Second Chances

Chapter 31

Chapter 31

"Now, Casey......" Carter tried to keep his voice calm as the menacing pair of headlights in the rear-view mirror appeared to be growing closer. "I know we've been through a lot tonight......"

"Carter......" Casey stared straight ahead and her chin quivered. She gripped his arm tightly. "Carter, I'm not kidding. We *can't* stay on this road." She inhaled shakily. "This road is where I died."

"Casey, you can't be superstitious." Carter glanced up at the rear-view mirror again and inhaled shakily. "I mean, what are the probabilities that another car will come along at the exact same place as where you got hit the las......"

"We didn't get hit, Carter." Casey continued to stare straight ahead with macabre fascination. "There was no other car involved." She took short breaths, trying to stay calm. "You probably can't feel it, but this road angles upward. The climb starts getting steeper about a quarter mile from here. The road narrows to two lanes. Then about two miles beyond that, there's........" Her voice caught. "There's a sharp turn to the right......" She swallowed hard. "If you don't make the turnoff, it's a 300 foot drop to the water."

Carter clearly heard the horror in her voice. He wished more than anything that he could take her in his arms at that moment and soothe her fears. But the headlights in the mirror kept gaining – slowly, but steadily. "Were you driving last time?" he asked softly.

"Yes. My mother......" She paused again to try to compose herself as she relived the horror. "My mother was hallucinating and had grabbed for the steering wheel, but Sonny had tampered with the car to make sure we never made that turn." Her face was grim. "That notebook that I found proved that he had the car fixed so that the brakes failed just at the right moment."

Carter dared to take his eyes off the road long enough to glance down at the dashboard. "Well, Sonny would never have expected us to take this limo, and I doubt that he'd let anyone tamper with anything on his own vehicle." He took his hand off the steering wheel gingerly to pat Casey's hand. "There's nothing to worry about, sweetie. I'm going to get us out of this just fine."

She nodded and blinked back tears. "I know. It's just....." Suddenly, there was a roar just behind them. Casey turned around and gripped the passenger door handle for balance. "Carter? I thought.......wasn't Sonny way behind us before?"

"He's been slowly catching up since we left the main highway. He knows I can't get up as much speed on this winding road." Carter's voice was clipped and grim.

Casey continued to stare back over her left shoulder. There was another loud sound of an engine revving, and Casey turned back to Carter, her face pale. "Carter – he's pulling even with us!"

"Make sure you're buckled in, Casey!" Carter had to shout to be heard about the roar of the two engines combined. "Looks like we might be in for a bumpy ride!" The SUV seemed to fall back a little and Casey felt the limo shudder and sway. Carter swore loudly. "D*mn!! We must have hit an icy patch!!" His arms trembled with the effort to keep the limo steady as the road narrowed to two lanes. A metal guardrail was barely visible out Casey's window.

Casey held her breath as the SUV roared forward again. It crossed the centerline of the road and pulled even with the limo on Carter's left. She peered around Carter just in time to see Sonny glance out the passenger side of the SUV and give her a malicious smile. Seconds afterward, Sonny jerked the steering wheel to the right sharply.

"CARTER!!" Casey screamed and lunged away from her door. "He's going to ram us!" The words were no sooner out of her mouth than there was a screech of metal and the limo swerved towards the guardrail.

"Hang on, sweetie!!" Carter held the steering wheel tightly and pressed down hard on the gas. "I'm going to try to pull ahead of him again!"

But Sonny kept pace with the larger vehicle. Casey screamed again as he jerked the SUV towards the limo. "CARTER!! He's trying to force us off the road!!"