Fatal by Michael Palmer

Author:Michael Palmer [Palmer, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Suspense, Thriller, Mystery, C429, Extratorrents, Kat
ISBN: 9780553583618
Publisher: Bantam
Published: 2002-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

MATT SPED DOWN THE DIRT DRIVE WITH SOME confidence. The Land Rover was far better on the ruts than his street bike, but at the end of the drive, he could make a right turn and head to the wooded trail at the end of the road. The Harley certainly wasn’t equipped for off-road riding, but from what he remembered, the trail was too rugged and narrow for a car of any kind, even the one pursuing them.

“Duck down a little bit and the windshield will keep things out of your eyes,” he cried out.

The small windscreen was sloped to deflect air—and bugs—up and over the head of the driver and anyone on the passenger seat. Their arrangement, though, with Nikki in front, placed her face directly in the jet stream. She hunched over as he suggested and continued to be a perfect passenger, flowing with the turns of the bike rather than trying to help Matt make them happen, and keeping her exposed feet and ankles away from the scalding exhaust system.

As they neared the end of the drive, Matt risked a peek over his shoulder. Verne and Grimes were still a ways back, but it appeared as if they had made up some ground.

“Hang on tight!” he yelled as the end of the long driveway suddenly appeared.

He downshifted and just managed to lean through the ninety-degree right turn without sending the bike skidding out from under them. When he was a teen he had done some dirt-bike racing and even a little motocross, but the kids he topped in Geometry and English at school consistently trounced him on the track. Now what skills he did have were about to be sorely put to the test. They were on a six-hundred-pound touring machine headed toward the woods. He added just a bit of throttle and, engine screaming, they shot forward. Moments later he saw the high beams of the Land Rover dance against the trees as it, too, turned onto the road. After half a mile or so, the pavement turned to gravel, then to uneven, rocky dirt. The shocks on the Harley were more sluggish than those of an off-road machine and Matt had to slow a bit to keep the two of them from being bucked off.

“You okay?” he hollered.

Nikki nodded and ducked her head even farther down beneath the windscreen. The night was too cool and breezy for her to be comfortable in a set of scrubs. Her hands clutched his forearms with some strength, but he doubted she would be able to hang on tightly enough to remain aboard the passenger seat.

You bastard, Grimes, Matt was thinking, holding her in place. If it’s the last thing I do, you’re going to pay for this.

He scanned ahead, looking for the expected trail. They had already gone farther than he remembered. Instead of narrowing, though, the roadway actually seemed to widen and become more smoothly graded. Just then his high beam reflected brightly off the white

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