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Noah was pressed against the back of the passenger seat. He’d risen over the headrest and had thrown his arms forward and over the head of the unsuspecting Hedges.
But the car kept rolling, picking up speed on the incline . . . toward the pit . . .
“No,” she whispered and took off after it.
It sped, rocking and turning as if someone were grappling for the steering wheel. Gravel, sand, and dust sprayed from the wheels.
“God, no!”
Choking, the clouds of dust thick, she raced.
No! No! No!
Vaguely, she was aware of another light, something bright piercing the canyon floor. Another vehicle, hurtling over the rise.
Was Hedges meeting someone here? Another killer?
She stumbled, just as the speeding Subaru bounced off course and smashed into the side of the truck. Metal screeched and groaned as it twisted and crumpled. She felt a split second of relief that the vehicle hadn’t nose-dived into the pit when she heard a horrid, blood-chilling scream.
Noah! Oh, God, Noah!
Blam!
A gun blasted!
The windshield shattered, glass spraying. That son of a bitch had shot Noah!
“Stop! Just stop!” she cried, coughing, racing, stumbling forward as the vehicle that had followed them into the canyon shuddered to a stop.
The doors of that car flew open.
“Police. Freeze!” Danielle Settler’s voice rang through the sand pit.
“Help! Please!” Remmi cried, yanking open the driver’s door of the Subaru to see the horror within.
Brett Hedges was pinned to the passenger seat, twisted metal and glass surrounding him; the chain on the pair of handcuffs had cut deep into his neck. His head was lopped over, and his eyes were glassy.
Dead. He had to be dead.
And Noah’s hands were on either side of the headrest. “Noah,” she whispered. “Oh, God, Noah.” She reached into her pocket, found the key she’d stolen from Hedges when she’d pretended to trip in the parking lot, and unlocked the handcuffs. They opened, Noah fell back, and a horrid sucking sound escaped from Brett Hedges before he slid to one side.
“You had those?” Noah asked. “Why the hell didn’t you use them sooner?” And then he fell back, and she noticed the red stain growing on his shoulder.
“Out of the way!” Settler ordered. “God, I could have shot you!” she yelled at Remmi as Martinez took charge. Remmi heard sirens. Far away, across the desert, but drawing nearer. “Backup and an ambulance are on the way,” Settler added.
“Too late for Hedges,” Martinez said. “He’s gone.”
“What about Scott?”
“Don’t know. Doesn’t look good.”
“He has to be all right,” Remmi said, shell-shocked. She couldn’t lose him. Not now. Not after finding him after all these years. “He has to be all right.”
“We’ll do our best,” Settler said as the next set of lights appeared over the rise, and Remmi thought she distinguished the bleat of an ambulance far away. Too far away.
“I love him,” she whispered as the clouds of dust began to settle.
“Then you just keep loving him. And if he makes it,” Settler said, “tell him.”
