Colton First Responder. Linda O. Johnston

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      Except for the driver in the cab of the van. He’d been the same one who’d driven her to court.

      His name was Ari. They’d been introduced as she was led into the van at the prison and strapped in before heading to the courthouse. Not that he’d said a word to her then. He was young and skinny, with dark hair and a constant frown, dressed in a police uniform.

      Of course they’d send a cop to ensure that vicious, murderous Savannah wouldn’t harm anyone else.

      She cringed at the irony her own mind presented.

      Outside the courthouse, all Ari had done was to open the back door and unhook her when they’d arrived. Then he’d handed her over to another uniformed cop, who had led her inside to the courtroom where her attorney waited, as did the District Attorney, Karly Fitzpatrick. She’d been shown where to sit—as if that was a surprise. Right up front, facing the judge. The procedure had gone forward, with its terrible result, not even any bail, and she had been led back outside, handcuffed again and strapped once more into this van.

      Ari had acknowledged her only with a nod of his head.

      But now—well, she could at least try to get his attention. She turned as much as she could to face the closed window that led into the van’s cab.

      “Ari?” she called. “Ari, I know we’re still a distance from the prison, and...well, I have a bit of an emergency back here.”

      She had many emergencies, but she was making up the one she would tell him about.

      He didn’t respond, or at least she didn’t hear him.

      “Ari, could we please stop at a gas station or something? I really need to use the restroom.”

      She concentrated to hear beyond the vehicle’s rumble and the road noise beneath it in case Ari was mumbling, but she heard nothing.

      Not that she was surprised. Even if she did have that kind of emergency, he probably wouldn’t care. She’d either have to tough it out or just go—

      Bam!

      The van shook horribly at the same time Savannah experienced a shocking, deafening sound that lasted several seconds, maybe the loudest noise she had ever heard. She screamed, wishing yet again that her hands were free, this time so she could cover her ears.

      Better yet, she wished she could use them to brace herself, since the van was careening from side to side. She hurtled back and forth despite being strapped in. She had to protect herself.

      What had happened? What was that noise? Why hadn’t the van stopped? Had it hit something? Had something hit it?

      But no. The vehicle skidded and finally stopped with Savannah still attached to the seat, and even then the ground continued to shake beneath it.

      Noises of other kinds abounded, too—as if trees were thudding to the ground. Savannah added to the noise, calling for help, unsure what to do.

      She hadn’t wanted to return to prison—but was she instead going to die?

      She finally realized the likely source of the shaking, the bumping and the sounds.

      An earthquake.

      No time to think about it—though she’d been in a few smaller quakes and tremors here in Arizona. She hadn’t had her life endangered then.

      And now—what could she do?

      Before any ideas came to her, the worst noise and movement of all occurred—a smashing metallic sound, abrupt. The van had hit something...hard. Or been hit. Something must have crashed down onto the front of the stopped van, behind where Savannah now lay sideways on the bench, her back sore from where it had hit the partition.

      She screamed for help again. But she realized in a moment that one good thing—maybe—had come out of it. Her seat belt had loosened.

      The van finally stopped moving. Whatever had happened, it remained upright. And Savannah tried to stand, wondering if the vehicle would begin shifting again.

      Slowly, crouching, ignoring her soreness, which was fortunately not too bad, she made her way to the door. She had to go backward. The only way she had a chance of opening that door would be to use her hands, and they remained cuffed behind her.

      At least the van wasn’t moving any longer. She thought about calling out to Ari again but decided to wait, to try to get outside and find him, and maybe they could get to safety together.

      Better yet, maybe she could somehow sneak away.

      She wished she could see better. But the fact that the evening was already growing darker didn’t help. Even so, she managed to find the door with her bound hands behind her, as well as the handle on one side that opened it. Was it locked from the outside? She hoped not.

      She pushed down the handle—and the door opened! She felt like shouting in triumph, but this was only a small step in the right direction.

      Speaking of steps, could she find the ones at the back of the van and get down without falling? She wouldn’t be able to hold on with her hands behind her.

      She shoved the door open as well as she could, still moving backward, then very slowly lowered her right leg till her foot touched a step. She glanced down but could see very little in the darkness. She carefully allowed her left foot to join the right one, and then remained on that step for a few seconds, half expecting the ground to roll again beneath her—or for Ari to show up and shove her back inside.

      Neither happened. And after a short while she went down to the next step. The one below that was the ground, and she soon stood there, outside the van, breathing fast and allowing herself to smile, if only a little.

      She had beaten one hurdle but there could be plenty more to follow.

      She turned and looked at the road behind her. It was narrow, and there was some light shining on it from a few dim electric streetlights spaced long distances apart, probably put there for safety since the road was so rural.

      Yikes. It seemed amazing that any of the light poles had survived. Most of the trees around there hadn’t. Uprooted, they splayed onto the concrete, and one even blocked part of the road.

      Had it been one of them that hit the van? Savannah assumed so, so she started walking carefully around the vehicle on the driver’s side.

      Sure enough, a large tree had obliterated that part of the cab, crushing the car from the hood all the way to the passenger area. Savannah swallowed hard as she drew closer, looking at the smashed area where Ari had sat to drive.

      How amazing that the tree had only crushed the front of the van, and not where she had been sitting. Despite all that had been happening to her, she had actually experienced a little bit of luck.

      But what about Ari? Had he been hit by the tree?

      She hoped he’d had time to slide over to the other side, assuming it was less destroyed.

      As she got closer, she even called out his name. “Ari? Ari, are you okay?”

      She СКАЧАТЬ