Chapter 45
Sandra guided them through the drive-through at the local burger place, the car filling with the comforting scent of french fries and the easy chatter of siblings discussing their respective days.
Emma had perked up considerably since leaving school, and Toby was in full storytelling mode about a dodgeball victory that had apparently involved epic strategy and dramatic heroics.
"School break is almost here," Sandra said as they pulled back onto the main road, bags of food warming the car with their familiar comfort-food aroma. "What are you guys most looking forward to?"
"Sleeping every day," Toby declared immediately, his enthusiasm bubbling over. "And maybe we can go to the beach at Virginia Beach when we stay with Mom."
"I want to read all the books on my reading list," Emma added, her earlier embarrassment forgotten in the face of planning ahead. She turned toward Sandra. “You could teach me how to make your world-famous French toast.”
“You won’t need to learn,” Toby said from the back. “Sandra will be living with us and can make it whenever we want!”
Sandra blinked, not knowing where Toby got the idea that she’d be living with them this summer. She hoped that was in her future, but for now, had no idea how to address the concept with Toby. Deciding to let Terry handle it, she just kept driving.
The kids continued to talk about their plans and she felt the deep warmth of being included in their future thinking. These weren't just Terry's kids anymore, but they were already important to her too.
She glanced in the rearview mirror to check traffic before changing lanes and felt her stomach drop.
A dark pickup truck was following closer than normal traffic warranted, its bulk filling her mirror.
In such a rural area, pickup trucks were more prevalent than other vehicles, but her pulse quickened as she maintained her speed and watched the vehicle behind them.
When she turned off the main road toward Terry's neighborhood, the truck followed, closing the distance despite the rural road being otherwise empty.
Stay calm, Sandra told herself. Lots of people drive this way. It doesn't mean anything.
But her hands tightened on the steering wheel as the SUV accelerated, coming so close she could barely see its front bumper in her mirror. The driver's face was hidden behind heavily tinted glass, and something about the vehicle's aggressive positioning sent alarm bells screaming in her head.
"Sandra?" Emma's voice carried concern. "That truck's really close."
Before Sandra could respond, the truck bumped the back of her car—not hard enough to cause damage, but deliberate enough that there was no mistaking the intent.
All three of them gasped as Sandra's car lurched forward, her heart hammering against her ribs as she fought to maintain control. The impact sent terror flooding through her system like ice water.
"What the hell—" Sandra bit off the curse, not wanting to scare the kids more than they already were. "Emma, call your dad right now!"
Emma's hands shook as she fumbled for her phone, her face draining of color. "Dad! Dad, someone just hit our car! They're following us!"
"Put it on speaker!" Sandra yelled, needing both hands on the wheel as the truck dropped back slightly, preparing for another impact.
Terry's voice filled the car, tight with controlled panic. "Sandra, where are you? What's happening?"
The rural landscape of the Eastern Shore stretched before them in the late afternoon sun.
The farmland was dotted with weathered barns, fields of young corn in neat green rows, and scattered homes connected by narrow two-lane roads that meandered through the countryside.
Sandra had always found this drive to Terry's house peaceful, but now, with the dark truck looming behind them, the isolation that had once felt charming was terrifying.
"Someone's following us in a dark truck," Sandra said, fighting to keep her voice steady as adrenaline flooded her system. "They just rammed us. I can't see the license plate, and the windows are too tinted to see the driver."
The truck had dropped back after that first impact, but Sandra could see it accelerating again, eating up the distance between them with predatory intent. Her knuckles were white where she gripped the steering wheel, and cold sweat beaded along her hairline despite the car's air-conditioning.
"Sandra, listen to me," Terry's voice came through the speakers with forced calm, though she could hear the barely controlled panic underneath. "I have the kids’ phones on tracker, but I want you to tell me exactly where you are while Pete pulls it up."
"We just turned off Route 13 onto Route 512," Sandra said, her eyes darting between the road ahead and the rearview mirror. "Heading toward your place, but we're still about three miles out."
The truck surged forward again, and this time, Sandra saw it coming. She pressed the accelerator, her rental car responding sluggishly as she tried to put distance between them and their pursuer. The engine whined in protest, clearly not built for this kind of driving.
Emma whimpered in the passenger seat, her hands pressed against the door as if she could somehow make herself smaller. In the back, Toby had twisted around to watch the vehicle behind them, his young face tight with fear, but his voice remarkably clear when he called out,
"The license plate says JHK-42! And it's really big. It says RAM on the front!"
"Good job, buddy," Sandra managed, grateful for Toby's quick thinking even as terror clawed at her throat. "Terry, did you get that?"
In the background, she could hear Terry barking orders, his voice sharp with command authority. "Jeremy, run that plate now! Pete, I need units on Route 512 immediately! Someone's trying to run my family off the road!"
My family. Even in the midst of terror, those words hit Sandra with unexpected force.
The truck struck them again, harder this time, and Sandra's car lurched violently to the right. She corrected quickly, her heart hammering as she fought to maintain control on the narrow asphalt. The impact rattled her teeth and sent Emma crying out in terror.
"They hit us again!" Emma shouted into the phone, her voice cracking with fear.
"Terry, they're not trying to pass us," Sandra cried, the horrible realization crystallizing. "They're trying to force us off the road!" The knowledge that someone wanted to hurt her and was willing to endanger Emma and Toby to do it sent cold fury mixing with her terror.
Just ahead, Sandra spotted a massive combine harvester moving slowly down the road.
The enormous green and yellow machine took up most of the narrow lane, its bulk moving slowly as it traveled from one field to another.
Under normal circumstances, Sandra would have slowed down and waited patiently for a safe place to pass, the way most did during farming season on the Shore.
But the truck was accelerating again, and Sandra realized with growing horror that her pursuer was planning to trap her between the combine and their vehicle. She had seconds to decide.
The harder impact came without warning, sending her car careening toward the massive piece of farm equipment. Sandra yanked the wheel hard to the right, tires screaming against asphalt as she fought to avoid a collision that would have killed them all.
"Sandra!" Terry's voice exploded through the speakers. "What's happening? Talk to me!"
The combine harvester turned onto what appeared to be a farm access road, its massive bulk disappearing between towering stalks of corn that stretched out like a green ocean. Sandra followed without hesitation, her rental car's suspension protesting as they hit the rutted dirt path.
"Following a combine onto a dirt road—" Sandra gasped as the car bounced violently, leaving pavement behind. "I don't know where this leads, but I had to get around—"
The truck followed them onto the dirt road, and Sandra could see dust kicking up behind its tires as it maintained pursuit.
She'd hoped following the farm equipment might lead them to help, but when she glanced up at the high cab of the harvester, she realized the operator was focused straight ahead, probably listening to music, completely unaware of the deadly chase unfolding behind him.
"The farmer doesn't know we're here," Sandra said, desperation creeping into her voice. "He's too high up to see what's happening."
Corn stalks rose on both sides of the narrow access road, forming green walls that created a tunnel effect, making Sandra feel trapped. The truck was gaining on them, its heavier build and higher clearance giving it an advantage on the rough terrain.
"Sandra, I have units en route, and I'm coming." Terry's voice was tight with the kind of controlled panic she'd never heard from him. "But you need to buy us time. Can you get somewhere safe?"
Safe? Looking around at the endless cornfields and empty farm roads, Sandra couldn't see anywhere that qualified as safe. But she could see a line of trees at the back of the field that might offer somewhere to hide.
She jerked the wheel hard to the left, taking her car around the slow-moving combine and directly into the cornfield itself. The car wasn't built for off-road driving, and she could feel it struggling as the tires fought for purchase on the uneven ground between planted rows.
Corn stalks slapped against the sides of the car, and Sandra prayed she wasn't about to high-center the vehicle on some hidden obstacle. The truck followed her off the access road, its bulk crashing through the young corn with mechanical indifference to the damage to the crop.
"There are woods at the back of the field," Sandra said, her voice breaking with exhaustion and fear. "If I can get there, maybe we can hide—"
The truck struck them again with enough force to send her car spinning out of control on the dirt and debris between corn rows.
The world became a sickening blur of green stalks and blue sky as the vehicle rotated like a carnival ride.
Emma's screams filled the air while Toby's terrified shouts came from the back seat, and Sandra fought desperately to regain control as they spun toward the tree line.
The car came to rest nose-down in a drainage ditch, steam rising from the crumpled hood. The engine made an ominous grinding sound before falling silent. Airbags deflated around them like collapsed balloons.
"Everyone okay?" Sandra gasped, fumbling for her seat belt release.
"I think so," Emma whispered, tears streaming down her face.
"My shoulder hurts, but I'm okay," Toby said, his voice shaky but determined.
Through the spider-webbed windshield, Sandra could see that the truck had stopped about fifty yards away. The driver's door was opening.
"Get out! Now!" Terry's voice came through Emma's phone from somewhere on the car floor. "Get to the woods!"
Sandra grabbed her purse, Emma snatched her phone, and they tumbled out of the wrecked car. Sandra seized Toby's hand while Emma stumbled along beside them, and together, they ran toward the tree line as fast as their shaking legs could carry them.
Behind them, Sandra could hear heavy footsteps crashing through the corn, getting closer.
They plunged through the vegetation just as the first gunshot shattered the afternoon silence.