The narrow bridge over the White River slipped behind them as Eli steered the truck east out of Shoals. They kept to the back roads, winding between fields just starting to green with summer growth. Neither spoke much. The folded note from the museum parking lot still sat between them on the bench seat, its blunt message like a third passenger they couldn’t ignore.
Kate broke the silence first. “If we stay on this road, it’ll take us past Hindostan Falls. We could… stop there for a few minutes.”
“Maybe,” Eli said, though his eyes were more on the rearview mirror than the road ahead. A dark sedan had been trailing them since the edge of town. Not close, not threatening — but always there.
They passed a line of sycamores, their mottled trunks catching the sunlight in quick flashes. When the trees opened again, the sedan was still there.
Kate noticed his glances. “Same car?”
“Yeah,” Eli said quietly.
The pavement narrowed, bordered on both sides by dense woods. Shadows stuttered across the windshield. The truck’s engine hummed steady, but something in the brake pedal felt… soft.
They crested a hill, and the sedan closed the gap, its grill filling more of the mirror. Eli tapped the brakes to check his speed. The pedal gave under his foot — too easily — and the truck barely slowed.
“Damn,” he muttered.
“What is it?”
“Brakes aren’t right.”
Ahead, the road curved sharply around a bluff. The sedan surged forward, as if sensing his trouble. Eli made a choice. He jerked the wheel right, bumping them onto a gravel farm lane in a cloud of dust.
Kate grabbed the dash. “What are you—”
“Buying us some time.”
They rolled down the lane toward a barbed-wire fence. Eli pumped the brake pedal, but it sank all the way to the floor. He let the truck coast to a stop on the slope, then killed the engine.
The sedan had slowed at the intersection, its driver a dark shape behind the glass. For a long moment, it idled there. Then it pulled away, disappearing around the bend.
Eli climbed out, crouched by the front wheel well, and swore under his breath. The brake line hung limply, put still attached.
Kate’s voice was tight. “They could have killed us.”
“They still might,” Eli said, straightening. He scanned the ridge above the road.
Something caught the light — a sharp, momentary glint, like sunlight on glass. Then it was gone.
Eli closed the hood. “Let’s get moving. Whoever’s up there isn’t finished.”
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