Dark Visions (22 page)

She looked down at her shoulder. The
scattered dirt and small pebbles were easily brushed off. The
bleeding was minimal, but it hurt like a bitch.

Asphalt raced by under the car, open empty
fields by the windows. This would never be over until she was home
and Gert was either locked up or dead.

Every mile counted. They crested a rise and
saw a small town coming up. The edge of town came quick. The driver
swung into a small convenience store on the right.

"You're safe now. This is where you get out.
They'll let you use their phone inside," the driver said.

She mumbled thanks as she stepped from the
car. He stayed in the parking lot and watched her until she got
into the store.

An Asian man was standing behind the
counter.

"I need to use a phone," Sarah said.

She saw his smile fade and then die. He was
staring at her, taking in her appearance. She knew she probably
looked like she just came out of an explosion in the sewer
system.

"Please, where's your phone?"

The door swung open behind her. It was the
driver who brought her here. "The black van is coming."

The driver turned around and flipped the
interior thumb lock on the front door. Sarah could hear the Asian
man behind the counter protesting.

"Get away from the windows," the driver told
her. "You too," he said to the clerk.

A vehicle pulled into the parking lot out
front. She could hear it sliding to a stop on the gravel. With the
driver behind her she ran for the back of the store. On the way she
grabbed a handful of Twinkies and a Red Bull from a corner
display.

The first door she came to opened into a
stock room. They stepped through it. The driver stood by the door
leaving it ajar as Sarah walked to the back loading area and
quietly got it unlocked without opening it. By this time she had
stuffed one full Twinkie in her mouth. It tasted like a gourmet
meal.

A gun went off, followed by shattered glass.
The driver shut the door he was peeking through and ran for
Sarah.

"Open it, open it," he said.

She pushed down on the bar and yanked open
the door. A loud buzzer sounded. They'd set off an alarm. Gert
would know she was leaving through the back door and be on them in
no time.

Back in the sunlight there was no time for
indecision. A dumpster sat twenty feet away on her left, open space
on the right.

The driver grabbed her arm. He was clearly
panicking. She saw his eyes darting back and forth. Which way to
go? Already precious seconds were lost.

The driver freaked and started running. He
headed for the open field behind the store.

"No, he'll see you," she called after
him.

Sarah bolted for the dumpster. She grabbed
the open lid and swung it shut with a loud bang. Then she turned
and ran around the building.

She hoped Gert would waste precious time
talking to an empty dumpster thinking she or the driver was in
it.

Scrunching herself against the wall of the
building she brushed sweat from her eyes as she looked around the
corner. Two vehicles sat out front; the black van and the car that
brought her here.

She couldn't believe her luck. The car was
idling. She started eating another Twinkie and popped open the Red
Bull.

With Gert in the back of the building
looking for her, she could hear a police siren in the distance. The
store owner must have hit a buzzer or called them.

She didn't trust the cops even more.

One of them was Gert's boss.

It was now or never.

She pushed away from her hiding place and
ran for the car, heart beating in harmony with the pounding of her
feet. Her second wind had kicked in. She hadn't felt this alive in
days. The Twinkies were at work. The tables had turned. She was
back in charge, being proactive, saving someone.

Saving herself
.

The vehicle was an automatic. She dropped
the transmission into drive and hit the gas pedal. In seconds Sarah
was on the highway, wind caressing her face through the open
driver's side window as she finished the Red Bull. She tried to
keep the car steady but wasn't too successful, narrowly missing a
station wagon going the other way.

She had almost no experience behind the
wheel yet she carefully maneuvered her way into the little
town.

No bullets pursued her.

Chapter 51

Gert had had enough. He heard a siren in the
distance. It was time to go. He held his gun up and opened the top
of the garbage dumpster.

It was empty.

"Fuck," he said to himself.

He did a complete turn looking all around.
Nothing but open field. Maybe he missed them in the store after
all. He rushed back in. A quick but thorough search told him the
store was completely empty. Even the clerk had bolted.

He heard the siren. It was coming
closer.

"Fuck, shit," he swore again.

He'd lost Sarah. The cops were coming. He
wasn't going to die in a stupid convenience store on the side of
the highway.

He ran for the van. When he got in and
started it up, he noticed the car was gone. The guy who picked
Sarah up in front of the gas station had left. She was probably
with him. They'd be at the police station in no time, giving a
description of him and the vehicle he was in.

It was over.

Sarah had finally gotten away.

That bitch.

Gert pounded the steering wheel as he did a
U-turn and raced up the highway the way he'd come. He knew he'd
pass the gas station again, but no one ever expected the bad guy to
come back to the scene of the crime. Besides, it was better than
driving into the small town behind him and possibly getting trapped
by some local cops.

After less than a minute, before he lost the
convenience store from sight in his rearview mirror, he saw a lone
cruiser pull into its parking lot, lights blazing.

Minutes later he drove past the gas station.
Police cars were already there, with cops standing around talking
to people from the restaurant.

Someone was talking to a uniformed officer
and pointing down the road the way Gert had just come from.

No one looked at him as he passed.

He had a head start. He didn't have any idea
where he was going. There was no plan. His brother would know what
to do, but his brother was dead.

Change vehicles. That was something he would
have to do.

There was nothing left but running.

Unless he could get another hostage.

Chapter 52

Sam Johnson looked over at Dolan as they
heard about the shooting at the gas station. The dispatcher was
calling for all units in the area to attend.

Dolan nodded to confirm it was the guy they
were looking for. The guy who had Sarah.

They would cordon off the area. The perp was
as good as caught. Sam just hoped Sarah would get out of this
alive.

He threw his coffee out the window and
started the unmarked cruiser. They'd been discussing their next
move. Obstructing justice was a serious charge. Sam didn't want to
go up against the FBI, but with how close they were and what they
already knew of the case, it was too late to change things now.
He'd been the head of the task force for long enough to handle
this.

Dolan was advising him to move on. Pack up
and do something else. Tangling with this further could only spell
trouble. But Sam needed closure. He needed to find out how this
perp always seemed to get away. Why was he one step ahead? As Mary
Bennett said, Sarah had even stopped a kidnapping in the past. So
why not her own?

Then there was Dolan.

"Dolan, tell me something."

"What?"

"Why do you think this case is
different?"

Sam could feel Dolan watching him as he
drove.

"How do you mean different?"

"This is the first time I've seen you come
up short. I mean, you didn't get us to the cabin on time. Now you
know the perp is involved in the gas station fracas, but you didn't
mention it beforehand. Not until it had happened."

He looked over at Dolan. He was rubbing his
forehead, looking out at the passing countryside.

"I don't know. I can only speculate."

"Speculate then," Sam said.

"It might be different because I'm
involved."

"What do you mean? You're always
involved."

"I mean I'm physically in this cruiser and I
went to the cabin. A psychic can't read their own future. If I did,
I'd be able to pick the next winning lottery numbers."

Dolan's cell rang. Sam watched for the exit
to take him east on interstate 29 while Dolan mumbled into his
phone where he was going.

When he flipped it shut Sam looked over.
"Who was that? You told the caller about the gas station."

"That was my assistant at the fair. It's
closed down now for two weeks until we get to the next city and set
up. He has nothing to do so I told him we'd be at the gas station
crime scene so he could come and get me. It sounds like this is
coming to an end soon anyway. Alex has a certain talent himself.
Since he's not directly involved or helping on this case, maybe
he'll have some information for you."

Sam could detect a little sarcasm in Dolan's
voice. He wasn't sure if it was intentional or not.

"If you're saying your physical presence
might stop you from being psychic, maybe you'll have more
information yourself since you won't be directly involved
anymore."

"Just drive Sam. We've worked together too
long to fight.

Chapter 53

He had to change vehicles or dump this one
and hold up somewhere safe.

His cell battery had died hours ago. He
couldn't call the boss for help. Hands-on cash was running low.
Using a debit card or credit card right now would alert anyone
looking for him.

He reminded himself at this precise moment,
not all cops would know Sarah isn't with him anymore. At least for
the next hour or so they might not shoot on sight.

Chance favors the prepared mind. Most people
just call it luck. Gert saw his luck up ahead in the form of a BMW
SUV stopped at a railway crossing. The train was moving slow arcing
over the two-lane highway. If he was quick there'd be enough time
to do what he needed. He had a new plan that would be better than
taking a hostage.

He pulled up behind the SUV. Then, with a
quick foot, he shot the van forward and slammed the brake hard. It
was a perfect hit; just enough to bump the BMW SUV, but not enough
to leave a broken bumper or worse.

The driver was getting out at the same time
Gert did. A lone female, long brown hair, mid-forties, unsteady on
high heels.

"What happened? You couldn't see I was
stopped?" she asked. The woman bent to inspect the damage.

"I'm sorry. My foot slipped. I went to tap
the brake but hit the accelerator instead."

"Well it doesn't look as bad as I thought,"
she said.

Gert pulled out his weapon. No time to
waste.

"Step away from the vehicle."

The woman turned around and saw the gun. She
tried to step back, but Gert was grabbing her lapel. He dragged her
close to him, the gun now pressed into her abdomen.

"We're going to play a little game," he
said. "I'll take your BMW and you drive my van. I'll give you a two
minute head start and then the chase begins."

"What...what chase?"

Her voice cracked. Gert knew he'd never get
sick of how people reacted to him. He loved her quivering
weakness.

"I chase you. If I catch you, you die. It's
that simple. Don't stop for anyone. Don't slow down. Whatever you
do, don't let me catch you."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because I can. Now get in the van. I left
it running."

Gert pushed her away from him. She stumbled
to the door of the van.

"Go that way," Gert said, pointing the way
he'd just come. "Don't let me catch you. I'll give you a two minute
head start, so drive fast."

He kept the gun pointed at her as she got in
the van. He heard the transmission go into drive. When she looked
at him through the windshield, he made a display of looking at his
wrist to remind her of the time limit. She turned the van around
and started away from him. He knew she'd be watching him in the
mirrors so he raised the gun and fired a warning shot into the back
window of the van on the passenger side.

The vehicle skidded back and forth a little
and then shot forward.

She'd dropped the pedal all the way
down.

Gert hopped into the BMW and did a three
point turn to aim after her. When the van was lost to sight and the
train had cleared the tracks, he turned the BMW back around and
floored it heading west in the opposite direction.

Chapter 54

It took Sarah a moment to realize she was
alone in the front seat of a car and not with her kidnapper.

She must've blacked out.

She'd pulled into a gas station parking area
after a cop car passed her with its lights and siren on. She had
wanted to stick around to see Gert get arrested. What she saw was
the black van drive away unnoticed by the police.

She looked at her right arm while rubbing
it. The familiar numbness was there. Did she write something? She
looked around for anything she would've been able to write on. A
newspaper sat folded beside her. Sketched in her handwriting on the
side white area was a note;

...drive after van...twenty minutes left to
stop another kill...only you can stop Gert's boss...

Sarah started the car and got back on the
highway.

She headed out of town as fast as she could
without speeding. She looked down and saw a small stash of coins in
the ashtray. She found a pack of gum in the glove box, which she
unwrapped and tossed in her mouth. The taste was incredible. She
chewed with fervor, savoring every swallow of gum juice.