Adrenaline-pumped blood made the rounds of my body. I felt a new surge of strength.
“The police are already searching for us.” To my pounding ears my voice sounded slurry.
“Let them search. Where you’re going, no one will find you.”
“We found Cale and Cindi.”
The razor face hardened into cold stone.
“You’ve already killed three people,” I said. “I suppose you don’t care about one more?”
“You forgetting your buddy over there?” Bogan flicked the gun toward Galimore.
I kept my mind pointed at one thought.
“Takes a special kind of man to shoot his own son.”
Bogan’s fingers tightened on the Glock.
“How’d you rope Winge in? Threaten to fire him? Appeal to his Patriot Posse loyalties?”
“Winge’s a fool.”
“Don’t have Grady to do your dirty work this time? To lie for you? To bury your dead kid and his girlfriend? You know he’ll break and implicate you.”
“Not if he wants to live, he won’t. Besides, it’s only the word of an accused suspect. There’s no evidence connecting me.”
“Good cover. The stranger in the Mustang. How long did you have to coach him to get it right?”
As we sparred, I tried looking past Bogan. The double beams were blinding. Headlights?
I listened for sounds. Heard no engines. No amplified voices. I assumed the race was long since over. Or else we weren’t at the Speedway.
“Your kind just can’t be happy with what you got.” Bogan’s face was pinched with loathing. “Always wanting more.”
“My kind? You mean women?”
I knew I should quit piling on words. Couldn’t stop myself.
“We scare the shit out of you, don’t we, Craig?”
“That’s it. You’re history.”
Before I could react, Bogan lunged, yanked me to my feet, and spun me into another chokehold. With a gloating laugh, he jammed the Glock into my ribs.
“Now who’s scared shitless?”
Bogan dragged me toward the lights, gouging the muzzle deeper with every forced step. It was the scene at the haulers’ all over again. Only this time my muscles were mush. I was like a moth flailing at a screen.
Rain was still falling. The ground was slick underfoot.
I heard traffic in the distance but couldn’t lower my eyes to check for landmarks.
We passed the source of the double beams. Headlights shone from a backhoe with enormous front and rear shovels.
Ten yards beyond the backhoe, Bogan halted, shifted the gun to my occiput, and forced my head down.
I blinked into a yawning wound in the earth.
The sinkhole!
The gears of my mind jammed with terror.
“Enjoy eternity in hell.” Bogan’s voice was pure venom.
I felt his body tense. The pistol was no longer jammed against my head. Hands clamped onto my shoulders.
“Kiss my ass!” I screamed, twisting and writhing with adrenaline-stoked terror. “You worthless piece of shit!”
Bogan’s right hand slipped on my wet nylon jacket. Slithered down the sleeve.
I wrenched my upper body sideways.
Bogan squeezed so tight, I thought my bones would shatter.
I cried out in pain.
Sliding the shoulder hand down my other arm, Bogan flexed both knees, lifted, and sailed me out over the edge.
My body flew sideways, then dropped. Time froze as I plummeted into inky blackness.
I hit hard on my right side, against an embankment partway down. The force of the impact sent me pinwheeling farther down, through muck and rubble. In seconds, I hit water.
Putrid liquid closed over me. I drew my knees to my chest and prayed that the pool was shallow.
Using my battered arms, I flayed the water and stopped my forward motion. I stroked my body vertical and
