Free Naughty by Ann Voss Peterson, J.A. Konrath, Jack Kilborn Page B

driver was standing outside of his open door, mouth agape as he stared at the spectacle. She rushed him, clipped him under the jaw, and then swung herself up into the cab of his semi and locked the doors. Then she studied the control console.
    No keys. The driver had taken his keys from the ignition before getting out.
    Hammett checked both side mirrors, saw Forsyth approaching on the right, and Ludlum on the left. Ludlum had found her gun.
    Hammett quickly searched the cab for a weapon, but there were too many shelves and compartments and boxes. Eyes scanning upward, she saw a skylight on the roof, the windows hinged to double as an emergency exit. Hammett climbed onto the bed, undid the locks, and pulled herself up.
    Three shots rang out, and Hammett leapt from the cab to the top of the trailer, sighting a white city bus that was heading toward them.
    Parkour time.
    Hammett put on a burst of speed, trying to judge where the bus would be when she made her leap, knowing it was going to be tight, flinging herself into the air as bullets tore past, sailing into open air with the street four meters below her, and landing on the roof of the bus as it passed.
    Hammett stuck the landing, but the bus’s speed knocked her sideways, and she began to tumble toward the edge. She splayed out her arms and legs, stopping the roll but not the momentum, and skidded on her chest until she reached the side, her head peeking over just before she stopped.
    Hammett watched the road whiz past for a moment, caught her breath, and then inched away from the edge. She turned back around to look for Forsyth and Ludlum, and spotted them climbing into the semi. Hammett frowned, watching as Forsyth started the truck. Apparently she’d found the keys.
    Hammett got onto her knees, sighting ahead. Open road, no traffic lights for a few blocks. She looked back at her sisters, and the semi was now in pursuit. Ludlum, gun in hand, crawled out of the cab skylight.
    She needed to get off the bus.
    “Hey!” Hammett banged on the roof, hoping to get the driver’s attention. At the rear, she began to crawl toward the front, slapping the aluminum roof as she went. She had no idea if the bus driver could hear her, but she kept her center of gravity low in case he did and hit the brakes.
    Another pop of a gunshot, and a round buried itself in the side of the bus. The semi roared up alongside.
    As she’d done with Clancy, Hammett put herself in her adversaries’ minds. They would get close and try to shoot her. If that didn’t work, their next move would be to stop the bus, either by pulling in front of it, killing the driver, or blowing the tires. They’d expect Hammett to try to jump off the bus when it slowed down, or get inside.
    What wouldn’t they expect?
    They wouldn’t expect Hammett, outnumbered and outgunned, to attack.
    Springing up from a crouch, Hammett ran across the roof of the bus and jumped, launching herself face-first at the oncoming semi, arms outstretched Superman-style, sailing over the gap between the two vehicles. Ludlum frantically emptied her magazine, wide-eyed with obvious surprise, her shots failing to connect. Hammett sailed over Ludlum, hitting the trailer on her chest. Hammett bounced, feeling the wound in her shoulder tear open, rolling right off the other side but managing to grab onto the upper side rail with one hand.
    As she hung there on the side of the semi-trailer, the street beneath her blurring past at forty miles an hour, the adrenaline kicking so hard she felt her heart would burst, Hammett had a brief, terrible moment of self-reflection.
    She didn’t wonder what led her to this point. She didn’t regret all the horrifying, unjustifiable things she’d done. She didn’t wish it all had gone differently. Instead, as she hung there, she had a single, overpowering urge.
    She wanted to set the entire fucking world on fire.
    Except for the puppies and kitties.
    Gritting her teeth, she forced all the pain, all the anger