Besides . . . “And where would you like me to do that? I have a snow berm on the right masking the rock wall behind it. And a mountain cliff on the left where the berms have fallen away, leaving only a guardrail. I’m doing my best here, okay?” Oh yeah . . . and a bridge coming up.
Liam accelerated.
The driver behind them was equally determined.
Whipping around another switchback, Liam again increased speed on the snow-packed road. “Although I might consider stopping right in the middle of the road and facing off with him if you weren’t in the vehicle with me.”
He pursed his lips as tension built in his neck and his knuckles turned white from squeezing the steering wheel.
“There’s another forest road up ahead. If we can make it to that, I can turn off. We’ll go as far as we can, but then when I stop, I want you to get out and hide in the woods.”
“Would hiding in the woods be less dangerous?”
“For your sake, I hope so.”
After that, he wasn’t sure what he would do.
He’d grown up driving in the mountains on icy, snow-covered roads. This ridge, part of the gorge, was a steep, rocky wall with an ice-covered river at the bottom. It never once occurred to him that he might fall victim to these treacherous roads one day. The thought of plunging down a mountainside had never scared him.
Until now.
Other cars passed him going in the opposite direction. Behind his pursuer, a few other vehicles followed. Maybe the Hummer’s driver would back off to avoid witnesses.
“What if we don’t make it to the forest road? What are we going to do?” she asked. “How do we lose them?”
“I’m trying. See if you can get the license plate while I focus on the road.”
“I don’t see one on the front.”
He slowed again. The next part of the road would involve several twists and turns that could prevent him from keeping the distance between his truck and the Hummer.
“I’m sorry this is happening.” His vision tunneled at the absolute worst time. He felt helpless again.
Helpless to save her.
He shoved the barrage of emotions out of his way.
“Don’t apologize. Just focus on the road. You can do this, Liam. I’ll call the sheriff’s office since I can’t be sure that dispatch got the necessary information. The cell coverage isn’t the best.”
Rae sounded calmer than she should. Maybe she trusted him far too much. She didn’t understand that he was about to fail them both. Liam shifted into four-wheel drive as he made the turn on a steep switchback.
The Hummer cut across at an angle and rammed them in the side.
Liam felt the instant his truck had been captured in the monster’s jaw. The Hummer’s plow pushed against the door on the passenger side.
With the impact, Rae screamed and dropped the cell.
Time shifted into slow motion.
Nothing Liam could do would save them. He tried to dislodge his truck from the Hummer’s snowplow as it continued to shove them across the road toward the edge. Liam’s truck tires spun out on the ice.
The Hummer must have studded tires with imbedded metal to grip the ice like tiny ice picks, because it kept pushing.
Pushing.
Pushing.
Liam’s truck was fully loaded—except for studded snow tires.
“How do we get out of here?” Rae’s voice shook.
With the plow against the passenger side, they weren’t getting out that way. He glanced through the driver’s-side window, and fear gripped him as he looked down into the gorge.
Through the passenger-side window, above the top edge of the plow, he could barely see the driver, whose face was hidden behind the visor pulled low, sunglasses, and a ball cap. Then the man suddenly lifted his sunglasses and looked Liam in the eyes. A murderer wanting the thrill of seeing terror on his victim’s face?
Liam wished he could somehow climb out of the truck and stop the man, but he had lost control of the situation and there was no getting it back. He wanted to reach for Rae. Hold her like he would never get to hold her again. He’d failed to protect her.
A helplessness he’d never known gripped him as the guardrail gave way.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
This can’t be it. I don’t want to die, God!
Rae squeezed her eyes shut as if she could block the sheer terror gripping her. She felt queasy as she sent a thousand prayers for help. Metal crunched as the truck leaned. Were they going to roll? Instinctively, she put