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Too many close calls and late nights in Raleigh were why she came back. She didn't think this kind of crime would reach a place like Granite Falls. Girls that were cut open like that meant only one thing. Sylvia was a drug mule, and something had gone wrong. She pulled out of the gas station and back onto the highway.
Seeing Sylvia again brought forward too many memories. Sylvia had been in love with Aiden McKenzie, and Jacquie had loved his brother, Chase. The four spent their entire senior year together planning their futures—what they would do once they got out of high school, where they would go to college, what they would do with their lives—until, without warning, the McKenzie brothers joined the Army and left.
Jacquie never heard from Chase again.
A bullet she was lucky enough to dodge.
Headlights shone through her rearview mirror, small at first, but getting larger as the vehicle quickly caught up to her speed. Momentarily blinding her, she tried to adjust the reflection, but it was no use.
The small two-lane highway didn't leave a lot of maneuvering room. She veered as far to the right as she could, and hoped whoever it was would pass. They didn't.
Unease whispered in her ear.
“What in the world?”
She glanced between her rearview mirror and the side mirrors, trying to see around the blinding lights to get the make of the car. She hit the speed dial for her brother, Josh, sheriff of Granite Falls.
Her fingers tightened on the steering wheel, her arms stiffening as she punched down the accelerator. There were too many curves on the dark mountain road to be driving at this speed. Killer whined in the passenger seat, cowering into her blankie as the outgoing call rang through the speakers, the pealing sound filling the car and adding to her anxiety.
“Josh,” she said as the call went to voice mail. “I’m twenty minutes outside of town on the Winding River Highway. Someone is trying to run me off the road. Looks like an older pickup truck. Blue. I can't see the license plate, but I think it's the same one—”
Her car jerked forward as the truck rammed her bumper. She held tight to the wheel, hit the button to disconnect the line, and punched in 911. Before it could connect, the truck rammed her again, harder this time, sending her fishtailing across the highway. Adrenaline flooded her body and her stomach clenched and flipped like she was on some kind of horrible roller coaster.
“Nine-one-one, what's your emergency?”
“Help me!”
He hit her again.
She screamed as she clutched the steering wheel and urged the car to stay on the road, but the scenery outside the window continued to whirl and spin as she lost control of the car and barreled through the guard rail, the car flipping on its way down the mountain.”
* * *
Jacquie's eyes flew open.A scream on her lips.
Instead of her car, she lay in a bed. In the dark. Everything hurt. A beeping noise—relentless and piercing—drilled through her brain. Someone moved on the other side of the room. She tried to reach for them, but couldn't lift her hand.
“I have to tell—” Her throat was dry. Sore. “Call. Brother.”
Movement.
“Please,” she whispered. “Killer?”
A man. Tall with wide shoulders stood over her.
“It hurts.”
Something in his hand; a pinch on her arm.Hospital? Dizziness swam through her head. Beeping pulsed through her ears. Eyes squinted. Mouth dry. The door swung open. More movement. Light spilled in from the hallway illuminating a man's face.
Chase?
Couldn't be.
He picked up her call button. Her eyelids slipped closed.So heavy. Sleep.
Light filled the room, piercing her eyes. She moaned and squeezed them shut as her head started to spin. Darkness closed in, and for a moment her body grew heavy and stiff before it seemed to fall away completely. Then she was gone. In her car, racing down the highway.
Nine-one-one, what's your emergency?
