Barduil Big Bang Ch. 3 excerpt
Because I can, dammit. I’ve only got one chapter left to write, I can do this! *puts on motivation cap*
“What about you?” Bard prompted. “What would you change?”
“Well, that’s a rather loaded question now.” Still, Thranduil would have answered it, but then Feren lowered the glass and said tersely, “We’re being followed.”
Bard was instantly alert. “How many?” he asked as he turned to look out the back window.
“Three black SUVs. One of them turned with us onto Anduin, the other two have just joined.”
“Any idea who’s in there?”
“No one friendly,” Feren replied. “No license plates, look. And if that’s the Durins, they would have let us know, wouldn’t they?”
“If it’s the Durins, they deserve whatever they get for this stunt,” Thranduil said coldly as he pulled out his phone. “I’ll call—”
“Head down!” Bard pressed his hand to Thranduil’s neck, forcing him into a forward bend. Their glass was bulletproof, but there were no guarantees. Bard cursed as three bullets impacted the back windshield. “Shit. Feren, odds of losing them?”
“We’re rural now, there aren’t many places to turn off and the roads are rough. If we get stopped or bogged down, we’ll be outnumbered in a firefight.”
“Then we need to take them out from a distance,” Bard said as he unbuckled his seatbelt, then pulled a rifle case out from under the seat. Already his demeanor had shifted into battle mode. “I’ll shoot from the side window, but I’ll need you as steady as can be.”
“I’ll do what I can, boss, but—” More shots peppered the car. “But too many of those and they’ll get lucky eventually,” he finished grimly.
“We can’t keep going this direction,” Thranduil said as he suddenly realized— “We’re leading them straight to the children.”
“We can’t turn around, boss, they’ll split and follow, and that’s if we get lucky and one of them doesn’t decide to take it for the team and ram us.” As if in response to his words, the closest of the SUVs suddenly pulled forward, coming dangerously close to their back bumper. Feren surged ahead, but Bard, who’d just finished putting his Fusion rifle together, said, “No, close again.” He looked at Thranduil. “Call the house, put them on alert.” Then he rolled down the window on his side, sighted as best he could before exposing his head, leaned out and sent a burst of shots straight into the driver’s side of the front windshield. The glass held, but the attack was enough of a shock to the driver that the SUV began to weave dangerously. The cars behind it slowed way down as the driver overcorrected, then drove off the side of the road and rolled into a ditch, where it pinwheeled a few more times before finally crashing to a halt.
“Nice!” Feren called back.
“Element of surprise. It won’t happen twice.” More bullets hit the car, this time fired from well back, and Thranduil couldn’t help a flinch.
