SEALed at Midnight by Cat Johnson Read Free Book Online Page A

winter driving mode, reducing his speed and following in the tire tracks of the car in front of him.
    The weather was going to triple the length of time of the last leg of his drive, but there was no preventing that.
    Slow and steady was the way to go in this kind of shit. No sharp turns. No slamming on the brakes. No trying to pass the single line of traffic, like one guy who’d zipped past him a mile back.
    Until the highway trucks plowed and sanded, there was nothing else to do. It would take longer, but as long as the road remained open, he’d get there eventually.
    Thom spotted the car that had passed him spun off the road. It faced the wrong direction on the shoulder, with its nose crushed by the guardrail.
    He shook his head at the stupidity of some drivers and didn’t feel all that guilty as he crept by. The highway patrol was already on the way to help. He could see the flashing lights in his rearview mirror.
    The long row of brake lights up ahead had Thom downshifting to slow the vehicle before he applied the brakes.
    This explained what the emergency vehicles behind him were for and it wasn’t that one guy who’d spun off the road.
    He crept along at a snail’s pace for a mile or so, happy to be moving at least, before he spotted flares and highway patrol workers waving drivers off the exit and onto Route 5.
    He’d obviously cursed himself by even thinking he was grateful the road was still open. Now, all signs indicated the highway ahead was closed.  
    “Shit.” He was so close to home too.
    In normal weather he would have been pulling into his parents’ driveway in less than half an hour.
    Not anymore. Not after whatever detour they were sending him on that would probably take him completely out of his way.
    Fuck that. He’d grown up in this area. He knew the side roads. Since the highway wasn’t plowed anyway, he couldn’t imagine the smaller roads would be in any worse condition.
    Thom followed the line of cars—more than there should be at this time of night on a holiday—off the highway but he didn’t follow them for long.
    He exited onto a smaller road and soon he was clear of the crowd. Just the fact he was heading in the right direction had him feeling better about his chosen detour.
    The temperature must have plummeted outside. The difference between the warmth inside the car and the cold outside had his windows fogging up. Thom reached down to flip on the defroster.
    When he looked back up the deer was in the middle of the road, staring at the car but not moving.
    Reflex had him slamming on the brakes.
    He realized his mistake immediately. His training kicked in. He stayed calm and tried to steer out of the spin.
    Things seemed to move in slow motion. The world flocked in white spun around him as the car skidded on what must be ice beneath the snow.
    He saw the tree and realized the trajectory of the vehicle would send him slamming into it . . . and he was helpless to change that.

CHAPTER 6
    Ginny woke on the couch in darkness.
    She must have fallen asleep while watching television. Shivering, she reached to pull up the blanket higher.
    As she came out of the haze of sleep enough to be more aware of her surroundings, she realized the house wasn’t just ice cold. It was also pitch black.
    There wasn’t a single light burning. The television was dark. Even the tiny green power light always glowing on the cable box was off.
    She had no clue what time it was. The middle of the night, if she had to guess. She’d have to find her cell phone in the dark to check the time and know for sure.
    Shivering, Ginny sat up. She’d had the foresight to find the flashlight in anticipation of the power going out, but she hadn’t thought to bring it to the living room with her. It was still on the kitchen counter where she’d left it.
    In the dark, in an unfamiliar house, the kitchen might as well have been a mile away, but there was no getting around it. She stood and wrapped the blanket around her