Chapter 9 - The Mountain Road
The upload bar crawled across the small screen of the burner phone.
Ten percent.
Twenty percent.
The cell reception out here was agonizingly slow.
Claire tapped her fingers against the steering wheel, her anxiety peaking.
Thirty percent.
Suddenly, a black SUV roared past them on the highway, going at least ninety miles an hour.
Claire ducked instinctively, throwing her arm across Lily.
The SUV didn't stop.
It disappeared over the crest of the hill.
"Are they looking for us?" Lily whispered.
"I don't know, baby."
Forty percent.
Claire checked her side mirror.
Another vehicle was approaching.
This one was moving slowly, crawling along the shoulder.
It was a dark grey sedan with tinted windows.
Panic seized Claire’s chest.
"Lily, get down on the floorboard," Claire commanded.
"But Mommy..."
"Do it right now!"
Lily scrambled down into the cramped space beneath the seat.
Claire threw the Civic into drive.
She stomped on the gas pedal.
The old engine screamed in protest, but the car lurched forward.
In her rearview mirror, the grey sedan instantly accelerated.
It was Silas.
He had found them.
"Hold on, Lily!" Claire shouted over the roar of the engine.
She swerved into the fast lane, cutting off a minivan.
Horns blared in the rain.
Claire didn't care.
She pushed the Civic to eighty miles an hour.
The steering wheel vibrated violently in her hands.
The grey sedan was closing the distance with terrifying ease.
It was a custom-built pursuit vehicle, far superior to Claire's clunker.
Silas bumped the rear bumper of the Civic.
Claire screamed as the car fishtailed on the wet asphalt.
She fought the steering wheel, desperately trying to regain control.
She managed to straighten out, but Silas was right on her tail again.
Fifty percent uploaded.
She needed more time.
If Silas ran her off the road and took the phone, the evidence was gone forever.
Claire saw an exit sign approaching.
'Route 117 - Winding Mountain Pass'.
It was the road that led up to Thomas's cabin.
It was steep, dangerous, and full of hairpin turns.
Claire didn't hesitate.
She slammed on the brakes and jerked the steering wheel to the right.
The Civic drifted across two lanes and skidded onto the exit ramp.
Silas overshot the exit by a hundred yards.
Claire looked in the mirror and saw his brake lights flare.
He was reversing on the highway shoulder.
Claire punched the gas, launching the Civic up the narrow mountain road.
The trees closed in on both sides, blocking out the grey daylight.
The road was slick with mud and fallen leaves.
Sixty percent.
"Mommy, I'm scared!" Lily cried from the floorboard.
"I know, baby, just stay down!"
Claire took the first hairpin turn at fifty miles an hour.
The tires lost traction, sliding dangerously close to the unguarded cliff edge.
She overcorrected, slamming the side of the car into the mountain wall.
Sparks flew past the window.
The side mirror shattered.
But the car kept moving.
May you like
She checked the rearview mirror again.
Silas’s grey sedan appeared around the bend, relentless as a predator.
