Page 47 of The First Gentleman

And then he’s not.

Behind him, a car with its high beams on is coming up fast. Too fast for this weather.

Fifty yards. Then thirty.

Garrett edges closer to the shoulder.

The big vehicle is not slowing down. It’s throwing off white plumes of water.

Garrett reduces his speed from fifty to forty.

The headlights are right behind him now.

“Go around, idiot!” he mutters. “Go around!”

Bam!He feels the hard jolt to his rear bumper. His car fishtails, then spins. His head bangs against the side window. He sees a blur of sky and trees, then he’s flying off the road. His car rams into the side of a ditch. Garrett feels something explode in front of him and hears the loud blare of the car horn.

He takes a breath. Then another. He’s covered with powder from the airbag. His cell phone has been knocked off the dashboard. It’s nowhere in sight.

But he’s alive.

The car is resting at a forty-five-degree angle, pressing Garrett against the driver’s-side door. He sees car lights on the road above the embankment. Then, through the rain, he sees two figures stumbling down the slope.

Before he can think or register what’s happening, the window on the passenger side shatters. Pebbles of glass hit him. He looks up and sees two dripping faces leaning in. Two men.

“How many hints do you need?” one of the men says. Garrett recognizes the voice. It’s the bouncer from Raymond’s Tavern. The hulk, Donnie.

“Tony wants this book to stop now.” That’s the smoker from Tony’s office.

Garrett is still in shock. Hard to grasp what he’s hearing.

“No more warnings,” the smoker says. Garrett sees a black shape in his hand.

The hand stretches toward him. Gun!

Garrett shouts, “No!”

The blast lights up the inside of the car.

CHAPTER

39

The man calling himself Jack Doohan pulls up as the black sedan speeds away.

He steps out of his car into the sleet. Sees the fresh skid marks on the icy gravel. He walks to the shoulder and looks down into the ditch. The subject’s rental car is about twenty feet below, on its side. Subject not visible.

Doohan is not sure what just happened. But based on experience, he has a pretty good idea.

For a few seconds, he stands there in the wintry mix, considering his options.

He looks back down the road and sees a vehicle headed his way. An SUV with a light bar. Not lit up. Local cop or state trooper. Probably just on patrol.

But a stopped car in this weather might draw attention. Doohan whips out his camera and snaps a picture of the subject’s vehicle. Then he jumps back into his own car and pulls away from the scene.

Don’t get involved.

Observe and report.

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