Boom! My vision goes dark, all sounds fading for a second. Gasping, I clutch at the edge of the seat, desperately trying to hang on as the limo swerves and speeds up even more. As my senses return, I realize that the guards’ SUV directly behind us was hit. There’s now a gaping, smoking hole in its roof. I watch in horrified shock as it careens into another one of our cars, colliding with it with shattering force. Tires squeal, and then both cars are rolling off the road in a tangle of crushed metal.

The police chopper shot at us, I realize with a jolt of panic. It shot at us and took out two of our cars, leaving only one guard vehicle to protect us.

Turning, I cast a frantic glance at the front window again. The hangar where our plane is parked is close, so close. Just a few hundred yards, and we’ll be there. Surely we can survive that long—

Boom! My ears ringing, I twist to see the Hummer behind us go up in flames. Julian must’ve hit it, I realize with relief. There’s just the helicopter and two SUVs pursuing us now, and we still have guards in that last SUV. Another couple of shots like that, and we’ll be safe—

“Nora!” Powerful arms wrap around my waist, dragging me down to the floor. A furious Julian is kneeling over me, his face like thunder. “I fucking told you to stay down!”

In a split second, I register two things: he’s uninjured, and his hands are empty.

The grenade launcher must be out of ammunition.

Boom! A blast rocks the limo, sending us both flying. I’m vaguely aware that Julian twists around me, protecting me with his body, but I still feel the brutal impact as we slam into the partition. All air leaves my lungs, and the interior of the car spins around me, my vision blurring as something sharp bites at my skin. My head is pounding from the inside, as though my brain is struggling to get out.

“Nora!” Julian’s voice reaches through the ringing whine in my ears. Dazed, I try to focus in on him. As some of the blurriness clears, I realize we’re on the floor again, with him lying on top of me. His face is covered with blood; it’s trickling down, dripping on me. He’s also saying something, but his words don’t register in my mind.

All I see is the vicious, deadly red of his blood.

“You’re hurt.” The terrified croak bears little resemblance to my voice. “Julian, you’re hurt—”

He grips my jaw, hard, stunning me into silence. “Listen to me,” he grits out. “In exactly a minute, I’m going to need you to run. Do you understand me? Run straight for the fucking plane and don’t stop, no matter what.”

I stare at him, uncomprehending. Drip. Drip. Drip. The red drops keep coming down. I can feel the wetness on my face, taste the metallic warmth on my lips. His eyes are bright blue amidst all that red, blue and incredibly beautiful…