Kindred Intentions by Rita Carla Francesca Monticelli Read Free Book Online Page B

flipped
left and right. Aghast, she kept staring in front of her, avoiding looking at
the precipice at her left, which was becoming deeper and deeper, as they gained
altitude.
    An impact from the back and her body was
pushed forward, but the safety belt stopped, keeping her firmly against the
seat. Amelia shouted.
    “Son of a bitch …” were Mike’s words. How
could he keep so calm?
    The engine roared and the car gained some
advantage over the chaser. Right after, they found themselves taking a hairpin
bend. Mike slowed down; the centrifugal force would have taken them right off
the road otherwise.
    The black car pulled up alongside them on the
right, occupying the other lane, then it steered against them.
    The violent contact made them swerve. Their
car’s front left side ended up against the low guardrail while still travelling
at high speed. And as it reared up a bit, it bent enough to exceed the height
of the protection on the edge of the road.
    Amelia’s world turned sideways again and went
upside down, then sideways to the opposite side. For a second she had the
sensation she was flying, together with the one of churning guts. Then there
was another impact, followed by her world returning straight, but heading down,
with trunks and branches coming against her. With a series of violent jolts,
the car made its way into the wood clinging to the hill, slowing down and down.
At last it stopped with a crash. A bang, and then a big white balloon hit her
chest and face. Breathless, she waited until everything stopped, while her
airbag deflated and her safety belt kept her tied to the seat, preventing her
from falling forward.
    “Are you alive?”
    “I think I am.” Her mouth had emitted little
more than a murmur.
    She could barely see the tree before her,
against which the front of the car had crashed. She knew she was balanced
precariously anyway and she didn’t dare move her gaze to the side. She hoped
that, by focusing on the tree, it wouldn’t collapse under the weight of the
vehicle.
    “Okay, don’t move,” Mike said.
    Who could move? “No problem.” Out of the
corner of her eye, however, she saw that he was certainly moving.
    The car tilted a bit to the right. Amelia
shouted again.
    “Don’t worry.” Judging from the tone of his
voice, he was really calm.
    She forced herself to shift her eyes from the
tree and look at Mike. He was taking something out of the door pocket. Amelia
tried to comprehend what she was seeing, but she just had no idea what it was.
He raised his knees, blocking them against the steering wheel, then he made the thing pass across his safety belt and it got cut. The position he had taken
prevented him from falling.
    “Now keep calm.” His attitude was Zen, to say
the least, just as if he found himself in such a situation every day. He
reached out to push a button.
    The noise of a mechanism opening behind her
made Amelia turn. She couldn’t do it completely, because she was firmly
attached to the seat, but she managed enough to see the boot hatch rising.
    When she addressed him again to ask for an
explanation, she noticed he had placed his hands in the middle of the dashboard
and was moving sideways with measured gestures. However, each move caused a
slight vibration of the car, which gave the impression it was on the verge of
tipping. Mike succeeded in turning his body. Now his back was leaning against
the dashboard and the windscreen, crossed by a web of cracks, and he was
sliding over what remained of the passenger’s airbag, to put himself in front
of Amelia. His legs were astride hers. He reached out to the opening lever of
the door and pulled it, but the door didn’t open fully.
    “Help me open it, I can’t from here.”
    Realising her arms were still in one piece,
Amelia grabbed the handle and started pushing. The door was made heavy by the
fact that the car was hanging on the opposite side, but she suspected that it
also depended on the shock, which was taking away the