by Stone, Mary
The ghost looked on, clearly not convinced. But it was also not screaming at me. Hitting me. Hurting me.
Which I took as a sign. Maybe I hadn’t screwed up too badly.
Okay, so I hadn’t killed her yet. Until I did, I couldn’t carry on his original mission. I couldn’t do anything. Every time I thought that I had her or one of her minions in my sights, they got away.
Focus, boy. Focus on the mission.
“I will, Grandpa.” And I would, but I had to find Winter before I could fulfill that mission. Didn’t he understand?
I turned on a state road that ran past farms and silos with very little in between. It was a peaceful drive in its way, especially in the darkness like this. One nice thing about living in the country was meeting nice folk, like the woman who owned the car I was now driving. She’d seemed nice. Good-looking too, with long legs. She shouldn’t have held on to the car for as long as she did. I really was in a hurry. I even said I was sorry, but she was pretty far gone by then.
The car drove well, though. It handled the potholes and ruts better than Grandpa’s old pickup ever did.
I found myself smiling as I got closer to my destination. There were shadows and some lights all gathered up in the trailer park again. It looked like someone’s party spilled out into the woods.
The smile faded as I realized there were cops hanging around. Nothing I needed to worry about, I told myself. Trailer parks were often crime infested, and this one was probably no different. Cops would be normal in a place like this.
As added insurance, I’d moved the RV to a new location after my bitch of a sister broadcasted my face for all to see. No one in this new park knew me. They hadn’t even seen me.
But still…
I turned right down a dirt road before the driveway to the trailer park and slowed the car even more. The flashing lights, the shadows of people walking, they were closer than usual. They were…
I got to the old church driveway and stopped, staring in horror. The shadows and flashlights weren’t in the trailer park. They were all gathered around Grandpa’s RV.
The door was open, the lights blazing, and they were going in and out of it like ants running from a hole in the ground. My hands shook. My mind couldn’t understand what I was seeing.
How could this be happening?
Heart pounding in my temples, I threw the car into reverse. Before I did, I spotted a few guys in suits running to where their cars were parked.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think, and I couldn’t…
Go, boy. Go!
At the sound of Grandpa’s command, I slammed it into drive and pressed the gas pedal to the floor. The little car fishtailed and tried to come off the road. But it didn’t.
It wouldn’t.
Because God would protect me now. He had to. I had a mission to fulfill.
* * *
Behind Miguel, Aiden stared at the distant road, watching a pair of headlights heading toward them. The car started to pull into the long drive that led to the remnants of the church and then came to a dead stop.
It’s him.
Aiden knew it with a certainty he didn’t question.
He was running before he knew he’d moved, heading straight for his car. His eyes were trained on the headlights. If ever a pair of lights could look panicked, it was those.
The little car reversed and headed down the same road it had come in on. Why was no one else noticing what he was?
“Miguel, there he is!” Aiden screamed, his right arm windmilling in the direction of the road. “Stop that car!”
He dove into his vehicle and savagely turned the key, seeing from the corner of his eye that Miguel was doing the same with a car a bit farther down the lane.
He threw the gearshift into reverse and pulled a circle in the driveway, gunning the engine as fast as he dared. He was working on instinct and putting a great deal of trust into the chase. But he was absolutely certain now. The car he was chasing contained Justin Black.
Behind him, other law enforcement vehicles were gathering and heading out for the chase, but they were too far back to be of any help. The suspect was driving a small car that seemed to have trouble handling the dirt roads. It fishtailed when Aiden spotted it and then again when it hit the state road, and the driver lost the turn, the tires screaming as they slid along the blacktop.
He was pushing the little car hard, but it wasn’t gripping the road at all well. Bald tires? God, Aiden hoped so. They could use a vehicle mishap just about now.
The perp finally got it steady as he hit a straight run on the state road and kicked up a line of smoke as his wheels tore up a half-mile of asphalt.
Aiden followed suit, punching the accelerator, praying that his instincts were valid and that he wasn’t chasing down some old woman who’d had a panic attack. No, it was him. It was Justin in that car. He knew it with every fiber and ounce of his being that he was following the right person.
Aiden’s car belonged to the Bureau. It got poor gas mileage and looked like something a Soviet official might drive in an old movie. It also had a large engine block and could outrun most police cruisers. The car he was pursuing was a four-cylinder model built for improved gas mileage and to lessen the environmental impact.
That he was going to catch the small car was never in doubt, but the question was whether he could stop it before he reached a populated area, making pursuit that much more difficult.
He saw the headlights of Miguel’s car shrinking behind him. His car wasn’t up to the task. Aiden was it or nothing. He realized suddenly he’d not put on his seatbelt. He checked the speedometer. They were doing eighty-five. The state road was paved, which probably saved both of them, but at that speed on a back road, Aiden didn’t dare take the time to belt in.
Aiden growled. Damn kid. Why didn’t he stop?
But Aiden already knew the answer to that question.
The kid had a purpose. A mission.
And just like his “grandpa,” he’d rather die than fail.
Aiden pressed his foot harder on the gas. His relationship with Winter would be at an end if he killed her little brother, but that was a chance he had to take.
He needed to take Justin Black down.
Now.
34
Winter still couldn’t believe it.
When she’d cautiously opened the door of her apartment a few hours ago, she’d hoped that what Noah had told her hadn’t been the truth. Instead, it had been worse.
The damage to the door trim was like a scar, a reminder of the knife she had felt slicing into her side. She’d forced herself to breathe through the phantom pain, reminding herself forcefully that that part of the vision had never, at least, come to fruition.
Autumn had watched from the doorway and gasped as she witnessed the mess inside.
Noah had warned her, but the damage had still been a shock. The Bureau had been there, and they’d swept for evidence, fingerprints, DNA traces, and all the rest. With so much traffic, the apartment no longer felt like home. Worse, the fact that Justin had broken in when they weren’t home, had left Winter feeling violated and vulnerable. Walking into the apartment felt unnerving.
The papers were still everywhere. The boxes had been emptied out, like Noah had said, and some of the pages were likely down at evidence with Justin’s fingerprints, boot prints and who knew what all else being held in storage. What hadn’t been deemed important had been left for her to sort, like so much fallen snow awaiting a shovel.
“Oh my god, Winter.” Autumn pulled papers from under a cabinet, revealing a copy of some unknown person’s birth certificate. “I am so sorry.” She smoothed it out and set it on top of the box that now sat on the table.
The bowl and fork had been bagged and tagged, though to her way of thinking, they weren’t worth checking. After all, they had been washed. Neither was there any sign of the note requesting chopsticks for the next time he came over. She took a shaky breath and left the kitche
n, heading for the bedroom, noting two of her suits were currently on the bed waiting to go to the cleaners along with Noah’s suit that she had given him such a hard time over.
Had Noah left them out, or Justin? Suddenly, she wasn’t sure. She desperately needed the time alone, but having Autumn at her back was reassuring.
The bathroom mirror still held the message. She imagined they’d photographed it from every angle. It was a wonder some enterprising tech hadn’t felt the need to take the mirror itself in for evidence.
She backed away, not wanting to see how pale she was. Not wanting to see fractured slices of her face between the words scrawled in her own lipstick.
It felt like a stranger’s house, like she was the invader. It was a strange place, as if her and Noah’s claim had been dissipated like so much smoke.
She held herself tightly and wondered if she should have taken Autumn up on her offer of staying with her for a while. She should have thanked her friend, hugged her, and sent her on her way despite Autumn’s protests. That she was still here with Winter just felt like giving in to Justin and his cruelty. If Winter was going to reclaim the apartment, then she had to…what…clean up the mess and move on? Suddenly, it all seemed overwhelming.
The phone rang, the sound making her jump. She caught herself and mentally whispered a harsh reminder that she was a federal agent and needed to be able to face things like killers and madmen. She stormed into the bedroom, grabbing her phone from her purse.
It was Noah.
“Hey.”
“Hey, honey. You okay?” Noah sounded excited, his voice higher pitched, his words tumbling over each other in his haste to speak.
She sat heavily on the bed. “Yeah. I’m good. You sound happy.”
“Not happy, but cautiously optimistic.”
His words made her smile. “What’s going on?”
“They may have found Justin’s RV.”
Winter was on her feet in an instant. “Really?” She said the word so loud that Autumn rushed to the door, concern on her pretty features.
“Remember the word ‘may,’ but it’s looking good.”
“Where?” Noah hesitated, and Winter repeated the question, her voice more demanding. “Where?!”
“No, Winter. You’re not going. I’m on my way there now.”
She was already grabbing her purse and heading for the door. She glanced back and watched Autumn grab hers as well. It was good to have friends.
“Winter…?” Noah said as she locked the door. “I can hear your footsteps.”
She made her shoes click harder. “Glad to know your hearing is so good.”
Noah sighed. “Look, I called to let you know what was going on because I love you and knew you’d want to know. You need to stay right—”
“I’ll never sleep with you again if you don’t tell me where you’re heading.”
Another long silence, and despite the current situation, it made her smile.
“Winter, that’s not fair.”
Winter went to the driver’s side of Autumn’s car, holding her hand up for the keys. With no hesitation, Autumn tossed them to her. Within seconds, they’d piled in and Winter had the car in drive and was roaring out of the parking lot.
“All’s fair in love and war, baby,” she said once her Bluetooth picked up, and she was talking over Autumn’s speakers. “Now, you can tell me where to go, or I’ll call someone else who will tell me and you’ll have to deal with blue balls for the rest of your life.”
Beside her, Autumn placed her hands over her mouth to stifle a laugh.
“Shit.”
“Listen, Noah, I already know that he could be at only one of three places. The churches I gave you.” She shot an apologetic look at Autumn as she ripped around a corner. She’d make sure she was given credit for the find later. “You can either…”
Winter’s vision went dark, but only for a second. Actually, it must have been a little longer because, by the time her gaze was on the road again, Autumn had taken the wheel.
“She’s having a vision,” Autumn yelled. “Tell her where we need to go so she can drive!”
Pain ripped through Winter’s head, and the warmth of blood trickled from her nose. She needed to pull over, but she also needed to find Justin…before he was killed.
“Tell me,” she screamed, though the sound was more like a roar. She took her foot off the accelerator while she fumbled for a tissue to stanch the flow.
“Let me drive,” Autumn said, her hand still on the wheel. “Pull over and—”
She was interrupted by Noah, who was spitting the address out at them, like each syllable was a bullet from between his teeth. Autumn let go of the wheel and typed the address into her GPS.
The vision cleared, and Winter felt more normal now that her brain wasn’t trying to feed her the information. She hit the gas. “Thank you, Noah. You can hate me later.”
“I could never hate you.”
Winter smiled, feeling the warmth of love rush through her. He did love her, and she loved him. She had a good job, good friends, a generous lover. Her life was complete, and she’d soon have fulfilled her mission of finding Justin again.
Alive. Please let it be alive.
“In a quarter of a mile, turn left on Gallagher Way.”
Winter was eating up that quarter of a mile at breakneck speed when she heard someone speaking on Noah’s radio.
“What’s that?” she yelled, taking a curve too quickly and slamming Autumn against the door. “Put your seatbelt on.”
“I already did,” Autumn mumbled.
“Aiden’s on his six. They’re going to get him, Winter. Stand down.”
“Like hell,” she murmured and glanced at Autumn. “Call Aiden…now!”
Autumn did as she was asked, and soon, she heard Aiden’s voice on the cell phone speaker. “Do you have Winter?”
“Yes,” Winter shouted. “She’s got me, and we’re heading in your direction. Where are you exactly?”
“Dammit to hell,” she heard Noah say over the car’s speakers.
“We’ve got this, Winter,” Aiden said. “I’m in pursuit and don’t have time for a lively conversation, but I need you and Autumn to stay put. We’ve got this. Do you understand?”
Winter pressed the accelerator harder. “I’m coming your way. If you’re behind him, I can cut him off from the front.”
“What?” Autumn and Noah said in unison.
“No, too dangerous,” Aiden added.
Winter gritted her teeth. “I’m a highly trained federal agent, in case you’ve forgotten. I can do this. I’m not that little girl anymore.”
She held her breath, praying he’d make the right decision.
“Okay.” He gave her the name of the road and the mile marker he was on. “Justin is a few hundred yards in front of me, but I’m gaining.”
They were close.
“I can let you out,” Winter told her friend, who was holding on to the “oh shit” handle with all of her might.
“No!” Autumn shouted unnecessarily loud in the car. “Let’s get him.”
Winter smiled. “I was wrong. You’re not Ethel. You’re Thelma and I’m Louise.”
Autumn laughed, but the sound was shaky. “Just don’t drive off a cliff. Please.”
“Which one was doing the driving?” Winter asked, calmed by this nonsense conversation. “Thelma or Louise?”
Another shaky laugh. “I have no idea.”
Just then, bright lights appeared in the distance. Those were followed by another pair, then more.
Winter blew out a breath. “Guess we don’t have time to Google it and find out.”
Autumn grabbed the handle tighter. “Nope.”
“Don’t do this,” Noah was saying, but Winter couldn’t listen to him right then.
“I love you, Noah,” she said as they shot down the highway, taking up the center lane, “but you can’t put Baby in a corner.”
Autumn laughed, though the
sound was more hysterical now. “Wrong movie.”
“Whatever.”
The entire world narrowed down to just this road in Winter’s mind. As Justin’s headlights grew brighter, she grew calmer. More steady.
“There you are,” she whispered.
She’d been searching for her baby brother for forever, and he was now, very literally, in her sights. Her headlights beamed off his car.
Chicken.
She and Justin used to play that game as a child. They’d belt pillows around themselves so that, if they crashed into each other, it wouldn’t hurt too much.
Justin always won.
Being so much older and taller and stronger, Winter hadn’t had the heart to hurt her little brother.
Until now.
She had to have the heart now.
“Ohhhh…” Autumn moaned as the distance closed with surprising speed.
Winter stayed in the middle. So did Justin.
“Godddddd…”
With a clarity she’d never known, Winter tightened her hands on the wheel, loosening her body for the impact she knew was coming.
I’m so sorry, Justin, she thought, but I have to do this. I have to stop you from hurting anyone else. I’ll be the last.
She would turn the car at the last instant, taking the impact on her side of the vehicle in the hopes of saving her friend.
Winter wanted to tell Noah that she loved him one more time, but time was no longer her companion.
Blinded by the oncoming light, Winter forced her eyes to stay open.
Waiting…
Waiting…
Justin turned first. The scream of his tires echoed through her mind as he began to spin, out of control. She slammed on her brakes, a sob spilling from her lips.
In the rearview mirror, she watched in horror as the second car tried to stop. It was Aiden. At that speed, he wouldn’t be able to stop in time, and before she could even scream, his car t-boned into Justin’s. Metal screamed as the cars twisted together.
The moment Autumn’s car came to a halt, Winter had her door open and was running toward the wreckage.
