Pit Stop Read Online Free Page B

let me go?”
    â€œNo,” he replied in a measured, calm tone. “It means I can kill you.” He kept his gaze on her, able to let it linger on her now that the road ahead was relatively straight and flat. “Do you understand? If you want to stay alive—if you want to give me a reason to keep you alive—you need to give it back to me.”
    Kelly stared at him, confusion clouding her expression.
    â€œDo you want to die, Kelly?” he asked, his voice taking on a sharper edge. “Do you? Is that what you really want?”
    He saw her lower lip quiver as the horrible realization settled into the little girl’s mind. But she didn’t say anything.
    â€œDo you want to die, Kelly?” he asked again, putting more pressure on the accelerator as the interstate began a long, steady hill climb.
    The flutter of her lip quickened. Then she dropped her eyes, and shook her head, slowly, from side to side. “No,” she muttered. “I don’t want to die.”
    â€œThen give it back to me,” he said. “Give it back to me and everything will be all right.”
    She raised her head to meet his gaze. He nodded to her, gently, and reached out with his right hand open, tilting his head expectantly.
    He saw defeat and acceptance flush through her expression, felt the tension ease out of his shoulders and neck as she brought the canister back into the car and rested it on her lap.
    â€œGood girl,” he said.
    A sudden thud from behind shook the truck and shoved him off the back of his seat.
    â€œWhat the—?” He glanced into his rearview mirror, his jaw dropped, then he flung his head around to look out the rear window in disbelief.
    It was the police cruiser again, ramming his truck from behind.
    Only, this time, it wasn’t carrying any cops.
    Reilly was at the wheel, with the kid’s dad sitting next to him.
    And he was charging forward again.

    â€œARE YOU OUT OF YOUR mind?” Garber asked when Reilly rammed the back of his pickup with the police cruiser. Because the truck sat high in relation to the car, Reilly was hitting the bumper with the top of the cruiser’s grill.
    â€œNeed to get his attention,” Reilly said, keeping his eyes straight ahead, his jaw set firmly.
    â€œAnd get Kelly killed at the same time!” Garber said. “You run him off the road, that truck rolls, whaddya think’s going to happen to her? She’ll get tossed out the window.”
    Reilly, eyes still forward, nodded. “She’s got her seat belt on.”
    Taking the police car had struck Garber as a pretty good idea. There was no way the Vega was going to catch his truck. When the cruiser went spinning into the median, and Reilly hit the brakes and jumped out, at first Glen thought the FBI agent was checking to see if the cop was okay.
    Glen figured the cop could look after himself. It was Kelly that Reilly should be focused on.
    But Garber quickly saw that Reilly’s intentions were more pragmatic than compassionate. Reilly was flashing his FBI credentials as he was opening the car door. The cop was awake and reasonably coherent, but his vision was impaired by the blood draining from a gash in his forehead.
    â€œNeed your vehicle!” Reilly barked.
    The cop said, “What?”
    â€œIs the car operational?” Reilly said. The engine was still running, but the way the car went off the road the steering could be shot to hell.
    The cop wiped blood from his eyes to get a look at Reilly’s ID. “I’m not giving up my car to some dumbass fed who—”
    Reilly reached into the car and grabbed the man by the shirt and hauled him out of the vehicle, tossing him into the weeds. Thecop was going for the weapon at his belt as he fell onto his back in the brush.
    â€œYou do not want to shoot a federal officer, pal,” Reilly said, getting behind the wheel as Garber ran around to the other side. “The keys are in