Page 75 of Deceiver

“Well, thanks to your little biker, they got better...until now. That club is going to be removed from the picture, so I can continue without them in my way.”

I knew that Bill was suspicious of the club, hell, I was too. I thought they were involved, I knew they were into more than they were letting on, but I could have never guessed they were actually helping those kids. I made a mess of all this. If I had just trusted Western, I might not be here right now. Bill wouldn’t have the upper hand. The club wouldn’t be in danger of losing everything.

I screwed up.

So damned bad.

This all goes so much deeper than I could have ever imagined.

Did Bill know that all along? Was he playing me purely just to get the club on edge, to have the chance to dig deeper, to have them make a mistake? With him, it’s hard to know. He’s smart, there is no denying that. He couldn’t have gotten away with what he has, if he wasn’t clever. There has to be a way to bring him down, to make the world see what kind of man he is.

Colt said once, you have to take down the King. What if we were to just cut the King off at the knees, put a chink in the chain, wound him so he’s forced to come out of hiding?

Would that be enough?

Maybe taking Bill out, will bring forward the man behind all of this.

Right now, though, I have to get out of this car.

Bill has always made it clear he’s not letting me go.

He’s going to make sure I don’t see the light of day again.

That’s not going to happen.

We drive, and as we do, I come up with a plan.

It’s not a good plan, but it might just work.

Bill is sitting behind me, but he’s to my right so he can sit comfortably with the gun pointed at me. He’s on the backseat. If I crash the car just right, I can probably wound him enough for me to be able to get out. At least, put him in a daze long enough for me to escape. The only problem with my plan is...I might just end up hurting myself just as bad if I’m not careful.

I’m willing to take the risk, because if I don’t, I’m going to die regardless and I’m not going down without a fight.

I begin scanning the road for the perfect tree, the perfect ledge, anything that will get me out of this car and away from this man. The further we go out of town, the thicker the trees on the side of the road become and I know now is my chance to finish this. I take a deep breath and glance at Bill in the rearview mirror. He has the gun sitting in his lap, but his hand is covering it, ensuring I know he can point and aim at any moment.

He looks down at his phone and I know it’s my only chance.

Taking a deep breath and sending a prayer up above, I swerve off the road. Bill yells out, startled, but his voice only lasts seconds as the car slams into a tree. I brace on the steering wheel with my hands tightly wound around it as my body jerks forward. The crunching sounds of the car impacting the tree are louder than I would have ever anticipated.

My fingers slip off the steering wheel as the car does a dramatic spin, and my head slams down over it. The car then comes to a stop, a sizzling sound can be heard from the back. It takes me a moment to gather my bearings, but I know I have to move quickly. The hit on the tree is not as good as I’d like, and mostly the front is impacted, but I don’t take long to stop and think about it. I unbuckle my seatbelt, throw the door open, and run.

I don’t once look back to see how Bill faired.

I don’t care.

I run up to the side of the road, and frantically wave down a car. The distinct taste of copper fills my mouth and I know I’m bleeding. Someone must have been behind me and witnessed my crash, because a car is already coming to a stop and a man rushes out. “Ma’am, are you okay?”

I nod, my heart racing as I hear a car door slam down below.

Bill is alive.

The man in front of me doesn’t seem to notice, and I know I’ve only got seconds to convince him to help me.

“My car just slipped. I don’t know what happened. Can you take me into the hospital?”

The man nods. “Should we call the police? Are you alone?”

“Yes, I’m alone,” I say, a little too quickly but he doesn’t seem to notice. “I would rather just get to the hospital as soon as possible.”

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