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“That we will. Talk to you tomorrow.”
Annie put her phone away and sighed. She’d have to figure out what to look into next.
“What’s wrong with this thing?” Jon muttered, fighting with the steering wheel. He pulled hard toward the road’s shoulder on her side, but the vehicle continued to barrel to the left.
“What’s happening?”
“The car is driving itself!” The tendons in Jon’s neck stood out in the glare of the dash as he fought hard to control the car.
The tires screamed as the Jaguar rounded a curve. Annie knew this area. The roads curved along thick forest. One wrong turn and they’d smash into a tree. Kylie could lose both her parents in a heartbeat.
Annie gripped the door’s armrest. “Just stop the car!”
“The brakes aren’t working,” Jon gritted out through clenched teeth as he continued to fight the wheel.
Her gaze traveled down his legs to the floorboard, and she saw his foot pressed down hard on the brake. The car continued to scream through the curves as if it knew which way to go to stay on the road.
“Should we jump out?”
He shook his head. “Seventy miles an hour. Too dangerous.”
It was dangerous to stay inside. What could cause the car to operate by itself?
She looked around inside the vehicle, trying to find some reason for the car’s weird behavior. Nothing stood out. Hadn’t she read something about cars being hacked by devious people? Could that really be happening, or was it some kind of computer glitch?
There’d been certain mechanisms hackers used, but she was too panicked to recall what they all were. The only thing she remembered was something do with the door locks. She reachedover and unlocked her door. Jon was struggling so hard to control the car, she didn’t think he could take a hand off the wheel to do the same to his door. Maybe the key fob.
She snatched it from the console where Jon had tossed it and unlocked the doors. Almost immediately, the car began to slow. At least it wasn’t speeding toward certain destruction, but Jon still struggled to keep the Jaguar on the road.
She studied the key fob. The symbols looked to be headlamps, trunk lift, locks, and a panic button. The car lurched and threw her against the door. The fob flew out of her fingers to the floor by her feet, and she scrambled to grab it again.
Jon shot her a quick look, and the desperation in his face scared her. “I’m going to try punching the panic button. Hang on,” she told him.
She pressed the panic button firmly, and the car engine stumbled. The road curved to the left ahead, and Jon turned the steering wheel that way.
“It’s turning!” The car went slower and slower, and he rounded the curve to the straightaway. “Try another button. I’ve got to get the brakes back.”
Maybe the trunk lift or the headlamps? She didn’t want the lights to go out on this dark road so she pushed the trunk-lift button. “Try the brakes now.”
He jammed his foot on the brake. “Nothing.”
No help for it, she’d have to try the other button. She pressed the button that looked like headlamps, and the lights flashed off and back on again. Jon pumped the brakes again, and the car slowed jerkily.
“It worked!” He pressed down firmly and steered the car to the road’s shoulder, then shut off the engine.
He let out a shaky breath. “That was close. How’d you know to try that?”
“I saw it on TV the other day.” She laid the key fob back on the console. “I think someone hacked your car, Jon. Why would anyone do that?”
He reached for her, and she leaned across the console into his arms. “I’m shocked we’re still alive and in one piece,” he said.
“Me too.” She could feel he was shaking as much as she was. “I don’t think we should drive this thing home. I’ll call Kade.”
He released her. “Call Mason too. Something is very wrong with what happened. It felt like the car had turned into some kind of malevolent creature. Was it a prank, or did someone want to kill us?”
Good question, and not one with any easy answers.
Twenty-Six
