Colt Crawford - Chapter 13 (Wednesday)

It was just after 10:00 when Colt and Krissy began to wind their way down from the Chief’s hilltop home. The moon wasn’t quite full, but it did shed some light on the dark road. Colt was carefully maneuvering the car back toward the main road that would take them back to sea level when he glanced at the rear view mirror and noticed two headlights approaching. At first he thought nothing of it, but when he realized that it was traveling at much faster rate than his car was going, he began to get nervous.

***
Creighton Ford sat alone in his living room. He had taken a huge gamble and, for once, it had paid off. His own stunned silence was drowned out by the sound of the screaming Texas fans on his TV set. No one had predicted that Texas could defeat the undefeated Gators, but it had just happened and Creighton’s financial worries were about to end.

The feelings of relief and invincibility that flowed through his veins made his mind jump to the next big event. The Super Bowl. Could he pick the final score for that game too? Images of financial security flooded his inflated ego. No more day job. A new TV. A place on the beach. It was all too good to be true. But for now, he had a payment to make to save his girlfriend’s life. Even if the relationship was doomed by his suicide attempt, he still owed it to Samantha to call off the killers.

***
The impact of the speeding vehicle against the back of Colt’s car was sudden. The angle of the carefully planned collision caused the back end of the BMW to slide to the right and veer toward the side of the road. As the convertible skidded across the dark and narrow street, fear gripped its two occupants. Colt was fighting the wheel, attempting to steer back onto the road just as a second impact rattled the car.

The once pristine vehicle with the scarcely used copilot seat came to rest with the passenger door wedged up against a large oak tree. The side-impact airbags had deployed, thus cushioning Krissy’s head from the window, but doing little to prevent rattled nerves.

Struggling to clear his head, Colt glanced out his window to see two red tail lights disappear in the distance.