of the truck and the darkened windshield. Nothing inside. “No, nothing.”
Cait pressed down farther on the gas and the Jeep lurched forward. Rebecca could hear the engine struggling, feel the hesitation in the acceleration. There was no way they could outrun him, not in this condition.
“What are we going to do?”
Cait shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Rebecca scanned the road. There was a pair of headlights coming toward them across the divide. She pointed. “Can you signal him somehow? Flash your lights, maybe?”
“They’ll just think we’re warning them about a cop up ahead.”
“The horn, then. If you honk, maybe the driver will look over and see what’s going on.”
Cait nodded, but she didn’t look convinced. “It’s worth a shot.”
The sound of the horn shattered the night’s silence. The truck dropped back a length and they watched as the window of the oncoming truck—an eighteen-wheeler carrying farm equipment—rolled down and a man’s face appeared, ghostly white. Cait kept leaning on the horn and they both started pounding at the windows, but the man shook his head and retreated back into the cab. He must have thought they were drunk, Rebecca realized, or crazy.
The taillights of the eighteen-wheeler disappeared in the rearview mirror just as the pickup’s headlights advanced. Soon he was close enough to nudge their bumper. Once. Twice. A third time, harder.
Cait gripped the steering wheel and cursed. “There’s no way out,” she muttered.
Rebecca’s eyes followed hers. There was nothing in front of them but flat road and desert. Nowhere to hide.
The pickup pressed forward again, edging into the left lane and nestling itself close to their side.
“What is he doing?” Rebecca asked.
Cait looked to her left. The passenger window of the pickup was nearly parallel with her window. She pressed closer to the glass, hoping to get a glimpse of the driver. The windows were tinted, though, and all she saw was her own reflection staring back, white-faced and terrified.
Think. Think. You need a plan.
She had the pedal pushed all the way to the floor, and the Jeep was still struggling to hit eighty. It was sick. She could hear it in the grinding of the gears, feel it in the engine’s vibrations. The transmission was slipping. It must have been damaged when he rear-ended them.
C’mon, girl, she coaxed. Don’t give up on me now.
The truck stayed tucked against the Jeep’s side. It was a newer-model Chevy four-by-four, with a double-wide cab and a growling, powerful engine. There was no way she could outrun him.
She’d have to outsmart him.
“Hold on.”
She slammed on the brakes, hard. The rear end fishtailed and Cait struggled to keep the wheels straight. The tires screeched as they gripped the pavement, and the air filled with the sulfuric tang of burnt rubber. The pickup was ten yards in front of them, twenty, fifty. The seat belt bit into the flesh around Cait’s collarbone.
They came to a juddering halt in the middle of the highway, the only sound their breath as it rattled through their throats.
“What the hell?” Rebecca looked at Cait, wild-eyed. “What are you doing?”
Cait didn’t take the time to explain. She flicked off the headlights and the road went black. If it worked once, she figured, it might work again. She threw the car into reverse, backed onto the shoulder, accelerated into a U-turn, and floored it.
“We’re going the wrong way.”
Cait’s eyes didn’t waver. “I know.”
Cait’s heart was pounding so fast, she could feel it pulsing in her skull. She was driving seventy miles an hour, with no headlights, the wrong way down the highway. It would have seemed like she had a death wish if she hadn’t been trying so hard to save their lives.
So far, nothing was coming in either direction. At least out here, she’d have a fair amount of warning, though she knew they would scare the ever-loving shit out of another driver once she flicked on the headlights. All they needed was a little time. If they could make it back to that travel center back in Clines Corners, maybe she could flag down help. She couldn’t worry about Rebecca and the police anymore. They needed help, whatever it took, whatever the sacrifice. Better than ending up dead.
She checked the rearview. Still clear. She didn’t think he’d let her get away that easily. He would have seen her turn around, would have watched her taillights extinguished in the dark. Why hadn’t he followed?
They were heading east now, and for the first time she saw that the edge of