Chapter 8 - THE HIGHWAY CHASE
The rain beat relentlessly against the windshield of Sarah’s battered pickup truck.
Elena sat in the passenger seat, gripping the dashboard until her knuckles turned white.
The mountain road was narrow, dark, and slick with mud.
"How far is the lodge?" Elena shouted over the roar of the engine.
"Fifteen miles up the ridge!" Sarah replied, stomping on the gas pedal.
"If we beat the morning fog, we can cut off the estate's private road!"
Suddenly, bright halogen lights flooded the truck’s rear-view mirror.
A massive, armored black SUV was closing in behind them at dangerous speed.
"They found us!" Sarah cursed, glancing back.
The black SUV rammed into the rear bumper of the pickup truck with a violent crunch of metal.
Elena’s head snapped back against the headrest.
"Hold on!" Sarah yelled, struggling to keep the steering wheel steady on the slick asphalt.
The SUV pulled up alongside them on the mountain road.
The tinted passenger window rolled down.
A heavily tattooed man with long black hair and a dark leather vest pointed a heavy pistol directly at Sarah’s tires.
It was Jax—the motorcycle racer from the diner.
"Jax?!" Elena gasped, recognizing his brutal face from the photograph.
"He works for Victoria!" Sarah screamed in horror.
"She pays off his entire motorcycle club to do her dirty work!"
Jax fired two shots into the front left tire of the pickup truck.
BANG! BANG!
The front tire blew out with a deafening pop.
The pickup truck swerved wildly across the two-lane road, spinning out of control.
Elena screamed as the truck crashed through the wooden guardrail.
The vehicle plummeted down the steep, muddy embankment, crashing into trees before slamming to a halt against an old oak trunk.
Smoke poured from the crumpled hood.
Elena gasped for air, her mouth tasting like metal and copper.
Her forehead was bleeding where it hit the glass.
Beside her, Sarah was unconscious, her head slumped against the steering wheel.
Above them on the highway, the black SUV came to a stop.
Jax stepped out into the rain, clutching his gun.
He began descending the muddy slope toward the wrecked truck, his boots sinking into the wet earth.
"Finish them off," Victoria’s voice echoed through Jax’s radio earpiece.
"Make it look like a tragic accident."
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Elena squeezed her eyes shut, scrambling through the shattered glass of the passenger door.
She crawled into the dark, freezing woods just as Jax reached the crushed pickup.
