Read Online Fight or Flight by Natalie J. Damschroder - Free Book Online

Maybe he’d been pulled to give her attackers a chance to move in. Maybe it was just bad timing and they hadn’t even known he was there. Maybe he’d left because he didn’t want any part of what was going to happen. She had no way to be sure. There was no point in asking him, because he’d either not tell her, or lie.
    She looked down at the phone. There was a signal. She immediately dialed Kelsey’s cell phone, but got her voice mail again.
    “Kels, it’s Mom. Please, call me again. Tell me where you are. We’re coming to get you. We’re at…” She stared at the guardrail until a mile marker came up, and read it off. “Don’t go home. Don’t go to the hospital. I’m not there. If you’ve passed where I am, go to the police. Officer Boyse is the one handling our case. Please, Kelsey, call me.” She hung up and hit the button for voice mail.
    “What’s your code?”
    Tyler didn’t hesitate to give it to her—probably trying to win her trust. There was one message, the old one, and Regan’s throat closed when she heard her daughter’s voice. She sounded apprehensive but determined, and Regan had to swallow an involuntary noise. She wouldn’t call it a sob. She couldn’t be less strong than her daughter was.
    But there were no new messages. She tried not to think of why that might be, and stared down the long road into the darkness.
    ***
    Van, driving, cursed a blue streak as sirens approached behind them. Hoping it was an ambulance, Kelsey looked over her shoulder, holding her breath. But it was a cop car. She remembered her mother telling her she’d been pulled over on the way home after dropping her at school.
    “Maybe you have a tail light out,” she said.
    “Maybe I was doin’ eighty.” Van pulled over.
    Tom, in the back seat with Kelsey, unhooked her seatbelt and slid her across the seat to the center of the car. “Just in case,” he told her. He climbed over her to sit behind Van, putting himself between Kelsey and the cop who was walking up alongside the car.
    “That’s an unmarked car,” Kelsey said, studying the vehicle. The flashing lights were in the dash instead of on top, and the dark sedan, which was angled to block their car from oncoming traffic, had no side markings. “Could not be cops.”
    “There are two of them,” Van muttered, rolling down her window with the crank. “One’s on your side, Kels.”
    Tom tightened his grip on her shoulder.
    “Please step out of the car, ma’am,” said the man at Van’s window.
    “What seems to be the problem, Officer?” Van asked in as deferential a voice as Kelsey had ever heard from her. She kept both hands on the steering wheel but didn’t move to get out of the car.
    “Please step out of the vehicle,” he repeated. He bent to peer into the back seat. He had a trooper hat on, but Kelsey couldn’t see his uniform clearly. “All of you, please.”
    Van looked back at Kelsey. She shrugged and nodded, not knowing what else to do. Maybe her mom had called the state police, or the local police put out a BOLO or something. Van eased open her door. Tom did the same, blocking Kelsey with his body as she got out behind him. They all remained behind their car doors.
    The cop scanned Van up and down, eyed Tom, and moved to the side to examine Kelsey.
    “Kelsey Miller?”
    Adrenaline flooded her. This guy was either a cop sent by her mother, or one of the bad guys. She knew better than to trust blindly. But she couldn’t say no, in case he was a real cop.
    “Yes.”
    “Please come with us. Your mother’s been hurt and sent us to get you. She was concerned.”
    “Where is she?”
    “She’s safe. Please come with me.” He moved to take Kelsey’s arm. She tried to step back but the car was in her way. Tom shifted to block the officer, who glared at him.
    “You want to be getting back in your car, sir, and going on your way.” He looked at Van. “You, too, ma’am.”
    No way. “They have to come with me,” Kelsey said.