Dark Fall (Back Down Devil MC #3)(6)

Kaity laid down in the backseat again and pulled a blanket over her. She stretched out the best she could, trying to pretend that she was in her own bed in a beautiful, safe house. But the images kept her from closing her eyes.

Brad was dead.

That’s all that mattered.

Brad. Was. Dead.

Dead people couldn’t come back and do anything. It wasn’t a movie. It was real life. Brad was gone; dead and buried. He could still haunt her dreams though, which made sleep hard to come by.

Kaity closed her eyes for ten minutes and woke to the sight of the sunrise beginning. She jumped up and couldn’t believe she had fallen into such a deep sleep. She scrambled to get her hair out of her face as she climbed into the front seat. She looked out the passenger window and saw someone walking through the lot. A tall, bald man wearing glasses. His lips were puckered as though he was whistling.

“Fuck,” she whispered.

She needed to leave before the man realized someone was here.

Kaity put her hand where the keys should have been in the ignition.

There were no keys.

“Shit,” Kaity yelled.

She looked at the floor and moved her feet.

No keys.

She looked out the window again and saw the man getting closer. His eyes still hadn’t met Kaity’s, but Kaity knew how this would work. He’d see her. He’d call the police. Then all hell would break loose.

Kaity had a gun in the glove box of the car, but that was only for an emergency. Such as Brad somehow coming back to life. Or perhaps an innocent mechanic inspecting his lot.

Kaity leaned over the passenger seat and saw the keys on the floor. She reached down and lifted them by the ring. She scrambled to get the key in the ignition and turn it. As soon as the car started, the man in the lot looked at Kaity. He pointed and let out a whistle, but Kaity already had the car in drive.

She hit the gas pedal and sped out of the car lot and down the street. She looked in the mirror and saw the man in the middle of the road, waving his hands. Kaity kept staring in the mirror until she heard a car horn blare. She looked forward just in time to see a car moving through an intersection. Kaity was going too fast, so she cut the wheel to the right. The car hit a curb, bounced up onto it and then came a stop with a loud hiss and a puff of smoke.

The engine died.

“No, no, no,” Kaity whispered. “No…”

She turned the key, but the engine protested. The man was walking toward her now. Whether he was just coming to help or not, if he got close enough Kaity knew she would shoot him. She would never go back to that hell again. Nobody understood that kind of hell. Nobody understood how much this freedom meant.

Kaity turned the key again and the engine sputtered to life. She threw the car in reverse. It seemed like the entire bottom of the car scraped the curb as she cut the wheel. The traffic light was red. Kaity bit her lip and took her chances. She stepped on the gas pedal and locked her elbows straight. The car took off and Kaity made it through the intersection without getting hit or killed. She sped along the roads until she connected to a highway.

Every few seconds she looked back and expected to see someone chasing her. But there was nobody else. Nobody followed her.

It took Kaity ten minutes to finally calm down and take a deep breath. The morning was still very fresh, the early sunset scattering across the highway in a brilliant shade of yellow. Kaity wanted to go back to bed. She was sweating. Her heart was racing. Her nerves shaking. She swore to herself she wouldn’t be like this everyday of her life, but it looked as though she had no choice right now.

Alone in the right lane of the highway, Kaity heard a metal clink sound. The car started to bounce, even on the smooth road. The dashboard lit up like a strand of Christmas lights. Kaity tried to ignore the damaged vehicle, but the more she drove the worse it got. The car soon lost power and she was just coasting down the highway now.

“Shit,” she said.

The next exit was just a quarter of a mile away, so Kaity put on her blinker. She needed to get the car looked at. If something big was wrong with it, she would either trade it in at some small lot or she would find a way to hide it and ditch it. Leaving the car on the side of the highway would be stupid. She knew how investigations worked. They’d find the car and connect it to Kaity. Then they’d hunt down Kaity and take her back.

Back for what?

It didn’t matter.

Kaity took the exit and read the sign as she passed under it.

“Frelen,” she said.

The car suddenly came back to life but Kaity knew it probably wouldn’t last long. Driving down the streets of what looked like a small beach town, she rolled down the window. The touch of salt from the ocean, the call of the seagulls, and the warm air were completely refreshing. Kaity smiled, appreciating the way her luck had taken her here. This seemed like the kind of place she could hide out for a little while.

She continued on the main strip and finally picked a random street to turn down. As luck would have it there was a two bay garage in front of a large junkyard. If she couldn't get it fixed, she could at least have them put it in the junkyard. That would hide it from investigators for now.

Large letters hung loose from the building, an outline of the letter ‘E’ was missing, so the sign read WOOL Y’S. Kaity pulled into the lot and crept up to one of the open bays. She saw two men inside the garage, cigarettes hanging from each of their mouths. She felt uneasy the second she saw the two men, but then they started moving toward her and she really had no choice but to wait. Driving the car wasn’t an option anymore. This was the perfect spot to try to get it fixed or just dump it and run.