Chemical Burn Read Online Free

The rear windows of both vehicles rolled down. Gun barrels slid out into the night, pointing at the forward section of the limo.
    I leapt forward, grabbed Natalia, and pulled her down onto the floor. We landed with a thud, and I rolled on top of her, my hips pressed between her legs.
    “What the!—” Natalia shouted.
    “Hang on!” I whispered into her ear, covering her with my body as much as I could. I couldn’t let her get killed if I wanted to find Xen’s killer.
    Machine gun fire shattered the night, and even through the heavily tinted windows and the downpour outside, it bathed the interior in bright, flickering-orange light. Bullets bounced off armored steel, glass, and pavement, filling the interior with thunder.
    We heard the limousine’s engine roar as Victor hammered the gas, and the rear tires screamed, breaking loose from the wet pavement for thirty yards as they fought the mass of the heavily armored sedan. The headlights of the two SUVs drifted back to the rear-quarter of the limousine, and the gunfire stopped briefly.
    “Friends of yours?” I asked.
    “What do you think?” she replied, a bit perturbed but remarkably calm for a business executive—man or woman—exposed to gunfire. Most suits would have shit themselves after the first shot.
    Engines roared as our pursuers pulled forward again, drawing even with the limo. Gun barrels slid out to fire another volley when the limousine swerved violently to the left. Metal screeched on metal as the two vehicles smashed together. Tires squealed on the left as the driver slammed on his brakes. A second later, a deafening crash filled our ears when the SUV smashed head-on with a garbage truck going the other direction. The SUV’s horn stuck with the impact and faded quickly behind us.
    Then a machine gun from the other SUV cooked off. The thunder of ricochets again filled the compartment, and as I looked up, I saw the barrel drift down towards the front tire of the limo.
    “This thing have solid tires, by chance?” I asked, yelling over the sound of the gunfire.
    “Of course,” she hollered back matter-of-factly.
    “We’re gonna need ’em!” I yelled as the sound changed from bullets hitting steel and glass to hitting pavement and solid rubber. I could feel the front tire start to bounce and bump unevenly as chunks of it were chewed away by the barrage.
    The limousine lurched again, to the right this time, and we careened off the SUV. Both vehicles swerved back and forth several times, crashing solidly against each other, but the greater mass of the limo began to win out. Each crash pushed the SUV closer to the curb.
    I heard a squeal of rubber as the SUV’s tires locked up. The limousine passed a light-post that the SUV must have barely avoided hitting. The window between the driver and us slid open.
    “Where to, madam?” Victor shouted over the roar of the engine. His voice was pained but calm, thick with Russian origins. By the sound of it, he had taken a slug.
    “Are we near Xen’s house?” I yelled.
    “Yes!” he replied.
    “Drive this thing through the front doors!” I ordered.
    “Are you out of your mind?” Victor hollered back.
    “Just DO IT!” I screamed. I turned to face Natalia, and our noses nearly touched. “We can’t out run them, and if they catch us in the open, the five or six guys in that SUV will tear us to pieces. In cover we have a chance. Trust me .”
    “Do it, Victor,” Natalia yelled.
    “ Da! ” Victor obeyed.
    The limousine swerved around several more corners with the sound of multiple machine guns bouncing bullets off the back of the limo and into the rear tires.
    “Hang on!” Victor yelled.
    I grabbed Natalia tightly and rolled on my side with my back facing the front. The front of the car bounced off the curb, absorbing our momentum as the front end tore up a big chunk of Xen’s lawn. With the impact Natalia and I slid neatly up against the base of the front seats. The limo ran over several bushes