Mrs. Holmes [Book III]

High Speed Confrontation

The sudden jerk of the car almost makes me fall off of the seat if I hadn't caught myself with my arms. I brace and hold fast as the carjacker continues to accelerate through wild turns and uneven terrain. Finally it sinks in. The carjacker killed the chauffeur and stole the sedan. With me in it. Must not have noticed me, so this is inadvertent abduction.

I wait until the road is smoothly paved again before daring to shift and peek at the carjacker. One look at the gorgeous, petite, tan brunette and I know exactly who I'm with. Doina Funar.

My mind races as I try to come up with a plan. Finally, being taken over my maternal instinct, I slowly scoot up into a sitting position behind Doina- which happens to be all black. I grab her by the hair, "Didn't see me did you?!"

She is momentarily startled, veering a bit. Then she cackles, "Susanna Holmes! How lovely for you to accompany me on this roadtrip!"

"You killed my chauffeur and I must say you're a pretty bad substitute." She guffaws and I peek at the speedometer. Over one hundred and thirty kilometers an hour- more than eighty miles per hour on a slick, icy country road in the thick of winter. In the dark.

"I said so before. I'll die before gracing any prison. Or, I can get away with you as insurance. You and your precious baby- hah! I'll take you both with me! Double the pain!"

I grab her brown hair and twist, pulling it harder and tighter until her head is against the headrest, "You should never underestimate a mother, Doina. I will do anything to protect my baby."

"It won't matter. It's both of you alive or both of you dead." She grits out, accelerating more.

"There are police checkpoints set up to catch you. There's no way you'll escape this time. You're done. It's over. Finished."

She swerves, trying to loosen my grip. I knock into the window and instead grip harder, "If you want to see your precious child, you'll stop grabbing my hair and call off the police."

"You don't play that way, so I won't either."

"Fine then. I'm not going to prison so I'll take you and that baby with me to the afterlife." She speeds up even more and I look up ahead. In the distance I can see a tight bend with only a meager guard rail. The hazard sign symbol shows that what comes after that rail is a steep drop and a pit of rocks. I inhale and gulp, knowing I only have less than a minute.

Remembering the umbrella, I twist and manage to wrap my free hand around the bamboo handle. As I try to pick it up it gets stuck and I growl with frustration, yanking harder.

To my pure surprise, the handle pops off and I find myself holding a gun. I finally take my other hand away from Doina and pick up the other part, getting an idea. I sit back up and press the gun to her temple, "Slow down, Doina. Or else."

"Hah! Like you would kill me!"

"I don't need to kill you. I can just shoot you." Her attention is diverted enough so that I see her lift off the pedal. I take the opportunity and aim, firing past her ear and landing a bullet in her foot. She yowls and screams, letting go of the driver's column.

I reattach the handle and reach the umbrella to the wheel, hooking it on the top part so that I can steer. Unfortunately the car doesn't slow down enough to coast and stop before the guardrail, I quickly realize. I peer out of the windows into the darkness, looking for an out.

On the right side of the road, coming up, is a flat dirt clearing. Dear Lord, Protect my baby. I yank the steering wheel hard to the right and brace the umbrella before falling into the seat and bracing for impact with my arms, bringing my legs up to shield my belly.

I feel the car turn and hit an ice patch,  screetching off the pavement and hitting the dirt. My breath escapes me as the car lifts up in the air. I belatedly reach for the seatbelt, buckling it just in time as the sedan flips over. I shut my eyes and grit my teeth as we flip two more times before rolling into an embankment and stopping at an angle- upside down in the dirt.

It's then I feel an extreme pain in my upper left arm before blacking out.

Thank you for reading!!