The Joseph File by Alfred Harris

Author:Alfred Harris [Harris, Alfred]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Brash Books
Published: 2020-03-03T22:00:00+00:00

They had been driving along the country road in silence. Finally Maggy asked, “Is it much further?”

Dave was about to check the map the gas station attendant had provided when he noticed a car in his rear-view mirror. Big and powerful, it was coming up fast. His hands tightened on the wheel.

Maggy, alarmed by the expression on his face, asked, “What’s the matter?”

“There’s a car behind us.”

She turned around in her seat and looked back.

“Can you see who’s inside?” Dave asked.

“Two or three people. You think they’re after us?”

“They’re not just going for a drive, not at that speed.” He pressed the accelerator, anxious to see what the other car would do.

“They’re going faster, too,” Maggy exclaimed.

The car was still a good distance behind, but now it was closing in fast.

“What are we going to do?” Maggy asked, excitement in her voice.

“I don’t know,” Dave told her. “We can’t outrun them, not in this car.”

“Try!”

Dave pressed harder on the accelerator. The car leaped ahead for a moment and, then, sluggishly dropped back. It wouldn’t do much more than sixty.

Maggy looked back. “They’re still catching up!”

The road was narrow—two lanes, but with hardly any shoulder, and it dipped badly as it snaked across the countryside.

“You’ve got to go faster, Dave, they’re almost up to us.”

Dave pumped the gas pedal again and again. Each time the speed increased, ragged for a moment, then dropped off.

Maggy screamed over the noise, “They’re right behind us.”

Dave glanced at his rear-view mirror. Behind him, he saw the heavy chrome of the big car not more than thirty feet away.

Suddenly a front wheel hit a pothole in the road, and the steering wheel was almost wrenched out of Dave’s hand. He struggled with it, forcing the car to stay on the road, while behind him he thought he heard the sound of a honking horn.

Maggy, who had almost been thrown off the seat by the sudden jar, braced herself with a hand on the dash. “Dave, my God! They’re right on our bumper!”

Ahead, Dave suddenly saw a small dirt road leading off to the right. Braking hard, he pulled on the wheel. Speed dropped and, almost at the same time, the car slewed violently, but, miraculously, made the turn, scattering gravel as it gradually slowed.

The big car streaked by behind them, but not before Dave had managed to see its occupants—two teenaged boys and a girl.

Once Dave had brought the car to a stop, Maggy leaned back, grinning. “Wow, I’ve never had a ride like that!”

Dave’s face, however, was ashen, the knuckles of his hands, still on the wheel, white. “Kids,” he said, “just a bunch of kids out for a joyride.”

Maggy looked at him, noting how upset he was. “You had no way of knowing.”

“I could have killed us both. We could both be dead by now.”

The side road was only a few miles farther on. Dave turned left and drove along it silently. Maggy, attempting to lighten Dave’s mood, chatted merrily, but he brought her attention back to their mission by indicating something up ahead with a nod of his head.

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