"Drive!" Callie slammed the hatch closed. "Drive now!"
But the man was already moving, bolting into the darkness beyond the truck stop.
"You idiot!" Callie screamed after him. "Get back here!"
More sirens. Closer now. Red and blue lights flashing in the distance.
Callie's head whipped around, scanning, searching. She raced around the vehicle, slipped behind the driver’s seat, and slammed the gearshift into drive.
"What are you doing?" Emery shouted.
Callie didn’t answer. She gripped the steering wheel with both hands.
The SUV lurched forward, tires spitting gravel. They careened around the side of the truck stop.
Emery slammed against the side of the cargo area, her bound hands making it impossible to brace herself.
A patrol car appeared at the truck stop entrance. Then another. And another.
Callie swerved onto the highway, accelerating. The SUV fishtailed, and Emery rolled, her head cracking against something hard. Stars exploded across her vision.
"You're going to kill us both.” Emery struggled to sit up, her balance impossible with her hands tied. "Callie, stop.”
"I'm not going to prison.” Callie glanced in the rearview mirror. "I'm not losing everything because of you.”
More sirens. More lights. Coming from ahead now—state patrol cars blocking the road, forming a barrier.
Callie yanked the wheel, trying to veer off onto a side road. The SUV tilted, two wheels lifting off the pavement. Emery screamed. They were going to roll. They were going to?—
The vehicle slammed back down with bone-jarring force. Callie overcorrected, and suddenly they were sliding sideways, the world spinning in a chaos of lights and sirens and Callie screaming.
Callie yanked the wheel back and forth, the SUV swerving wildly across both lanes.
A guardrail appeared ahead. The SUV sped toward it, and then suddenly, the tires squealed. Rubber burned. And the vehicle suddenly slowed.
Emery flew forward. Her shoulder slammed into the back of the passenger seat. The front airbags deployed with explosive force. The SUV spun once, twice, then came to a shuddering stop half on the road, half in the ditch beside it.
Emery's ears rang. Everything hurt. Every muscle. Every bone. She blinked, and all she saw was a combination of stars and flashing lights. Her head throbbed like a jackhammer digging into concrete and not making progress. She shifted, blinking more, as her vision slowly came into focus.
Through the cracked windshield, she could see patrol cars surrounding them, officers emerging with weapons drawn.
I’m safe. I’m safe. They’re here to save me. To protect me.But Emery’s pulse didn’t slow.
Callie fumbled with her seatbelt, cursing. She undid the belt, shoved the door open, and tried to run.
She made it maybe ten feet before officers tackled her to the ground.
"No!" Callie screamed and thrashed. "Get off me. You don't understand. She’s the one who kidnapped me. I was protecting myself.”
Emery stared. She couldn’t turn away. She couldn’t blink. The entire scene was part of a horror movie. This didn’t happen in real life.
Callie continued to plead her case as the policeman lifted her off the ground and guided her to a police car.
Another officer approached the rear of the SUV and opened the rear hatch. "Ma'am? Are you Emery Tate?”
Emery blinked up at him, dazed, still confused by the events. Rattled by the confessions. Horrified by the outcome. “Yes,” she managed.
"Hold still." He pulled out a knife and carefully cut through the zip ties. Blood rushed back into Emery's hands and feet in a painful flood. "Can you move? Are you hurt?"
