driving exactly five miles over the speed limit. She glared into the mirror as if willing the driver to back off. The other driver drew closer and closer.
âMarisa?â
Lucasâs deep voice cut through her worries. âSorry. Look, I donât want to sound paranoid, but thereâs someone right behind me on my bumper. Iâm on Route 290 headed to Fredericksburg.â
âHow close is the car?â His voice had dropped and a low menace hummed under the words.
âFive or ten feet.â
âIâm calling the sheriffâs office and having them send a car in your direction.â
As much as she didnât want to sound the alarm bells again, now was not the time to wonder if sheâd made a mistake. The car edged closer and in a split second it bumped her back bumper. âHe just hit me.â
âWhat?â She imagined him standing and reaching for his gun as he headed for the door.
âHe bumped my bumper.â
âSpeed up.â
âIâm tossing the phone in my lap.â
âKeep me on the line.â
She gripped the wheel with both hands, the instruments of her dash lit up by the glare of the other carâs headlights. Despite her increased speed, the car caught up to her again. This time it hit her harder. Her car swerved left before she made a hard correction to the right to keep the tires on the road. If there had been another car approaching in the other lane . . .
Heart hammering, she refused to consider what might have happened. She pushed on the accelerator. Again, more inches separated her from the other car and, again, the gap closed as the stranger matched her speed.
This time the car cut left and quickly came up on her driverâs side. She glanced over, but shadows obscured the other driverâs face. Before she could think to speed up or slow down, the car jerked into her lane, and this time when she swerved, she couldnât correct in time. Her car ran off the road, banging over a ditch and plunging along a rocky ravine toward the dry bed of a creek. She screamed.
Chapter 6
Saturday, December 20, 7:45 P.M.
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Marisaâs screams echoing in his memory, Lucas raced from his office to his SUV. He had the sheriffâs office on the radio before he left the Ranger parking lot and shot out orders for Marisaâs phone to be tracked and officers in the area to respond.
Heâd never driven so fast. His mind detailed all the worst-case scenarios as he bounded down I-35 toward the Hill Country exit.
âMarisa! Marisa!â Heâd shouted her name into the phone after sheâd screamed, but the line went dead. Though the call had been terminated, the phone still pinged a signal from the cell tower.
The roads out in this part of Texas were flat for the most part, but there were ravines and deep gulches that could easily swallow up a car.
Damn.
Heâd thought about when heâd seen her emerge from the history department last night. Heâd told himself heâd keep his emotions in check and that personal and professional would stay separate. But the instant heâd called her name and sheâd faced him, he only thought about peeling off her clothes and making love. Heâd gone searching for her in Merida so she could help him with the cipher, but heâd found the lady in white and sheâd snagged him hook, line, and sinker.
This time he would not lose her.
When he saw the flashing police lights ahead, his stomach lurched. Heâd barely put the car in PARK when he got out of the vehicle and raced toward the rescue crews. As he approached, the rescue squad hoisted a stretcher up from the gulch. He studied the steep grade to the ravine, his stomach sinking as he looked at Marisaâs mangled car. Steeling himself, he raced to the stretcher, where he found Marisa.
Her pale skin was ashen and there was a large gash on the side of her head. The EMTs had bandaged it with a swath of fabric that
Aj Harmon, Christopher Harmon