Underground Secrets (The Underground #1) (26 page)

I look over at Gemma and notice she’s practically jumping up and down in her seat. She’s enjoying this shit way too much.

W
E’RE ABOUT HALFWAY THROUGH
Denver when Gemma starts looking antsy and not in the excited way. She keeps looking through the side mirror.

“What’s up?” I ask, because she’s kind of making me nervous.

She looks from the mirror and looks at me but says nothing, only giving me a panicky look. “Seriously, Gemma, what’s wrong?” I look back in the mirror and that’s when I see it. A black sedan. It wouldn’t seem so odd but it’s not the sedan itself that now has me on high alert, it’s the fact that it’s gaining speed, passing cars and running red lights. When I first noticed it, it was at least twenty cars behind. Now it looks like it’s only ten cars behind in the a middle lane of a four-lane, one-way.

I move all the way over to the far left wanting to give this guy plenty of room, but he moves over to the same lane. So I weave through the cars and get over to the far right. Once again, the sedan follows.

Fuck. We’re being followed.

“Shit,” I say out loud and start to speed up.

“What is it Marlie?” Wes asks, leaning forward from the back.

“Make sure your belts are secure.” I tell both Gemma and Wes.

“Why?” he asks, not moving.

“We’re being followed.” Gemma says, as she tightens her seatbelt.

Wes turns around and notices the sedan that is now right behind us. It’s in that moment that everything happens so quickly. The mystery black sedan rear ends the car and sends us spinning. I quickly regain control and speed up to a dangerous rate while we’re on one of the busiest streets in the heart of Denver. Then, the one thing I never in a million years expected to see happen, Wes pulls out a gun from the waist of his pants and points it at the back windshield.

My heart feels like it’s about to explode and burst my chest open. I want to panic so badly right now, but I can’t. I have to stay focused and get us away from whoever is trying to hurt us. So I make a hard left onto another street and try to weave in and out of the traffic while cars blare their horns at us. I look through the review mirror to see how far behind the sedan is. I’ve gained a little length, but not much.

“Holy shit, Marlie, go! Go! Go!” Gemma screams at me as the sedan speeds up and rams into the ass end of my car again.

I ignore her yelling and push down even more onto the accelerator. I’m quickly approaching 100mph on a 35mph street and I’m blowing through stop lights, stop signs and yield signs. I take a sharp right and the rear end of the car drifts with precision. I’m getting further away from the sedan and it makes me feel hopeful that I can get us out of this without much harm done. That is, until the back glass spiders, leaving one lonely hole in the center, with a bullet crashing into my dash.

Before this I thought I was going to lose it, but now… now I am freaking the hell out. I’m being shot at. We’re being shot at. I can’t believe this is happening.

In the back, Wes brings up his shoe and starts kicking at the window.

“What the hell are you doing?” I yell back at him without taking my eyes off the road.

“I’m making sure another bullet doesn’t come at us.”

He gets the window kicked out and I watch through the review mirror as it lands on the trunk and then slides onto the ground shattering and making the sedan and other vehicles swerve to miss it. Wes creeps down, only allowing his gun to be above the backseat and then grabs his phone and answers it. “Where you at? I need some assistance,” he says to whoever is on the phone, in a completely casual tone.

Meanwhile, I’m trying to keep us alive and here’s Wes chatting it up, like this isn’t really happening. If I could reach back and smack him right now, I would.

“I don’t give a damn Jesse! Pull your dick out and come help. We’re being shot at,” Wes’ says, more irritated now.

Ah, so he’s talking to Jesse his cousin. I don’t even want to begin to process why Jesse could be of any help.

Wes throws out the street we are currently on and the direction we’re heading and hangs up. He looks up at me and our eyes meet. I silently ask him to not let us get shot at again. “Can you get us closer to car?” he asks me. Again, still so eerily calm.

“Why the fuck would I want to that, Wes? I want to get away, not closer!”

He gives me a dark look and I want to wither in my seat. “Just do it. Trust me.”

I want to protest his batshit-crazy suggestion, but the stubborn part of me wants to show him that I can do it and do it my way. So I pull the E-break and whip the car all the way around so we’re now facing the sedan. I take the E-break off and slam on the accelerator.

On the inside, I’m high-fiving myself for that move. That’s a move I have yet to perfect, but I guess when I’m under pressure, I can get it done. On the outside, I look back at Wes and raise a brow, being a smartass when this shouldn’t be a smartass moment. The look he returns is one of pure satisfaction.

I am close to passing the sedan when Wes yells, “Duck!” to Gemma and me. Without time to question it, we both duck our heads just in time for a bullet to pass through the front driver’s side window and out the front passenger window. It feels like it happened in slow motion. Then Wes brings his gun to eye level, a hair after we pass the sedan and shoots at the car. The sedan loses control instantly, crashing into a light post.

I watch as the car doesn’t move again and wait to see if anyone gets out. Nothing. Disappointment is an understatement to how I am feeling right now. I couldn’t see who was driving the whole time because all the windows on the sedan were blacked out. I just wanted one, tiny, little, clue, as to who was after us, who would shoot at us and why. But I got nothing. The only thing I have, is the thought in the back of my mind, placed with a face and name. Carter. It’s always him who I think of when bad shit happens.

Everyone just sits in silence as I drive further away from the reality of the scene that just played out before my eyes. Nothing but the sound of heavy breathing coming from Gemma and me and the sound of my heart racing and thumping; loud enough that it’s echoing throughout my ears and feels like it’s coming from the car. I don’t know where I’m headed or where I should go, but going back to my apartment doesn’t sound so appealing. There could be someone waiting there for us - for me.

After driving for a while, I take an exit on the outskirts of the city and pull into an old, closed down dog food factory. My mind has had time to absorb what just happened. We were followed, hit, and shot at. I avoided multiple car and pedestrian accidents. Wes kicked out my back window. Wes pulled out a gun and clearly knew how to use it and use it well. Wes shot whoever was driving. The sedan crashed and no one came out. And my biggest fear of all, Wes killed whoever it was. I feel completely conflicted over the possibility that Wes may very well have shot and killed whoever was after us. On one hand, he had a gun, knew how to use it and could have killed him or her. On the other hand, he probably saved us. I just have to pick which one seems worse.

Right now, enough is enough. I have never wanted to get out of my car as much as I do now. I feel like I can’t breathe. With all these thoughts running around in my head, I feel trapped. So I put car in park and get out and begin to walk away.

“Hey, where are you going?” Gemma asks as I move further away from the car. I don’t respond. My tongue is tied at the moment and honestly, even if my tongued wasn’t tied, I wouldn’t want to talk. Right now, I want to run away and never come back. I want to change everything about me. I want to change my name, hair, and whole identity. I want to live in the middle of nowhere and not exist to anyone but myself.

Finland sounds nice.

I don’t look back, but I hear the car door open and shut and the sound of light shoes smacking against the pavement. Gemma comes running up behind me and grabs my arm. “Marlie,” she says softly.

I wretch my arm from her grasp. “Not now, Gem. Okay?” I say and keep walking away from the car.

From Wes.

She follows me. “We need to figure out what the hell just happened. This can’t be like the other times when you just brush it off, Marlie. We were just chased and shot at!”

I stop, turn around, and look at her. “You think, Gemma? You think I don’t know that? What do you want me to do, huh? There is no way I am going back in that direction!” I look and gesture over towards the car and there’s Wes, standing there, leaning against the car looking right at me. It’s dark out now and I can barely make out anything beyond what’s right in front of me. But there is a light post right next to the car and it makes Wes’ eyes even greener then they are. That’s all I see, his eyes. Boring right into mine. They usually make me melt but right now they make me angry. Maybe my anger isn’t really towards him. But I am pissed and scared out of my mind and he’s my target.

“You!” I yell as I march towards him.

“Me,” he says calmly.

“What the hell was that back there? You shot at that person! Like you’re some sort of god damn assassin! I’m pretty sure security guard school doesn’t teach you that!” I am now practically spitting in his face because I am so close.

He leans in even closer and uses his intimidating dark tone, “Me? You’re asking me what’s up? You’re the one who went all fast and furious on me back there. I’m pretty sure they don’t teach you that in driver’s education.”

Before I know it, my palm is connecting to his cheek for the second time in twenty-four hours.

His face whips to the left and then back at me like my slap didn’t even faze him. “You feel better?” He asks me. I want to yell
yes
in his face, but my palm is stinging like a bitch right now and I’d rather wait on smacking him again until I regain feeling in my hand.

“You really have to stop smacking me. It’s starting to fucking hurt.”

“Arggghhh!!!” I scream out in frustration.

I scrub my face with my hands trying to clear out some of my anger. I bring them back down to my sides, with my eyes closed. I take a couple deep breaths to try and calm myself. When I feel like my anger is somewhat tamed, I open my eyes and try to talk calmly and rationally. “So, is that what you’ve been hiding from me? The fact that you’re a trained shooter?”

Wes brings up his arms and places his hands on my shoulders. I flinch and shrug them off. I don’t want him to touch me right now. I don’t want anyone to touch me right now. I don’t know what the hell that was back there with Wes shooting at our chaser, but I want nothing to do with him until I know what the hell he has to say about how he handled that mess. Because right now, I feel he is no different from Carter, his uncle and everyone else at that warehouse that works for them. If I am being completely honest, he is no different from the person I was becoming when I was with Carter.

“Something like that. Look, there is more to it, if you just let me explain, you would-”

“No,” I interrupt. “You… you’re just like them. All of them. How could I have been so st-stupid?” I say, stuttering because I am trying to fight back tears of another betrayal.

I back away only to bump into Gemma. I spin around to face her. “Let’s go.”

“Marlie, wait.” Wes pleads.

“Why? Why would I ever do that? I don’t want anything to do with you, Wes.”

I start to walk around from the back of the car to the driver’s door. Wes can get a ride I’m sure. But then he grabs my arm and spins me around. “Listen to me. I am not the bad guy. Just give me the chance to explain and if you don’t like what I have to say, then fine, rid me from your life. But I’m telling you, you’re going to want my help from whoever is after you and Gemma.”

“They’re not after Gemma, they’re after me and I don’t care what you have to say. Nothing you say will change my mind, Wes.”

“Yes, they are after her.”

“How the hell would you know?” I ask, not completely sure I want the answer, but if someone, or they, are after her, I need to protect her and one of my biggest fears has come true.

When Carter was sentenced, Gemma I both attended. I needed to testify and Gemma came with me for support. When the jury found him guilty and they started to take him away, he had yelled through the courts, threatening mine and Gemma’s lives. At first, I was scared, watching my back everywhere I went. After a while, I guess I had forgotten about it. But now, especially after what had just happened, I believe it.

“Not here. I can’t tell you here. Come with me to my home. I can guarantee you’ll both be safe there.”

“You’re funny. There is no way in hell I am going anywhere with you.”

It’s Wes’ turn now scrub his face in frustration. “Damn it, Marlie. You are the most stubborn woman I have ever met.”

“And I’ll take that as a compliment.” I seethe.

Gemma tugs on my arm gently and speaks softly to me. “Marlie, maybe we should hear him out. He probably saved our lives back there.”

I walk away from both of them to give myself a minute to think. As much as I don’t want to admit it, Gemma is right. He probably did save us but that doesn’t mean I should hear what he has to say.