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Coripped the steering wheel tighter as her eight-year-old Toyota’s headlights flickered for the second ti, not for the first time, if she should’ve stopped in one of the small-town hway hadn’t see on her way out of the city as it did now

But then again, those motels had looked more Norman Bates than bed-and-breakfast She was probably better off taking her chances with her on-its-last-wheel car

She hadn’t planned to be out in boondocks Texas this late at night, but the chance to see as co from the family home of Dallas University’s top quarterback recruit had been too good to pass up Who knew so many men in suits had business in such a podunk Texas town?

She hadn’t gathered enough daether a story for the station yet, but she was getting there If she could get one of the players to slip up and talk, give her so scandal wide open and virtually secure her promotion to the on-air sidelines reporter for the Texas Sports Network

Her boss had already told her she was one of the final candidates Charli didn’t kno ainst, but she knew that she could go toe-to-toe with anyone on sports knowledge Plus, she felt like her screen test had gone well All she needed noas the one big story under her belt to show that she had the reporter chops as well

She se football garass and sweaty athletes, the deafening roar of the crowd cheering for their tea that would make her happier or any place she’d rather be The years of working her ass off behind the scenes would finally pay off Shefor a new car

She adjusted in her seat, but the faint flash of light in her rearview had her glancing in the hts pierced the black vortex behind her Her shoulders loosened a bit, her grip on the wheel easing For so she wasn’t the only person on this lonely road gave her a weird sense of comfort She pressed a button on her radio to tune into her favorite sports talk station and settled in for the last hour of her drive back to Dallas

But right when one of the hosts started bitching about the Cowboys offense, the glare of headlights becah bearabbed the mirror and turned it away from her “What the hell?”

She slowed down a bit, thinking the driver et past her But when she eased up on the gas, he didn’t go around, he just got closer Flash Flash Flash The lights created a strobe effect in her car, disorienting her She grabbed the steering wheel and jerked it to the left to move into the other lane, but the other car stayed on her rear as if it were tied to her bumper with rope

“Shit” She tried again, going back to the right lane, but the car followed, nearly clipping her rear bu since she’d pulled onto this highway morphed into a hot flood of panic

Whoever was in the car wasn’t trying to get past her—he was trying to get to her

She slaas pedal in an atteain her vision, but her four-cylinder Toyota was no er, ine drowned out the quiet hum of her own

She felt around for her cell phone, but the da had tue Keeping her hands fir into a zone it’d never ventured to, she tried to bump the phone closer with her left foot Once it ithin reach, she took one hand off the wheel and atterab for the cell Coers closed around her only lifeline, a hard jolt rocked the vehicle, knocking her head hard into the steering wheel and sending her world into a spin

The sound of squealing tires was the last thing Charli heard before everything went black