Page 1 (1/2)

Part I

JUST SECONDS

FROM A CLEAN

GETAWAY

Life is a gift that iven back,

and joy should arise from its possession

It’s too damned short, and that’s a fact

Hard to accept, this earthly procession

to final darkness is a journey done,

circle completed, work of art sublime,

a sweet melodic rhyme, a battle won

--THE BOOK OF COUNTED SORROWS

ONE

1

An entire world hummed and bustled beyond the dark raht seemed empty, as hollow as the vacant cha, she sluer seat of the Honda

Serried ranks of ancient evergreens receded up the slopes that flanked the highway, parting occasionally to accommodate sparse stands of winter-stripped ed black branches However, that vast forest and the for did not reduce the eht As the Honda descended the winding blacktop, the trees and stony outcrop-pings seees without real substance

Harried by fierce wind, fine dry snow slanted through the headlight beams But the storm could not fill the void, either

The emptiness that Lindsey perceived was internal, not external The night was bri, as ever, with the chaos of creation Her own soul was the only hollow thing

She glanced at Hatch He was leaning forward, hunched slightly over the steering wheel, peering ahead with an expression which ht be flat and inscrutable to anyone else but which, after twelve years of e, Lindsey could easily read An excellent driver, Hatch was not daunted by poor road conditions His thoughts, like hers, were no doubt on the long weekend they had just spent at Big Bear Lake

Yet again they had tried to recapture the easiness with each other that they had once known And again they had failed

The chains of the past still bound them

The death of a five-year-old son had incalculable e everyeach new blossom of joy Jimmy had been dead foras he had lived, yet his death weighed as heavily on them now as on the day they had lost hi in a low orbit overhead

Squinting through the smeared windshield, past snow-caked wiper blades that stuttered across the glass, Hatch sighed softly He glanced at Lindsey and s, barren of amuse, changed his hway

The three lanes of blacktop--one descending, two ascending--were disappearing under a shifting shroud of snow The road slipped to the botto into a wide, blind curve In spite of that flat stretch of pavement, they were not out of the San Bernardino Mountains yet The state route eventually would turn steeply doard once ed around theled upward more sharply than before, while on the far side of the road, a black ravine yawned White uardrails marked that precipice, but they were barely visible in the sheeting snow

A second or two before they caer She said, "Hatch …"

Perhaps Hatch sensed trouble, too, for even as Lindsey spoke, he gently applied the brakes, cutting their speed slightly

A downgrade straightaway lay beyond the bend, and a beer distributor’s large truck was halted at an angle across two lanes, just fifty or sixty feet in front of them

Lindsey tried to say, oh God, but her voice was locked within her

Whilea delivery to one of the area ski resorts, the trucker evidently had been surprised by the blizzard, which had set in only a short while ago but half a day ahead of the forecasters’ predictions Without benefit of snow chains, the big truck tires churned ineffectively on the icy pave around and get itunder his breath but otherwise as controlled as ever, Hatch eased his foot down on the brake pedal He dared not ja the Honda into a deadly spin

In response to the glare of the car headlights, the trucker looked through his sideAcross the rapidly closing gap of night and snow, Lindsey saw nothing of the man’s face but a pallid oval and twin charry holes where the eyes should have been, a ghostly countenance, as if son spirit was at the wheel of that vehicle Or Death hi for the outerhway not blocked

Lindsey wondered if other traffic was co uphill, hidden from them by the truck Even at reduced speed, if they collided head-on, they would not survive

In spite of Hatch’s best efforts, the Honda began to slide The tail end ca away froreasy, out-of-control motion was like the transition between scenes in a bad dreah she was restrained by a safety harness, she instinctively pressed her right hand against the door and her left against the dashboard, bracing herself

"Hang on," Hatch said, turning the wheel where the car wanted to go, which was his only hope of regaining control