I limped over to the car and grabbed hold of the case. God, I’d forgotten how much the thing weighed. It didn’t help that the car was tilting away from me, so I was trying to pull it uphill. I strained and pulled and eventually realized it was useless. If I wanted to get it out, I’d have to push, not pull. I’d have to climb over it, into the driver’s seat, and push it out. The only problem was, the driver’s seat was hanging over space.

I took a deep breath and scrambled in, slithering over the bomb’s case and onto the soft leather of the driver’s seat. I tried not to look at the drop through the driver’s window, or think about how the car was rocking, as my weight shifted.

I hung onto the seat, got my feet against the bomb and pushed, but that didn’t do it. I didn’t have enough leverage. I scooched back and braced my back against the driver’s door, then prepared to push again. If the door latch had been damaged in the crash, if it swung open when I pressed on it…

Don’t think about that.

I braced myself against the door and pushed. The bomb shifted. Slowly at first, then faster. The leather seat was grippy on the leather case, but inch by inch, I was doing it.

Then I felt the car move under me. My weight in the driver’s seat had changed the car’s balance. It was sliding faster.

The car was going over the cliff with me in it.

78. Danny

78

DANNY

I was panting and wheezing, the sweat pouring down my face. One eye was swollen shut, my right leg wanted to collapse under me and my kidneys were a mass of pain. I was stronger but Becker was more skilled. He was smart and vicious and he was taking me apart piece by piece. I was a big dumb animal fighting a scorpion. And we were fighting only ten feet from the cliff edge. One mistake and he’d grapple me and throw me over it.

Then I saw Erin climb into Becker’s car. What? What the fuck is she doing?! I looked at Becker and only just dodged an elbow that would have finished me. When I checked the car again, it was moving, rocking. Oh Jesus.

I had to finish this, now. But if I turned my back on Becker, he’d kill me and then kill Erin.

I glared at Becker and blinked back blood and sweat. He dropped into a fighting stance. All that training he’d had…he was ready for any martial arts move I could throw at him.

But maybe he wasn’t ready for what I’d learned back in that working-class neighborhood in London.