Page 56 of Release

“Good. Hun, with all this coffee I need to use the ladies room. Can we stop at that gas station up ahead there on the left?”

“Sure,” Alexandra answered. She flicked on her left turn signal and pressed on the brakes to slow down. “And thanks hun. I couldn’t do this without—”

The deafening sound of metal hitting metal filled Alexandra’s ears, followed by the sharp jolt that pitched their car forward, then the sensation of losing her breath when the front airbags deployed, and the excruciating pain in her neck as her head lurched forward and felt like it ricocheted into the steering wheel’s airbag. Hazy when the car finally coasted to a stop on the dirt shoulder of the highway, Alexandra looked over to Eva. “Eva. Are you all right?”

“Ouch. Yes…I think so. What happened?”

“Someone rear ended the car.” Alexandra looked in the rear view mirror. The hood of the other car was halfway on top of her trunk. “This is bad. Eva, can you call 9-1-1?”

“Yes.” Eva’s phone was still in her hand, which shook as she nervously swiped the screen to get to the keypad.

Alexandra raised one hand to the side of her head. Her head drooped to the driver side window, and she pictured Bash just as everything went fuzzy and faded to nothing.