Chapter 9 - The Long Road North
The black town car led the way, its twin exhaust pipes cutting clean black lines through the freezing mountain air, followed by a reinforced livestock transport van driven by Rico, with Evelyn Vance riding shotgun to monitor the dog’s vitals in the back.
Tessa sat in the passenger seat of her own rusted 2011 Ford Ranger, the heater actually blowing lukewarm air for the first time in three weeks—thanks to a five-minute roadside fix by Dante’s driver, who had apparently spent six years as a military mechanic before joining the Salvatore security detail.
She watched the town car’s taillights blink red as Dante slowed for the turn onto Route 9, heading north toward the high country where the pines grew thick and the snow stayed on the ground until May.
Her phone buzzed in the cup holder.
She picked it up. A text message from an unknown number.
“If you break the speed limit in my district, Miss Rivera, I’ll buy the state police department just to give you a ticket.”
Tessa let out a short, sharp laugh, tapped out a quick reply with her thumb, and tossed the phone back onto the dash.
“Try and catch me, Salvatore. My brakes are better than yours.”
May you like
She shifted the Ford into fourth gear, let out the clutch with a familiar shudder, and followed the black car into the dark.
Behind them, Pine Ridge Animal Center grew smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror until it disappeared entirely behind a ridge of hemlocks and winter frost. The flickering fluorescent light in the hallway was gone. The reinforced door was locked. And for the first time in eight days, the mountains were quiet.
