

I gasped when someone jammed my side door. I turned to find Hermine struggling to open my side of the door. I frowned, mentally questioning how she had managed to get out of her side of the car, but more importantly, how she was so active.

“Forget about me. Try opening Zinnia’s side of the door. She’s still not awake,” I said to Hermine. Immediately, she rushed to Zinnia’s side of the door.

I climbed out of the car from Hermine’s side. First, I helped Alex out of the car and rushed over to Hermine.

“Tend to Alex, I’ll take care of this,” I murmured.

“Zinnia. Baby, wake up,” I whispered, gently tapping her cheeks through the window. With no response from my little flower, I got restless and frustrated. I rose to my feet and took five steps backwards, ruffling my hands through my hair, trying to figure out a means to get her out of the car.

Growling, I stormed for the vehicle, grabbed the door and forcefully pulled it out, screaming at the top of my voice. Finally, the door came out and I hurriedly dropped to the ground.

“Baby, come on, wake up. I need you to wake up,” I was a little rough tapping Zinnia’s shoulders. Hermine helped Alex to the side of the road while I still struggled with Zinnia.

“Anything?”

“Nothing. Still not cognitive,” I replied.

“Take her out of the car,” Hermine suggested. I was so wrapped up in making sure Zinnia was okay that the thought of pulling her out of the car didn’t occur to me.

Just then, the car that had been tailing us drove by. I ducked my head, trying to get a view of the number plate or who sat behind the steering.

However, I couldn’t. The man behind the steering wore a black face mask over his head. His free hand came through the window, aiming a gun at the car.

“Fuck,” I cursed. As rapidly as I could, I pulled Zinnia out of the car and rolled out the road just in time before his shot went off. Before my eyes, the vehicle went up in flames.

“Sweet bloody fuck!” Alex cursed, the veracity of what just happened and what could have happened fell on her shoulders like rocks running down a cliff.

“They destroyed all evidence,” Hermine murmured dejectedly. Sighing, I turned my attention to Zinnia who was gradually gaining consciousness.

“Good, good baby. Stay with me,” I coaxed, tapping lightly on her jaw. She groaned, and her eyes gently fluttered open.

“Reed,” she cried out in mumbles.

“I’m here, baby. I got you. You’re safe,” I whispered back, the heat from my burning car leaving me unfazed. Hermine paced back and forth, ruffling her hands through her hair.

“We’re in the middle of fucking nowhere. How the hell are we supposed to get out of here?” She expressed dejectedly.

“Who were those people, Reed?” Alex stood next to me and questioned. I tore my gaze from Zinnia to her. The flames from the burning car made it possible for me to see the scars on her face. Her dress was torn, revealing most of her body. Her hair was dishevelled and was gradually becoming clad with a mixture of her blood, and dirty and broken glasses.

“You should sit down. You might have a concussion,” I replied, ignoring her question from earlier.

“You don’t tell me what to do. Who the hell were those people and why the fuck did they want you dead?”

Suddenly, Hermine approached me with a phone in her hand. Her hands rapidly flew across the screen and seconds after, the phone was pressed to her ear.

“Where did you get a phone?” I questioned. She stuck out her index finger, asking me to hold on.

Meanwhile, Zinnia was now fully awake. She was able to move her neck and take in her surroundings. When she realised that she was in an accident, she tensed up, and she began to panic.

“Ssh, I got you baby. Stay calm. Help is on the way,” I shushed her and unlike Alex, Zinnia obeyed.

“There’s a car coming to get us. They should be here in five-ish. I also had Drew call the doctor and ask that he meet us at the estate,” Hermine explained, sticking her hands in her pocket.

I nodded at that and focused my attention back on Zinnia.

For the next minute or so, we were all quiet. The cracks and sparks from the flame before us and the sound of crickets fill the silence.

Roman had to be behind this. He should have known somehow that I would infiltrate his banquet and therefore had everything set up before I came.

Those guys who tampered with my brakes and pedal were experts. It’s not the first time someone tried to take my life by running me off the road. But they were amateurs and did a horrible job.

But these guys, whoever they were, were experts. They knew what they were doing. They knew the right distance to maintain to be able to control my brakes from their car.

‘Roman, you son of a bitch. Just be a good boy for me until I get to you,’ I whispered to myself.

“You should see this. I think the truck driver was in on it too,” Hermine uttered, pointing the phone at me.

On the screen, was a message from an unknown sender. It was concise. “Now,”

“Good job, Hermine. Hold dearly to that phone,” I spoke to her and stared into space and murmured.

“Vengeance is a dish best-served cold, but it is even better when cooked over a low flame. Roman has no idea what I have in store for him,”

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