Daredevil’s Run

does all the needing, then…hell, he’s just needy. And that’s not me. You understand? I can’t be that guy. Not for Alex, not for anyone.”

When she didn’t reply, he glanced over at her and saw she was looking thoughtful. Confident he’d won the argument, finally, he turned his full attention to driving, as the freeway section of the highway ended and the winding Kern River Canyon road began.

A few minutes later, Samantha, peering out the side window at the deep drop into the canyon below, uttered an extremely colorful blasphemy, followed by, “Would you look at this road?”

“Yeah, helluva pretty river, isn’t it?” Matt said, and smiled, even though his heart was aching. “I hope you guys don’t get carsick.”

Alex was frustrated. She hadn’t been able to make good time going around the lake, due to the usual crush of boating and camping traffic and the abundance of idiots who seemed to enjoy those recreational pursuits. Her only comfort came in knowing Matt wouldn’t have been able to go any faster than she did. Now, though, past the town of Isabella and on the freeway section of the canyon road where she’d planned to put the pedal to the metal and make up for lost time, she was being dogged by a car that, from a distance in her rearview mirror, looked suspiciously like a CHP SUV. She watched it, keeping within seven or eight miles of the speed limit and tapping her fingers impatiently on the steering wheel, until it edged up beside her. Damn-just the friggin’ Forest Service. She stepped on the gas and in a few moments had left the SUV far behind.

But now…here was another vehicle looming in her mirror, and this one was coming fast. Jeez! Coming like a bat outa hell.

Instinctively, Alex eased up on the gas as she watched the other car zoom up behind her, then pull out to pass. She didn’t have much time to look as the car streaked by, but what she saw made her gasp. It was Eve’s Jeep. No mistaking that bright Day-Glo yellow. And Eve at the wheel, so intent on the road ahead she didn’t even glance over as she accelerated around Alex’s SUV.

Alex felt herself go cold clear through. Her heart began to pound as she watched the familiar yellow Jeep disappear around a wide sweeping curve ahead. Gripped by a fear for which there was no concrete explanation, only a notion that something bad was about to happen, she flexed her fingers on the wheel, pressed down on the gas and followed.

Chapter 10

“We’ve got some pretty hairy roads in the Smokies,” Sam said, “but I mean to tell you, I have not ever seen anything like this.” She tore her fascinated gaze away from the rocky gorge flashing by only a couple of yards from the side of the van and turned to address her husband in the backseat. “Pearse, you don’t know what you’re missing. I swear, you need to-” She broke off as she caught a glimpse of the yellow Jeep careening around the bend in the road behind them, practically on their bumper. “Oh my Lord, now what is this guy doing? Matt-”

“I see him,” Matt said, flicking a calm glance at the rearview mirror. “It’s a her, actually. In fact, I know her. She works for Alex. You’ve met her. Eve…the tall blonde?”

“You’re right-what on earth do you suppose-oh jeez!” She gave a squawk and instinctively threw up her arm as the Jeep accelerated suddenly, coming straight at them. There was a loud bang and a jolt that made her head snap back, and her heart dropped into her stomach. “Matt, what-Did she just ram us? Is she crazy?”

“I think she might be.” Matt was busy controlling the van, which was careening dangerously close to the edge of the drop-off. He glanced up at the mirror. “Here she comes again-hang on.” And he hit the gas.

Too scared now to swear, Sam jerked around in her seat to face front and settled her seat belt more securely across her chest. “Pearse,” she yelled, “wake up! Are you buckled in?”

“Of course,” came his reply, sounding groggy. “What the hell’s going on?”

“A crazy woman’s trying to force us off the road,” Matt said. His lips were stretched in a grim smile.

It was odd, how calm he felt. Somewhere in his body, he knew, adrenaline had shifted everything into high gear, but he felt none of it. In fact, everything-heartbeat, breathing, all movement-seemed to be happening in slow motion.

Oh so slowly, he lifted his eyes to the mirror…saw the Jeep coming, closing the distance…slowly, slowly. Saw it veer-but slowly-out into the oncoming lane. He had all the time in the world to deduce what the woman’s intent was, to know that this time, rather than ram him from the rear, she meant to swerve at him from the side and force him over the bank. And he was ready for her, knew just what he had to do. His hands were steady on the controls, ready to apply the brakes the instant she swerved toward him.

He saw the car coming toward them from the other direction, and that was in slow motion, too.

There was a screeching of brakes and his body strained forward against a seat belt gone rigid across his chest. As he stared through the windshield, dazed, the slow-motion spell broke. In a blink, almost too fast for the eye to follow, the Jeep swerved out of the path of the oncoming car and continued on, out of control, across the lane in front of his van to plunge, with a terrible screeching of tires and metal, over the side and into the river gorge.

Alex had managed to keep the yellow Jeep in sight, at some risk to life and limb. She saw it closing on the blue van traveling at a much saner pace, and the cold feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach spread through her entire body when she recognized the van as Matt’s. What was Eve thinking? What was she doing?

Dear God, Alex thought, she’s going to cause an accident.

Around a few more curves…and she realized that was exactly what Eve was trying to do. Her heart was racing so fast it hurt; she drove hunched over the wheel, eyes burning as she stared at the drama playing out on the road ahead, little whimpering sounds coming from her throat. And once again there was nothing she could do. Nothing.

She could only watch and utter an unconscious shriek of horror as the Jeep suddenly accelerated and rammed into the back of the van. She sobbed with relief when the van swerved and wobbled back and forth, then regained control, and realized only then that she was muttering aloud, over and over, “Hold on, Mattie, hold on, Mattie, hold on…”

The Jeep seemed to gather itself…and lunged forward once more, but into the oncoming lane, this time, moving up alongside the van.

And what came next happened so fast, Alex couldn’t even process it until it was done. The flash of a car coming around a bend from the other direction. The Jeep swerving hard to the left. The van screeching to a halt, tires sending up puffs of smoke from burned rubber. The Jeep becoming a yellow streak that crossed in front of the van and disappeared.

Then the sounds. The whoosh of a car zooming by and continuing on down the winding road, its driver probably cussing the idiot in the yellow Jeep and oblivious to what was happening now behind him. The indescribable screeching and banging of tortured metal. Her own frantic sobbing breaths.

Somehow, probably on autopilot, she managed to stop the SUV behind Matt’s van, and even remembered to hit the button for the emergency flashers. She flung open the door and half fell from the driver’s seat, at the same time she saw the van’s side door slide open, and heard the whine of the chairlift. From somewhere-the other side of the van-came the thump of a slamming door.

“Matt-oh God, Matt-” She ran to him on shaking legs.

“I’m fine,” he said, with a little jolt in his voice as his chair touched down. “It’s Eve-she went over the side.”

“I saw. Oh God, Matt, she was trying-”

“Yeah. Go see if there’s anything you can do for her.” He turned to call back to his brother inside the van. “If you can get a signal, call-”

“Already on it.” From the depths of the van, Cory’s voice sounded eerily calm.

“I see her!” Sam shouted, turning as Alex ran to join her on the edge of the drop-off. “She’s alive-out of the car-” She peered over the side and clamped a hand to her forehead. “Oh God-she’s in the river. Alex-”

Down below, Alex could see the yellow Jeep lying upside down in the boulder-clogged river, its wheels still