They were traveling south and Sam wouldn't tell her why. The last time she'd been on this stretch of road, she'd been traveling towards town instead of away from it. She'd been more miserable than words that morning when Ryker had driven her home from his house—the morning after her pregnancy reveal ended their commitment-phobic non-relationship relationship. Now, how fondly she looked back upon that month she'd spent with him. All her worries had seemed so huge but she'd been safer and more stable than she'd thought at the time. She'd had a job working with kindhearted people, the beginnings of cherished friendships... and she'd had Ryker. Infuriating, arrogant, brilliant Ryker, who, despite his flaws, had been fun and generous and caring.
She would give anything to go back to that time. Instead, here she was, racing along the coastline with a man she'd believed up until an hour ago was dutybound to protect her. Now, she didn't know what to make of him. He had been reduced to a state of desperation. His daughter's life was at risk and Emmie's own life hung in the balance because of it.
Desperate men were the most dangerous sort.
They'd left the streets of Moon Beach, turning onto the coastal highway that stretched south, leading to Ryker's house and eventually to California and beyond. Emmie used the time to try to talk sense into Sam. They could involve the authorities. He was an authority, after all; a federal agent. He had ties, connections. He should have told his bosses when he'd been approached by one of the Chamberlain Brother's stooges. They could have resolved the calamity, saved Ashlyn, and spared Emmie this twilight ride of terror.
Sam had slowed the car several times while she spoke, once even pulling into a narrow turnoff that faced the wide expanse of the Pacific Ocean. He let the car idle there for a good ten minutes, gun held low, not exactly pointed at her, but close enough so that she knew he wasn't giving her an opportunity to escape. As they sat, he tried to justify to her, and possibly to himself, why her idea would never have worked.
He'd already thought of everything she was saying. It was his first inclination, naturally, to involve his team, but there were problems with that. "I couldn't trust that one of them wasn't in league with the Brothers. And if they were, then what would happen to Ashlyn when they found out I hadn't stuck with their plan? They'd have killed her outright. You know they would have."
Plus, Sam reasoned, even if they'd managed to rescue her, that wouldn't have gotten Ashlyn to the treatment center in Germany. The Brother's European connections ran deep. He hadn't just taken them at their word, he'd checked into it, verified that what they were saying was true. There was an experiment happening, but it was closed to juveniles under thirteen. He'd never be able to get her into the program on his own, but they had pre-established relations with the right people. They'd promised him they could do it.
He knew their promises were shady at best, but the promise of a promise was enough for him. She would die unless they tried something drastic. Something desperate.
So, there they were; a desperate father and an innocent mother-to-be. Emmie's argument that involving the authorities was better than kidnapping her ended in silence. Her attempts to engage him went nowhere, but their car did. He pulled back out onto the road, still heading south. He picked up speed rapidly, as though the faster he went, the more determined he could allow himself to be.
Emmie wracked her mind for ways to keep him out of his head and in the present with her. She remembered reading about a young girl who'd been kidnapped about fifteen years ago. The parents gave a teary-eyed press conference in which they spoke through the camera directly to the kidnappers, repeatedly saying their daughter's name. The theory was that by naming her, it would humanize the little girl in their heads, therefore making her harder for them to kill. Emmie couldn't imagine that strategy working all the time, but in this case, it had. The kidnappers relented, dropping off the girl at a truck stop in South Dakota.
Remembering how Sam had slipped twice, calling her Aimee instead of Emmie, she employed this same bit of psychological logic now. "My mother named me Aimee after her eldest sister. She was an army nurse. Served in Vietnam. Mom wanted me to be strong like her, and compassionate and brave. It was hard giving that name up, but in the end, it's the traits, not the name, that I hope I've carried with me from Chicago. It doesn't matter if I'm called Aimee or Emmie or something else."
Sam said nothing; his eyes remained fixed on the road, which was now a thin strip of asphalt twisting like a shiny black ribbon between rocky cliffs and foaming seas.
"I don't know what I'm going to name the baby yet, but I have some ideas. I decided to wait to see if it's a girl or boy. Trisha swears it's a boy. Melody and Ava say girl. Shelley says it will be surprise twins, but the ultrasound definitely didn't show that! Anyways, I like Henry for a boy, possibly. Henry was my great-grandfather's name. What do you think?"
"Stop trying to talk to me, Emmie! You're just making this more difficult."
She leaned back in her seat. "What am I making more difficult, Sam? You trying to kill me? Because if that's what's going on here, if you're not whisking me away to some undisclosed place where I can have my baby and live my life, if you're planning on taking me out to the middle of nowhere so you can kill me, then hell yeah. I'm going to make it difficult for you!"
She glanced out the passenger window, contemplating if she and her baby would live if she jumped out of the car. Sam had stashed his gun on his left side while he drove, so she could possibly roll out before he'd be able to aim and shoot.
The ocean opened up below her and in places, the drop-off from the road was treacherously steep. As much as she wanted to get out of this car, the risk was too great. There had to be another way.
If memory served her correctly, it wouldn't be too much longer before they passed the private road leading to Ryker's house. Beyond there, she would be in uncharted territory, once again in a land she'd never been in before. Breathing deeply, Emmie tried to ward off panic.
She squealed as Sam took a turn at least twenty miles per hour faster than he should have. Up ahead, perhaps a quarter mile or so, a smaller vehicle approached. Sam pressed on the accelerator.
"Slow down, please! I know you want me dead, but do you want to get us both killed?"
He slapped his hands against the wheel. "Maybe that's what needs to happen..." Again, he increased their speed.
"What? No! You aren't thinking clearly, Sam. Sam! Slow the fuck down! Neither of us needs to die tonight!"
"But if I die too, that solves everything. Ashlyn will get her treatment. The Brothers will be off the hook for your death because I'll be the only one who can tie this all back to them."
"Please, Sam!"
"I'd have been found out by someone at WITSEC eventually anyways. And then the Brothers would have to have me killed. But if I die with you..."
The oncoming car slowed as it took a curve ahead of them. Sam kept up his insane pace.
"Please don't do what I think you're going to do, Sam!"
"I'm sorry, Emmie. I really am. This isn't your fault."
Emmie screamed as he swerved in front of the oncoming car, purposefully aiming to collide with it. Before that could happen, she yanked on the wheel, turning it away from that car and instead, veering them off the road and towards those treacherous depths.
The jolt as the car hit the post of a guardrail undid her. She screamed over and over as they rolled off the cliff, flipping upside down. They were still in motion when unconsciousness took her, in all its mercy, before the final collision of vehicle against rock brought everything to a crashing halt.
A/N: Don't hate me. I know, I know, I know. I am leaving you again not knowing Emmie's fate. But at least there aren't many days between now and Friday. And that's just the part of the book we're at, I'm afraid. As much as it kills you now to be kept in suspense, in a few weeks it will all be over... and you might even miss it a tiny bit! Maybe?
Youtube video is O Me by Gaby Moreno. I just heard this song yesterday and I love it so much! I think it captures the heartache we may all be feeling at the moment.
Thank you for all of the emoji comments on the last part. SO much fun! I will always accept emoji-filled comments with gratitude!
Votes for this update go to develop a teleportation device that can beam up Emmie out of that SUV, preferably before the final impact. This is not too much to ask for, right?
Today's dedication is for one of my very favorite TEC readers: the_sassy_geek, who also has a couple of stories up here on Wattpad that you should check out. Aadya is one of those people who makes Wattpad a fantastic community just by being her delightful self. Thanks for reading, Aadya!