UNDERCOVER TO MY HEART

HIGH-SPEED TEST

Riding ninety miles an hour into the dark with a dead man felt like a fever dream, but the cold wind slicing through my jacket was very real.

The roar of twenty heavy motorcycle engines vibrated through my chest as we tore down the narrow mountain road. The pitch-black trees blurred into a wall on our left, while a steep cliff dropped into nothingness on our right. I sat squeezed against Jack's broad back, my arms wrapped tight around his leather vest out of pure survival instinct. His body was warm against the freezing night air, feeling so familiar and so terrifying all at once.

Behind us, the heavy black box truck rumbled over the asphalt, flanked by the rest of the Iron Serpents. Every time the truck hit a bump, a muffled, rhythmic thud echoed from inside the sealed metal walls. Innocent human beings were trapped in the dark back there, terrified and desperate for help.

My right hand twitched against Jack's jacket. Deep in my jeans pocket sat a small, black GPS beacon. All I had to do was drop it onto the asphalt, and my ATF strike team would trace our exact path through these dark hills.

"Stay focused, Bella," I whispered to myself under the roar of the exhaust pipe.

I adjusted my grip, carefully working my fingers toward my pocket. But a sudden flare of white light in Jack's side mirror made me freeze right in my tracks.

Riding less than six feet off our rear tire was Roxy. Her heavy bike glided across the lane, her visor tipped up just enough for her sharp eyes to stay locked right on me. Every single tiny move I made was being watched. If I dropped that tracker, she would see it hit the road, pull her gun, and put a bullet through my skull before the beacon even stopped bouncing on the dirt.

Jack tilted his head slightly back toward me, his deep voice cutting through the wind in my helmet comms. "Do not even think about it, Bella."

"Think about what?" I shouted back over the deafening engine hum.

"I know what you are reaching for in your pocket," Jack growled, shifting gears as we hit a sharp curve. "Roxy is staring right at your hands. You toss anything off this bike, and she will open fire on you."

"There are innocent people locked in that truck, Jack!" I yelled back, leaning with him into the turn. "If I do not drop this signal, my team cannot rescue them at the border!"

"If you drop that signal, you die tonight on this asphalt!" Jack snapped, his grip tightening on the heavy handlebars. "Let me handle the run. I have a full plan for the docks!"

"Your plan is crazy, Jack!" I argued, my voice shaking with raw anger and fear. "You are running on pure revenge! You are going to get us both killed out here!"

"I am keeping you alive!" Jack roared back over the wind. "That is the only reason you are breathing right now!"

The words hung heavy in the air between us, cutting through the noise of the bikes. Seven years of pain, lies, and grief pressed against my back as I held onto him, my heart breaking all over again for the boy he used to be. I squeezed my eyes shut for a second, trying to stop the tears from burning my eyes as the cold wind whipped around us.

"You should have come back for me," I whispered into the mic, my voice barely making a sound against the engine roar. "You left me all alone to bury a empty box, Jack."

"I did what I had to do to keep you safe from my blood," Jack answered softly, his tone suddenly losing its rough edge for a brief moment. "I would do it again a thousand times."

Before I could answer him, a blinding wall of light shattered the darkness up ahead.

Two massive, black armored SUVs rounded the far corner, cutting off both lanes of the narrow road and parking sideways across the asphalt. High-beam headlights blinded our eyes as bright muzzle flashes suddenly erupted from the open SUV windows.

Automatic gunfire shattered the quiet mountain air like thunder.

Sparks flew off the asphalt as lead bullets tore up the road. The box truck behind us slammed on its brakes with a deafening screech of rubber, and several bikers swerved violently into the dirt, screaming over the radio comms as glass and metal scattered across the road.

"Ambush!" Jack yelled, his arm shooting down to draw a heavy handgun from his side holster. "Rival gang! Hold on tight!"

Jack leaned hard into the handlebars, dropping the massive bike at a terrifying angle as bullets zipped right over our heads. He fired three rapid shots straight into the front windshield of the lead SUV, shattering the glass and making the driver violently jerk the wheel into the ditch.

"Shoot back!" Jack shouted to me, swerving past a hail of lead.

I yanked my sidearm from my waistband, twisted around on the back seat, and fired two clear shots at an enemy shooter leaning out of the second vehicle. My bullets hit the target, knocking him backward into the frame.

"Nice shot!" Jack shouted, twisting the throttle to blast through the tiny gap between the wrecked SUV and the metal guardrail on the edge of the cliff.

Roxy roared up beside us, firing her own pistol into the dark, but the rival gang was relentless. A heavy pickup truck charged out from behind the trees, sweeping across the lane to ram us off the road.

"They are trying to push us over!" I screamed, ducking low against Jack's spine.

Jack yanked the handlebars left, dodging the heavy steel bumper by mere inches, but a stray rifle round from the truck hit us with a loud, metallic bang.

The front tire instantly blew out with a violent pop.

The heavy motorcycle wobbled wildly, completely losing its grip on the slick road. The handlebars whipped violently out of Jack's hands as ninety miles an hour of speed sent the machine skidding sideways on its metal frame. Sparks exploded in every direction, painting the night sky in bright orange fire as we slid out of control, heading straight toward the low steel guardrail and the hundred-foot drop below.