Chapter Ten Bree #4
I jumped when the car behind me beeped. I looked at it in the mirror and then saw the light had changed.
My foot moved to the gas, and I waved as I headed toward the highway.
No streetlights lined the roads, and I realized that meant I got a nice panoramic view of the night sky.
I no longer want that. “Breathe, Bree.” I lifted a hand from the steering wheel and saw it was trembling.
A truck came up on me quickly and rode my bumper. I tapped my brakes for him to go around if he wanted to pass. “Christ, is there something in the water tonight?”
I waved for him to go around, but he stayed glued to my bumper. Oh no, it has to be him! Then, like that night Brad and I were followed, a giant light bar was turned on, and I was blinded. I quickly tilted my mirror and stepped on the gas.
“Ah!” I swerved to the side as I tried to blink away the black spots.
Goose bumps broke out across my skin. My foot pushed harder on the gas, and my old truck fought to pick up speed.
“Come on, girl,” I begged as I squinted at the lights behind me.
This guy was psychotic! He sped up and matched my speed without hesitation.
I swung over to the opposite side of the road, and he followed.
I moved back, and he mirrored me. I grabbed my phone and tried Brad again.
“Come on, come on! Fuck!” His phone must have been turned off.
“What detective turns off his phone!” I shouted in anger. I needed something to control my fear.
Bang! The truck hit my bumper, and I was thrown forward hard against the wheel.
I screamed and tried to get the truck under control. Screw this! I called 911.
“911, what’s your emergency?”
“I’m Bree Jaminson, with the Sheffield Police Department.
” I sobbed out my words, I was so happy to get a real person.
“I’m on the highway heading south, and there’s a truck behind me—” Bang!
I was hit again, and my phone went flying to the floor.
“Don’t hang up!” I pleaded. “It’s the same truck that ran us off the road once before!
” I tried to give as much information as I could in hopes the dispatcher could still hear me.
The truck behind me suddenly pulled back, and I took that moment to unclip my safety belt, duck down, and grab my phone.
I hit gravel and shot back up just in time to miss taking out a speed limit sign.
I swung back onto the road and was again blinded by his light bar.
When I looked at the screen, I saw the call had disconnected.
“What do you want from me?” I screamed and hit the dash just as he hit my bumper again.
“Stop!” I cried as I fought the wheels to stay on the pavement.
“Please just stop!” Tears poured down my cheeks, and my vision blurred.
I quickly tried to dash them away with my hand, but the moment I took my hand off the steering wheel, he hit me again.
My phone lit up, and I saw it was the 911 dispatcher calling back.
“Hello!” I was careful to hold the wheel while I gripped the phone. “Hello!” but I couldn’t bring the phone to my ear and only managed to hang up. Frustrated, I let out a scream and almost dropped the damn thing as it rang again. This time I managed to hit the speaker button.
“Bree, are you okay?”
“Dale? Oh my god. Listen.” My lips shook as I tried to think straight, reminding myself I was talking to my ex.
“Dale, I’m being chased. There’s this truck that ran us off the road.
” The rest of the words jammed up in my mind.
“It’s him again. I need you to call the police for me.
” I cried as the truck got closer, “I think he’s trying to kill—”
Everything happened so fast, I never had time to react.
The truck clipped my bumper again, and I went into a tailspin across the road.
I saw the big rock as I hit it and was launched into the air.
My phone went flying out of my hand as the truck dipped forward, and I hit what felt like concrete.
The last thing I saw was a blinding white light before it all went dark.
“Ooooh,” I moaned as I came to. Pain shot through my head, and I touched something wet on my forehead. I opened my eyes to look at my fingers and saw blood.
Everything came at me at once, and I saw I was underwater in my truck.
I tried to clear my head, but it was difficult to see, and I realized I had hit the windshield.
A whole new level of fear came over me as I assessed the situation.
I was now sinking into the lake in my truck, but my window was still above the water line.
I reached to roll it down when bright lights lit me up like a Christmas tree.
“No!” I cried as I realized he was there, parked on the side of the road, waiting for me. My head pounded as I watched the water rise around my feet.
“Wait.” I felt around for my phone but saw it on the floor under the water.
I wondered if it was still connected to Dale.
I leaned forward and felt the truck tip.
“Whoa!” I quickly sat back as I realized it was better to hold still.
The water was up to my waist, and I tried hard not to think about what else might be in there with me.
“You got this,” I yelled at myself. “Think!” But then I broke—everything that I had been holding onto came rushing out in one big wail of a cry.
The harder I sobbed, the more it felt like my head was going to explode.
The water reached my chest, and I knew I had to fight if I was going to survive. I tried to steady my breathing.
I could still see the lights of the truck that had forced me off the road. I figured he was waiting to see if I’d suddenly appear.
“Don’t die, don’t die.” I thought hard about everything I could remember from my training and books I’d read, trying to come up with an idea. I tipped my head back as the water covered my shoulders and sucked at the last pocket of air that was left. I had to wait for the truck to fully submerge.
Everything went quiet as I sank farther into the unknown, and I knew I didn’t have much air left.
Finally, I had no choice left, so I rolled the window down slowly to let the pressure equal out around me.
Then I wiggled out of my seat and through the window and pushed off the roof to help speed up my swim toward the surface.
I couldn’t see any lights, and I prayed he’d given up and left.
Everything was so black. I tried to angle my swim so I didn’t come up right above the truck.
My lungs begged to breathe, and a few times I had to cover my mouth to stop the uncontrollable action.
I wouldn’t die that way. I refused to die before I knew the face of the man who haunted me.
My legs cramped just as I felt the surface with my fingertips.
With one last effort, I kicked with all my might and broke the water line.
I sucked in a mouthful of air and water, then coughed and went back under, but I managed to resurface again.
I looked desperately around. Is he trying to wait me out? Does he see me? Does he know I’m alive?
With the last of my energy, I began to swim toward the shore until I could touch it.
“Bree!” Brad’s voice came from somewhere, and I fought to stay with it as the rocks on the shoreline dug into my aching body. “Bree, where are you?”
“How do you know she’s here?” someone asked.
“Her location says she’s in the fucking lake!” Brad barked at someone, then I heard footsteps get closer. “Bree!” I could hear him again. His desperate call forced me to focus, and I tried to answer back, but all I could do was cough and sputter.
“Bree! Over here! She’s here.” I heard him shout, then felt him drop to his knees beside me.
“Holy shit! Get the medic over here,” he hollered again as he rolled me onto my side.
“Hurry, she needs help!” he yelled, and then there were people above me.
Things went in and out for me then. I couldn’t take the confusion, and, exhausted, I fell back into the comfortable darkness.
One moment, Brad was there, and the next, I wore a neck brace and was being lifted onto a hard board with a mask over my mouth. I came to again and felt a needle stuck in my arm. There were bright lights everywhere, and Brad was back.
“I need to know if she’s okay,” Brad’s voice pleaded with the paramedic. “I know time’s important here, but please, Kelly, is she okay?”
“Her head hit something hard, Stone. Let’s just hope it’s only a concussion, but I can’t rule out something worse until she has a scan.
I’m also concerned about her lungs and the possibility of a secondary drowning.
She’s still got water in there. She needs to be at the hospital, not in the back of my rig.
Now get out, and let me do my job.” She pressed a wad of gauze against my forehead and taped it.
I reached out for Brad’s hand and tried to let him know I was okay. He looked down at me and squeezed my hand.
“You hang in there, Bree. Don’t you die on me.” His voice cracked.
“Stone!” Cap’s voice cut through our moment. “We’ve got a location on the truck! Let them deal with Jaminson so we can get this bastard!” Brad pulled his hand from mine as the last voice in the entire world I wanted to hear spoke up.
“Go, Bradley. I’ll ride with Bree, so she won’t be alone, and if anything changes, I’ll call you.”
I begged Brad with my eyes, but he looked away.
“Come on, man, you can’t do anything anyway.” I couldn’t see Kennedy, but I knew it was him. “Let’s get this guy.”
“Bree, I’ll be back soon. I promise you. I have to go.” He squeezed my hand again, and it lingered there for a moment.