CHAPTER 45
Wyatt kepthis expression neutral and his hands on the wheel. There was no reason to alarm Kori until he was certain.
He checked the mirror again. The headlights were high and wide—a truck, most likely. The beams were slightly uneven, the left one aimed a fraction higher than the right.
Something shifted at the base of his neck.
He’d seen that uneven beam pattern before.
Outside the restaurant tonight, he realized. Whoever had been watching him was back, determined to finish whatever it was he’d started.
Lord, not now. Not with Kori in the truck.
He pressed the accelerator harder.
This time Kori glanced at him. “Anxious to get home?”
“I’m fine.” He kept his voice even. “Just watching the road.”
She nodded and looked back out her window.
Wyatt checked his mirrors once more.
The driver behind them accelerated.
He couldn’t outrun this vehicle on this highway. Not safely, at least. And not in the dark on a road still littered with patches of ice from the last storm.
The next turnoff was three miles ahead.
Three miles was a long way in these conditions.
The truck pulled into the oncoming lane.
Wyatt tracked the driver in his peripheral vision. He kept his hands steady on the wheel, every muscle coiled and ready.
For a suspended second the vehicle ran parallel to them—close enough that Wyatt could see the outline of the cab and the dark shape of a driver behind the tinted glass.
Then it cut hard to the right.
“Wyatt!” Kori’s voice was sharp.
“Hold on!” He wrenched the wheel toward the shoulder, fighting the instinct to overcorrect as gravel sprayed beneath the tires and trees rushed toward them in the headlights.
The truck fishtailed on a patch of ice. Kori gasped and reached for the grab bar above her.
He steered into the turn and felt the rear end catch.
Thunder scrambled in the back seat.
The passenger side mirror clipped a low-lying branch and snapped back.
Then the tires found pavement again, and the truck straightened.
Wyatt stood on the brakes and brought them to a hard stop on the narrow shoulder.
Silence stretched in the aftermath.
He gripped the wheel still, unable to move.
