Yet.
A mile down a particularly windy dirt road—after leaving a package at a rustic, hermit-like shack—Julian dropped his rental into low gear to navigate a very nasty hill-turn, slowing to a crawl because of the ruts that had his car bottoming out. He cursed, losing sight of the van ahead as his chassis scraped on some ridiculously deep, mid-road gullies.
He was biting back curses as he reached for his phone to call Petula and tell her to slow down and wait for him, when an ominous and extremely loud crack to his right, had his gaze darting upward.
Growing up in Maine, he knew that sound.
A falling tree.
Fuck!
Julian weighed his options in a blink, and stomped on the brakes. Speeding up on the rough terrain wasn’t an option. But even with the reflex-action he’d taken, Julian knew he was screwed. Almost before he’d registered that thought, a large tree fell, straight across the path of his vehicle.
Julian ducked down, covering his head instinctively as the huge thing crashed not onto the road, but into the car.
The airbags went off, and Julian felt the blow in every part of his body.
As the air inside the car slowly cleared, he coughed and was able to push aside the deployed bags, ascertaining that he wasn’t actually injured. Bruised, for sure. Then he felt…wetness.Dammit.His arm was bleeding again, but at least he wasn’t dead. That was good.
Looking at the front end of the vehicle, however, he shivered. It had been close, and the tree that had fallen was freaking enormous.
Julian thought he might be imagining things when he felt fresh air on the back of his neck. but when he turned to look toward the rear, he swallowed hard. A massive piece of the tree had pierced the roof, bisecting the seats, virtually trapping him in the cocoon where he sat.
Damn.If he hadn’t hit the brakes when he did; if he hadn’t been instantly aware of the danger, there was no doubt in his mind that he would have either been crushed by the girthy trunk up front, or skewered by the encroaching branch in the back.
Either way, who knows if he would have survived?
Julian was still feeling a bit dazed from the airbag hit, but he was in his right mind enough to know that he had to call Petula, tell her what had happened, and have her wait for him. He patted around on the seat.
Where the hell was his phone? He’d had it in his hand…
Shit.It must have flung somewhere during impact.
He quickly made sure his gun was still in place in his underarm holster, and was relieved to find that it hadn’t been dislodged.
Julian bent down with renewed determination to find his phone, patting first around the console, then the floor, but he had no luck finding the frigging thing. It didn’t help that the branches of the fallen giant were currently making it dark in the car, so he couldn’t see worth a damn.
Maybe he could alert Petula a different way.
With a quick rundown of his options—which were limited—Julian ended up leaning on the horn, thanking his lucky stars that it still worked. He hoped it would indicate to Petula that he was in trouble, but he couldn’t count on it.
What he really needed to do was get out and follow her on foot. Julian was a fast runner, and at the speeds Petula was having to maintain on the uneven terrain, he might be able tocatch up even if she didn’t stop when she noticed he wasn’t on her tail any longer.
What choice did he have?
Julian grabbed for the door handle and…
Stuck.
The driver side door was completely immovable; crushed backward in its jamb from the blow to the hood.
Fuck that.
Julian hoisted himself over the middle console to the passenger seat and went for that door.
Pulling the handle, he sent up a prayer of thanks as it opened, but…
Nope.No such luck. It cracked only an inch or two, then stopped, impeded by a large branch.
