Page 92 of Night Prey
Thank You! Thank You!
She searched the passenger side for her phone, but couldn’t see it in the dark and the crumpled car made it impossible for her to reach the floor on that side. She would have to get out and go around the car to feel for it.
She shifted to open the door. It groaned and popped, but she forced it open.
Good. Good.She could get out and find her phone to call for help.
She squirmed out from under the steering wheel, planted her feet outside, and pushed to stand. Her legs collapsed under her, and she fell to the needle-covered ground. She took a deep breath and inhaled the rich humus smell. It smelled like life.
She was alive.
Oh, thank You!
The heavy mist wetted her face. She pushed off the soaked ground before her clothing became saturated and cold. Her legs remained weak and wobbly. She used the car as a support to walk around the back of the car to the passenger side, where she’d set her purse holding her phone. The window was gone, only sharp shards remaining.
Her purse lay on the floor, spilled out. Her phone had come to rest a foot away.
She grabbed the door handle and pulled on it. No movement at all. The front end of the car had collapsed around the door, leaving it jammed. Her only way to get the phone was to crawl through the window.
First, she needed to clear the remaining glass shards. A tree branch would safely do that.
She turned to find the wood. A figure loomed behind her, and she screamed, but the sound was cut-off when the man’s hand came over her mouth. He wrapped his other arm around her and dragged her up the embankment.
She kicked. Fought. Bit his hand.
He cursed and released her mouth.
“Help!” she screamed, but she knew it was futile. No one would come to save her. It was up to her to save her own life.
Londyn was speeding well beyond the legal limit, but Ian kept pressing his foot to the floorboard as if he could somehow make her go faster. He wanted to be driving. Should be driving, but she was right. His hands trembled, and his mind was tortured with thoughts of Malone at the bottom of some ravine, her car wrapped around a tree or flipped on its back.
He’d called for a patrol deputy to head to the scene, but with the rain, there were several accidents in the county, and there wasn’t a nearby deputy.
“You need to stop imagining the worst,” Londyn said, her eyes still on the road.
“You’re a mind reader, now?” he snapped.
“I know how I would be feeling in your situation. But she could’ve broken down. Maybe the car is parked on the shoulder.”
“Then why did it display on GPS as in the scrub?”
“GPS can be off a bit.”
Ian wanted to believe that was what happened, but he couldn’t. Not when the woman he’d come to love might have died in an auto crash. Yeah, he loved her. That was clear now. And losing her forever? He couldn’t bear it. If she was safe, he would tell her how he felt, then let God take care of the rest. It seemed as if God had brought them together again. If he was wrong about that, about everything? Well, then it wouldn’t work. Sure, they could both be hurt. A plane that never left the tarmac couldn’t crash. But it would never soar, either. He wanted to soar. With Malone at his side.
They crested the final hill.
“Just ahead five hundred feet,” Ian told Londyn as he leaned forward to search for her car. “A truck. What’s it doing there?”
“If she was in an accident, maybe he stopped to help.”
“It’s a match for Flagg’s truck,” Ian said.
“Could be, but there are hundreds of Ford F150s in the county.”
“There’s another person in the cab with him. Could be Malone.” Ian strained to get a better look, but the truck took off, spitting gravel from the shoulder. “Can you make out the plate?”
“No.” Londyn sped up.
