Outsourced by R. J. Hillhouse Read Free Book Online Page B

feel the grit. His tongue moved the tooth to the side of his mouth and he tried to ignore it.
    He emptied Kyle’s .45 and tossed it away because he knew he would never find any more ammo that caliber. Ready to rock the vehicle to set off the alarm at Stella’s signal, he grasped the SUV’s door handle and tried pushing up on it, just in case it wasn’t locked. It opened. Relieved that the automatic cabin lights had been disabled, he crawled into the backseat and then climbed to the front. He felt under the dashboard, but it was enclosed. He ran his hands over it until he found the release and pulled it off.
    â€œNow!” Stella yelled and a few seconds later one of the Navigators started honking and flashing its lights.
    Hunter couldn’t set off the alarm from the driver’s seat, so he did what he could to mimic one. He flipped on the lights, switched them to bright and punched the horn, then he returned his focus to the tangle of exposed wires. When the other vehicle’s headlights flashed on, he could see the wires, but by the time he focused, it was dark again. After the next cycle, he closed his eyes and tried to recall the snapshot he had just seen. He reached for the two wires he thought were red and touched them together. They arced and the engine turned over.
    Placing his knife behind the steering wheel between it and the column, he jammed the blade down and tried to turn the wheel. It didn’t move. Careful to keep his body out of the way of the airbag in case it deployed from the force, he shoved the knife down harder until he felt it knock the locking pin away from the wheel. He turned the switch to put the truck into four wheel drive, jerked down the gear shift and stomped the gas, then drove directly toward the white muzzle bursts.
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    â€œDamn him,” Camille whispered to herself as she watched Hunter plow her Navigator through trash barrels, spare tires and anything else in his path as he tried to run down the shooters. She could never rely on him to cooperate with her. He was a team player with everyone else, but not with her.
    Five of her men ran toward her from two different directions, their assault rifles pointing at her while two others remained with their backs to the nearest building, ready to eliminate any threats to their comrades. Stella threw her arms up and stood motionless, waiting until they were close enough to positively identify her.
    Brakes screeched and she watched Hunter backing up into gunfire, redirecting the shooters away from her. The son of a bitch was on her side, at least. He just wasn’t on her team.
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    Hunter saw motion in the rearview mirror. Stomping the brakes and turning the wheel at high speed, he threw the SUV into a U-turn worthy of the Bat-mobile and backed the armored vehicle into the gunfire. He couldn’t see much, but kept steering the vehicle toward the muzzle flashes.
    Several armed men ran toward Stella. He made a hard right and gunned it, barreling toward them. They didn’t fire on him, so he flashed on the lights for quick identification. At the last second, he recognized them as Stella’s troops and veered sharply left, then swerved right, weaving in between them at fifty miles an hour.
    Hunter really wanted to take Stella up on the offer to help him, but he knew from his time at Rubicon that they had a man on the inside at Black Management, feeding them information about upcoming jobs. The mole was probably no threat to Stella, but he couldn’t trust her outfit to keep him safe.
    Her men were protecting her and she didn’t need him, not that she ever needed him. And with her holding off Rubicon’s men, he was now free to head for the main gate. Any moment they would put the compound in lock-down and he would be trapped.
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    Camille heard the Navigator’s engine roar as Hunter peeled off toward the compound’s main gate, running away from her as fast as he could. Her chest tightened