Page 17 of Rescuing Erin

“Everything’s gonna be all right, sunshine.”

“Who’s following us?”

“No clue.”

“Then how do you know everything is going to be okay?”

“Because I’ll never let anyone hurt you. Can you do something for me?”

“Sure.”

“I need you to trust me. If I tell you we’re okay, we are.”

“I’m not certain—”

“I am. The person following us is in a Ford Taurus for Christ sakes. I’m waiting until I can get on the interstate before I lose him. The last thing I want is to cause an accident and get someone hurt. Or have the police involved.”

I checked the rearview mirror and the Taurus was two cars behind us. Other than the initial impact, he’d made no move on us. Something felt off about the whole situation.

“Where are we going?”

“California.”

“California?”

“I need you reach over and take my gun out of my holster.” I leaned to the left, giving her access to my right side. Her hands fumbled around the seat belt. “Just take it off.”

“No way. What if he hits us again?”

She finally got my Sig free and settled back in her seat. “What now? Want me to shoot his tires out?”

“Easy there, cowgirl, this ain’t the wild west. Just hold it. If something happens, and I’m hurt, use it. Whatever happens, do not let anyone get you in a car.”

“I thought you said everything was all right.”

“It is. Right now.”

“What does that mean?”

Just as I merged onto an almost empty Highway 195, the Taurus gunned it, closing the distance between us. I swerved around the car in front of me, and so did the Taurus. Weaving through the few cars on the highway, I made a decision I hoped wouldn’t cost us our lives. The driver of the Taurus pulled alongside us and a second car was on my bumper.

“Put your head between your legs and hold on.”

I braked, causing the car behind me to slam into the back of us. Instead of the Taurus blowing by us like I’d hoped, allowing me to get behind him, he slowed as well.

“What are you doing?” Erin asked from her lowered position.

Before I could answer, the driver of the Taurus popped off two rounds, thankfully pulling high and hitting the top of the driver’s side door. I jerked the wheel, my two right tires hitting the gravel of the shoulder. There wasn’t anywhere to go, two lanes of traffic in either direction didn’t give me a lot of options. If I were alone in the car, it would’ve been a different story, but with Erin beside me I needed to be extra cautious. If something happened to me, she’d be vulnerable.

“Fuck.”

The sound reverberated inside the car, the ringing in my ears caused me to flinch in pain. I didn’t have time to warn Erin to cover her ears as the car behind us got a shot off and took out the back window.

“Why aren’t you driving faster?” Erin yelled, not lifting her head.

“Stay down and brace, Erin.”

I jerked left, sideswiping the Taurus. Thank God for long stretches of Texas highways. The median between the northbound and southbound lanes only had a couple feet of gravel before it gave way to a grassy embankment. Not so steep you couldn’t pull off the side if need be, but a car traveling over eighty miles per hour wouldn’t fare too well. We lurched forward when the car on my ass made contact again. I just needed a few more seconds to catch up to the tractor-trailers that were in front of us, and this would be done.