“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Gabriella sobbed, gripping James’s rough jacket as she buried her face in it.

He held her tightly in the driver’s side doorway, shushing her as she cried. She couldn’t even bring herself to be embarrassed about falling apart like this in front of the rest of the team as she tried to choke out what had happened. But she couldn’t stop shaking and every time she was close to calming down, that feeling of being alone and doomed in the woods came right back.

“It’s okay,” James whispered. “It’s okay, I’m just so glad you’re okay.”

She reluctantly let go and glanced down the street. The woods and the road behind her were silent and dark, but that didn’t mean Robin wasn’t on his way. “We need to leave,” she said. “I don’t know where he is. I lost him in the woods and maybe he’s still in there, or he went back for the car or a gun or something, I just don’t know.”

The van’s slide door slid open and Amelia poked her head out. “Get in,” she ordered, beckoning Gabriella back.

Gabriella didn’t need to be told twice. She ducked into the car and pulled the door shut behind her, nearly tumbling into Amelia, who climbed into the backseat, leaving her in the middle with Bradley.

“Now what?” Bradley said, glancing out the window as James started driving.

“We need to go to the Foundation,” James said. “This is obviously not cleared with them. I checked the logs, they never called in a case over here and he never reported that he and Gabbie were going out on this one.”

“This is insane,” Madelyn muttered. “Guys, it’s Robin, it’s not some random person. It’s our boss.”

“Our boss who’s been acting completely out of character for months,” Amelia said. “And what, do you think Gabriella is lying about it?”

“Of course not,” Madelyn said, with a guilty look back at Gabriella. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…it’s just…”

“He’s been so fixated on the budget,” Bradley said, still looking out the window beside him. “He’s been chewing my ass out about it for months.”

He let out a long-suffering sigh. “When I said we shouldn’t be so good at our jobs and maybe they’d give us more money, this wasn’t what I fucking meant.”

“We’re going to need to stop for gas soon,” James said. “But we should just go straight to the Foundation’s headquarters. It’s like an hour drive, but we can’t go back to headquarters or any of our homes. I have no idea where Robin went, we weren’t able to locate his phone or get in touch with him. So we need to bring in the upper levels to figure out what happens next.”

Headlights cut through the darkness behind them as they dipped over a small hill. As the beams illuminated the car, Gabriella looked around at the group around her. They all looked exhausted, almost haggard. And there was definitely a degree of irritation in the car that was directed at her.

But they’d come for her when she needed them. They all had.

“Thank you,” she said, emotion tightening her throat. “For coming to get me. I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you before.”

The other three didn’t say anything, but she caught James’s eye in the mirror and he smiled at her. “We’re a team, Gabs,” he said. “And it’s not like you’re the first to trust the wrong person. One time Brad-”

He was cut off by the growl of an engine behind them. As she turned to look, Gabriella realized in horror that the headlights she’d seen before were blocked now as the car pulled up inches away from the van.

“It’s Robin,” Madelyn said, turning around in her seat. “What the hell is he doing?”

In the red glow of the taillights, far too close, she could see Robin through the windshield of the car behind them. He pulled out his phone as she watched.

“He’s calling me,” James said as his phone vibrated on its dashboard stand.

“Don’t answer,” Bradley snapped.

The phone kept ringing, then Gabriella’s head snapped forward as Robin rammed the car from behind. She heard Madelyn make a pained noise as the van lurched ahead. She turned around again and made eye contact with Robin, who held up his phone and nodded at her.

“Answer it,” she said, turning to face forward again. “He’s going to drive us off the road.”

James reluctantly hit the answer button on his phone. They were silent for a second as the phone connected.

“Pull over,” Robin said.

“Robin, I don’t know what’s going on, but this has gone too far,” James replied. “We’re going to the Foundation.”

“They won’t help you,” Robin spit through the phone. “They wouldn’t help me keep you safe, why would they help you now?”

“Robin, this isn’t keeping us all safe, you fucking asshole,” Bradley spit from the back seat. “You tried to kill one of the team.”

“She’s not part of the team,” Robin snapped, and again, they were all shoved forward as he rammed the car from behind. “She was a temporary asset that would get us what we needed. It would have been better this way. The Foundation would have realized we need more support and they would have given it to us. We’d have everything we need to keep our area safe, but you’re going to ruin that!”

“I’m not going to let you just murder my cousin,” James said, voice sharp with disbelief. “Are you serious?”

He hit the gas and the van jerked forward, gradually inching away from Robin’s car. The rest of the road was dark ahead of them, but the headlights cast shadows that showed they were completely alone out here. Gabriella was pretty sure they were coming up on some form of civilization, but if Robin kept ramming the van, they might not get there in time.

“Robin, do you even hear yourself?” Madelyn demanded. “What the hell happened to you? You’re talking about murder to get a few extra dollars in the budget. Do you realize how messed up that is?”

“You know what’s messed up?” Robin demanded, his voice crackling on the phone slightly as the engine groaned under the force of James speeding up the van. “Trying to keep the entire northern half of the county safe from every supernatural threat Monsterland could possibly throw at us! And on a shoestring budget that makes us choose between paying the electric and the internet. To fight goddamn demons! We’re not doing this. Either stop the car and let Gabriella out or I’m going to drive you off the road. An entire dead team will work just as well as a tragic accident in the woods.”

“He’s insane,” Amelia breathed as the car creaked its way up a steep hill. “Can you go any faster?”

“I’m trying,” James said tightly. “I swear to God I’m going as fast as I can.”

Behind them, Gabriella could see the headlights glow bright just behind them for a second, then whip out beside them, crossing into the opposite lane.

“What the fuck is he doing?” James demanded.

He clearly tried to speed up, but the old van wasn’t having it. Robin weaved into the lane and he jerked away, narrowly missing the guard rail as Robin pushed him further toward the edge of the road.

“Speed up, speed up!” Gabriella nearly screamed.

“I’m trying!”

She watched in horror as Robin reared back into the opposite lane and tried again. He made contact, sideswiping the van just enough that James lost control. Sparks flew outside the window as it scraped against the guardrail. Gabriella was tossed into Bradley, who grunted in pain as her elbow pushed into his chest. She tried to apologize, but the words stuck in her throat.

Robin pulled back again and Gabriella knew with terrifying certainty that this third time was going to be the one that sent them through the guardrail and into the ravine. And that she was helpless to do anything about it as they reached the crest of the hill. Looking at Bradley beside her, she could see the same fear echoed on his face.

Then there were new lights coming from in front of them. Bright lights and the thunderous roar of a heavy engine moving quickly over the hill. And it happened too quickly for her to process. The tractor-trailer crested the hill coming in the other direction as Robin was pulling back into the opposite lane to land that final blow. And then the crunch of metal meeting far more metal as the tractor-trailer slammed directly into Robin’s car, a head-on collision that sent him back down the hill as the truck driver tried desperately to stop.

This time everybody screamed as James whipped the van into a dirt shoulder that came up quickly on their right. He stopped the car and hopped out before anybody else, rushing across the road and toward the smoking, crushed wreck of what had been Robin’s car. It had rolled partway down the hill and stopped there, lodged in the guardrail on the other side of the road.

The others slowly got out of the van. Gabriella’s whole body shook as she opened the sliding door and stepped out onto the pavement. Across the street from them, the weeping truck driver was saying over and over that he didn’t understand what just happened. That he’d tried to stop and what was that guy doing in this lane, were they racing?

As Gabriella watched, James stepped up to the wreck and looked into what remained of the driver’s side of Robin’s car. Without a word, he staggered back and vomited over the guardrail. Gabriella went to follow him, but Madelyn held her back.

“Don’t,” she said. “There’s no good coming out of seeing that. He’s dead.”

---

CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 22