Twenty-Three
A moment of nothingness. Not long. Seconds, maybe. I wasn’t even sure if I’d lost consciousness. There was a break, though. A sense of before and after, as if shock washed through my body and shut it down. I moved my arms and legs. They all worked and nothing hurt. Much. Rain drummed on the car roof.
Nick was beside me. Quiet and still.
Get out of the car, I thought. The men are still out there. I clawed at my seat belt and reached for the door.
‘Wait.’ Nick was awake and moving. Pain had mangled him into a jumble of limbs and hands.
‘Got to get out.’
‘Lights,’ he said. He tried to form other words, gave up and said, ‘Lights’ again. I reached out for the door.
‘No.’ His voice was sharp. With pain? With… what?
And then his meaning hit me and I snatched my hand away from
