“Me.”
It was Casper Wyoming. He leaned against the doorway, a glittering knife in his hand.
The road climbed into the mountains, Jonah taking the hairpin curves as fast as he dared.
“You look so macho clutching the door handle that way,” he said to Hamilton.
“Just … be … careful,” Hamilton said through clenched teeth.
Ahead Jonah could see a particularly winding set of turns that led to a spindly looking bridge over a gorge. He eased off the accelerator. He wanted speed, but he wasn’t suicidal.
He hit the brakes for the first curve. The car didn’t slow but scraped against the guardrail.
“WHOA!” Hamilton shouted, looking down into the gorge. “Dude, the brake pedal is on the left!”
With an uneasy feeling, Jonah pumped the brakes. The pedal went to the floor. His hands were suddenly sweaty on the wheel. “There’s something wrong with the brakes.” He didn’t recognize his shaky, weak voice. He pumped them again. Nothing.
“There’s something wrong with the BRAKES?”
“I don’t think we have any.”
“We don’t have any BRAKES?”
“Bro, it doesn’t help to repeat everything I say!” Jonah yelled.
“She did it!” Hamilton cried. “She planted some kind of device… .”
Jonah downshifted as the car roared up the mountain. The engine protested in an angry whine. “C’mon, baby, work with me!”
At least they were climbing now. The natural drag was slowing down the car.
“It must be remote-activated or something… . Watch OUT!” Hamilton screamed, as another curve loomed ahead. Jonah barely made it, tires squealing. “Or maybe it’s inside the car and I can find it!” Frantically, Hamilton began to search.
Jonah concentrated on the car. “Keep your seat belt on! And secure any loose items in the car.” If they went over the side, anything that flew in the air would turn into a missile.
“Maybe it’s in her suitcase!” Hamilton twisted in his seat. He undid his seat belt and reached behind, grabbing Cheyenne’s big purse and flinging it out the window. Then he wrestled with her suitcase and forced it through the small space. He tried not to look as the suitcase bounced and careened off the side of the mountain, splitting in two. That could be him in a minute.
“Check the brakes!” he yelled. He stuffed himself back into the seat and clicked the seat belt shut.
A perspiring Jonah shook his head. “Sorry, bro. That wasn’t it.”
Jonah was using the shift to brake now, remembering his driving course. He had been taught how to use steering to control the car, how to accelerate into curves and keep the car on the road. He tried to remember everything he’d learned about downshifting, about the process of deceleration and acceleration… .
He just wished his hands weren’t sweating so badly… .
“The bridge.” Hamilton’s normally deep voice was a squeak. “If you don’t make that turn, we’ll go straight off.”
Jonah didn’t answer. There was no answer. Hamilton was right.
He tried to plan the route even as he struggled to keep the car on the road. He would need to come out of that turn and downshift immediately. He could see from here that it was impossible. Unless … unless he used the side of the mountain to slow down the car. Just enough so that he wouldn’t lose control …
He swallowed and gripped the wheel.
“Hang on,” he tried to say, but his mouth was so dry the words barely made it out.
He eased the car to the left.
“What are you doing?” Hamilton yelled.
The car slammed against the mountain and then jerked back on the road. That didn’t work. Too hard.
He eased it over again, this time watching carefully. The side mirror snapped off. Sparks flew. The car was slowing, definitely … but he was heading for the curve.
He bumped back on the road, the wheel shuddering in his hands. He took the curve on two wheels. For an instant, the clear Alpine air was all they saw, dark blue sky and dark green pines… .
The car shivered and kept the road. Jonah downshifted, fighting gravity, fighting the road, fighting the mountain, fighting the VESPERS, because he was going to WIN… .
The car straightened out and zoomed over the bridge. Jonah kept it steady.
“Jonah! Up ahead, on the left – that road. See it? It’s going uphill.”
Jonah saw what Hamilton meant. If he could make that turn, the car would naturally slow as it climbed the mountain. If he stayed straight, they’d be traveling down the mountain again. With more curves to navigate, more chances to crash …
It was their only hope.
Below them was a thousand feet of air. The bridge was narrow. He wouldn’t have room to swing out to the right. He’d have to make it – or go spinning out, crash through a guardrail and leap straight into space.
Now!
Jonah pulled the wheel to the left and the car responded, going airborne for a moment as it bumped off the road, hit a rail, then landed on the uphill road. Jonah steered and downshifted all the way up the road until he was able to gently crash into a rock on the shoulder.
The car stopped. His head hit the wheel. Hamilton crashed against the dashboard.
“Oh, dawg,” Hamilton said.
“Oh, dude,” Jonah said.
“That was close. That was so close to close, it was almost over.”
“As close to a final destination as I ever want to get,” Jonah said.
With shaking hands, they dug out their cell phones and backpacks. As soon as they stepped out of the car, the cell phones began to work. Amy didn’t pick up. Neither did Dan. Attleboro hadn’t heard from them in the past thirty minutes.
“We’ve got to get to them!” Hamilton said. He slammed his fist on the car.
“Dude, it’s a rental. Do you have to dent it, too?” Jonah crouched by the car. “We just need to find the device so Attleboro can check on it. It could be a lead.” He held up a small ball. “This baby is a videocam. That’s how she knew when to blow the brakes for maximum impact.”