Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
I gripped the steering wheel with both hands, my knuckles white, my heart hammering my ribs. The headlights behind me were so bright I couldn't see anything in my rearview mirror except blinding white light.
The car hit me again, harder this time. My head snapped forward, and I felt the back end of the car fishtail on the narrow road. Ocean on one side, rocky hillside on the other, no shoulder, nowhere to go.
I pressed the gas pedal, trying to get distance, but the road curved sharply ahead, and I had to brake or I'd fly right off the cliff. The car behind me didn't slow down. It came at me again, relentless, purposeful.
The next impact sent me careening toward the flimsy wooden barrier, which was the only thing between the road and a steep, rocky drop. I yanked the wheel hard to the left, overcorrected, and felt the tires lose purchase on the asphalt.
Then I was airborne.
For one endless, suspended moment, there was nothing but the sound of Tyler's voice calling my name and the sick certainty that this was how I died—alone on a dark road, pursuing a story no one wanted told, investigating deaths that were supposed to stay buried.
The car slammed into the hillside with a crunch of metal and shattering glass. My head whipped forward into the airbag that exploded from the steering wheel, cushioning the impact but also suffocating me.
The car bounced, rolled, and tumbled down the rocky slope, every impact jarring my bones, rattling my teeth.
And then it stopped.
For a moment, or maybe it was longer, there was nothing but darkness and a ringing in my ears, the smell of something chemical, and a sharp, biting cold…
I blinked my eyes open, trying to understand where I was, what had happened.
And that's when I realized I was pinned in my seat by an airbag, and the car was tilted at a steep angle, nose pointing down.
Through the cracked windshield, I could see rocks and, beyond that, the dark churning mass of the ocean that didn't feel that far away.
I was close enough to hear the waves crashing, and that was a terrifying thought. When the car shifted slightly, my stomach lurched.
I was still on the hillside, but barely. I needed to get out. Now.
But my hands were shaking too badly to unbuckle the seat belt. My fingers kept slipping off the release button. And every movement I made caused the car to shift a little more, sliding incrementally toward the ocean.
"Hello?" A voice called from somewhere above me. Familiar, but I couldn't place it through the fog of shock. "Is someone down there?"
"Here," I yelled, but I wasn't sure he could hear me above the sound of the waves.
"I'm coming. Don't move," he shouted.
I was too frozen with fear to move, and as much as I wanted help, I was also scared that if he got too close, the car would slide into the sea.
Before I could tell him to stay back, a light blazed through the broken window next to me, illuminating a face in the dark shadows.
Finn.
My breath caught in my chest. What was Finn doing here? Had he been the one following me? Had he run me off the road and now had come to finish what he'd started?
"Cassidy! Are you hurt? Can you move?"
I pressed back against the seat, unable to speak, my mind spinning with fear and confusion. "I—I…"
"Listen to me," he said. "We need to get you out now."
"I'm afraid to move."
As if to punctuate my words, the car shifted again, sliding another few inches down the rocky slope. Stones clattered down ahead of it, splashing into the ocean below.
I gasped. "Oh, God!"
"Can you unbuckle your seat belt?"
"I can't."
"Try," he ordered. "I'm going to get you out of here, but you have to help."
There was something about his firm, confident voice that calmed my nerves. I reached for the button again, finally getting it to release. As the belt snapped back, he reached inside the window to push the airbag out of the way.
"I'm going to open the door, and you're going to jump out as fast as you can. Got it?"
"I don't know if I can do it."
"You can do it," he said forcefully.
"Okay, one second."
"We don't have a second."
"I need my phone and my bag." I grabbed my phone, which was thankfully on the seat next to me and put it in my bag, then slipped the strap over my head. "I'm ready."
"One. Two. Three!"
He opened the door and I threw myself out of the car and into his arms. He caught me, bear-hugging me against his chest, and threw us both sideways against the hillside as the car gave one final lurch and tumbled away.
We lay there on the rocky ground, gasping, as the car crashed and bounced down the remaining slope, metal screaming, until it hit the water with a massive splash and disappeared beneath the dark waves.
I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. I could only stare at the churning water where my car had vanished, my entire body shaking so hard my teeth chattered.
"It's okay," Finn said, his arm still around me. "You're okay. You're safe now."
"How did you get here so fast?" I asked in bemusement. "Were you following me?" As I looked into his dark eyes, I wondered again if he was the reason I'd gone over the side. But if he was, he wouldn't have rescued me, would he?
"I wasn't following you. But I saw your car go over the side."
"Because the car behind me hit me. They ran me off the road. You saw another car, didn't you?"
"Yes. I saw two cars, and then one crashed through the barrier and flew over the side of the road."
As he finished speaking, sirens wailed. "You called 911?"
"Actually, I didn't. I should have." He shook his head. "When I saw your car, I just scrambled down the hill to make sure whoever was inside was all right. Someone else must have called it in."
I lifted my head as the lights from the approaching fire engine lit up the area, and I heard another voice yelling my name from the top of the road.
"Tyler," I muttered. He must have heard the crash, then came to find me. He'd probably called 911, too.
A moment later, two firefighters rappelled down the hillside, secured by ropes, their headlamps cutting through the darkness. Only then did I realize just how steep the slope was, how treacherous the loose rocks were, how easily Finn could have fallen trying to reach me.
He'd risked his life to save mine. How could I have thought he'd tried to kill me?
Finn helped me to my feet, keeping one arm around me so I wouldn't fall, which was a good thing, because my legs were shaky, threatening to give out. And I leaned into him more than I wanted to admit.
The firefighters reached us, immediately assessing my condition with practiced efficiency.
"Ma'am, are you injured? Can you tell me where it hurts?"
"I'm okay," I managed. "Just shaken up."
"We're going to get you up to the road," one of them said, already securing a harness around me. "Nice and slow."
The climb back up was painstaking as the firefighters guided me and Finn up over the loose rocks. When we reached the top, the paramedics immediately took me to the back of the ambulance to check me for injuries.
Tyler was right behind them, his gaze scanning my face. "Are you all right, Cassidy?"
"I think so," I said, although I was becoming aware of sharp, painful stinging sensations on my face and hands. I looked down to see some bloody scratches on my left hand, which must have come from the broken window.
"When I heard you scream…" He shook his head, his jaw tight. "I jumped into the car, but I didn't know what I was going to find when I got here. You were very lucky."
"I know. Finn wasn't too far behind me, I guess." My gaze moved beyond Tyler to Finn. He was talking to Sheriff Holloway, who had apparently just arrived.
"These cuts aren't deep," the paramedic said, drawing my attention back to her. "I've cleaned them, but you might want to go to the hospital and get checked out."
"I'm fine. I don't need to go to the hospital."
"Your call," she said.
As I stood up and surveyed the scene, I was reminded of just how lucky I was to be standing here on the side of the road, just a short distance from the end of my life.
"Are you really okay?" Tyler asked, his sharp gaze demanding the truth.
"I think so. Thank you for coming, for calling 911."
"It wouldn't have mattered if Finn hadn't gotten here first and pulled you from the car. I would have been too late."
"I know." As my gaze moved to Finn, I saw him turn, and then he and Sheriff Holloway made their way to me.
Sheriff Holloway gave me a nod, his expression serious. "It's Cassidy Bennett, right?"
"Yes."
"Can you tell me what happened?"
"Someone ran me off the road."
"Did you see who was driving?"
"I was blinded by the lights. I couldn't tell you what kind of car it was or who was behind the wheel."
"When did you notice the vehicle behind you?"
"Shortly after I took the detour." I paused. "It's weird about that detour. If those tree branches hadn't blocked the highway, I never would have been on this road."
"Unfortunate timing," the sheriff murmured.
Anger ran through me. "Unfortunate? I almost lost my life, and I can't help thinking it wasn't a coincidence.
Maybe that detour was set up for the express purpose of getting me on this road, and it almost worked.
" My gaze turned to Finn, who was watching our exchange with a grim expression on his face.
"If Finn hadn't been there to pull me out of the car, I'd probably be dead. "
"I can't imagine that the detour was deliberate. The tree came down over an hour ago. Who would know you would be on this road at this time, and why would they want to hurt you?" the sheriff asked.
"I don't know. Are there cameras on this road?"
"No. This road is rarely used, because it's somewhat treacherous."
"What happens now then?"