Page 68 of Vanishing Legacy
Ahead, the traffic began to move, and Alana merged into the right lane. She checked her mirror. The blue sedan clicked its blinker on and merged into the lane six cars behind Alana. At least there was a bit more distance between them now.
Her little detour had worked to flush out the vehicle tailing her, but it’d also cost an extra twenty minutes. But they were nearing the end of the bridge, and then Alana could lose the tail for good.
From her lifted Jeep, she could see over the traffic to the three-car pileup in the left lane. The first car in the accident had taken the brunt of the impact, its rear end twisted and mangled clear up to the back seat. The rear window had shattered into a thousand tiny pieces that glittered across the pavement.
A third car had tried to avoid the crash at the last second but hadn’t quite made it. The damage was minor, but the cars blocked the right lane. Three people stood on the side of the road, talking and gesturing to the wreck.
The distant sound of a motorcycle cut through the hum of Alana’s engine. In her mirror, she saw a leather-clad rider weaving dangerously through the slow-moving traffic. The rider, hunched over the bike, sped between the cars, coming up behind her car at breakneck speed. One wrong move, one lane correction from the cars, and it wouldn’t end well for the rider. Why did motorcycle drivers always seem to have a death wish?
Alana followed the traffic onto the narrow shoulder and passed the accident. The roar of the motorcycle engine grew louder until the vibrations rattled inside her chest.
Penny put her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut. “Too loud!”
“Hold your ears longer. The sound will be gone in just a minute.” She glanced in the mirror again. Something about the glint in the motorcycle helmet made Alana’s blood run cold.
It was the man from the restaurant, picking up her tail on a motorcycle that could outmaneuver traffic.
Alana started to hit the gas, but then a man stepped around the accident and walked into her lane. He lifted a gun and took aim at her vehicle. The motorcycle raced up behind her and revved the engine louder. Penny shrieked in the backseat.
Alana tightened her grip on the steering wheel and weighed her options. Could she outmaneuver him? Could she ram him with the car? Her eyes darted back and forth between the man with the gun and the road ahead.
She might not be able to help Cash, but she could save Penny. She slammed her foot on the gas. The gunman jumped clear of her Jeep at the last second, and Alana sped off the bridge, taking the shoulder to pass a line of traffic at the light. She took a hard right that sent her cell phone flying into the passenger floorboard.
It was out of reach—nothing she could do about it now. She barreled through the next intersection and took the next left and another left. Her thumb fumbled for the button on her steering wheel to activate the voice dialing feature. After the beep she said, “Call Detective Matt Williams.”
The voice activated system responded, “I’m sorry, I did not understand your request. Please repeat.”
With Penny screaming bloody murder in the background, the speaker probably couldn’t understand her, but she couldn’t risk reaching for her phone while driving. She hit the button again. “Call Detective Williams!”
“I’m sorry, I did not understand your request. Please repeat.” The robotic voice was really grating on her nerves.
A motorcycle raced up beside Alana’s Jeep and held a gun aimed at Penny’s window.
“Loud!” Penny had her eyes squeezed shut and her ears covered.
“I’m sorry, baby. Hang on.” Alana swerved left, but the rider dodged her attempt to run him off the road. In the distance, two black dots appeared.
Oh no.
Two motorcycles identical to the one beside her sped toward her—right for them.
At the next intersection, Alana turned left. She had no idea where she was going and prayed it didn’t lead to a dead end. She tried the voice dialing again, this time speaking slower and more enunciated. “Call. Detective. Matt Williams.”
The system beeped. Alana held her breath. Had it finally understood her? “I’m sorry, please repeat your request.”
Alana let out a growl of frustration and slammed the butt of her hand on the steering wheel. Forget it.
All three motorcycles swarmed around her Jeep. They closed in on all sides, trying to force her off the road. Fine. If they wanted to go off-road, she’d take them off-road. Alana steered right, taking the shoulder and running one of the bikers into the ditch.
The Jeep teetered with two tires on the road and two in the grass. The rugged tires ate up the soft ground and kicked up mud that splattered the windows.
A gunshot echoed through the air like thunder. The wheel jerked out of her hands, and her Jeep skidded to the right. She tried to regain control of the vehicle but couldn’t.
They careened off the road. The tires hit the dirt and bumped over the ditch. Alana bounced and hit the top of her head on the roof. Through the mud-splattered windshield, she saw that they were headed for a tree.
“Hang on, Penny!” Alana put her arms up and mashed the brakes too late. They crashed into the tree. Her body jerked hard against the seatbelt. The airbag exploded into her face with such force she almost blacked out.
For a second, she just lay there breathing. Then she twisted to see over her shoulder. “Penny!”