a deluge. The sky opened up and dumped an ocean onto the highway. The wipers on th

ripping the steering wheel with wh

, squinting through the windshiel

wish," Ben muttered,

Red brake lights stretched out ah

erything

" Ben said

jumped. "Turn

"Dispatch, we have a multi-vehicle pileup near mile marker 42. Tractor-tra

minu

e shoulder,"

llegal,"

Black smoke was rising into the rain-strea

van onto the gravel shoulder and in

een-wheeler lay on its side across three lanes. A sedan was crushed a

rens yet. They were

he kept under the seat. Her mother had been a war correspondent in the Balk

ous!" Ben yelled as

llets of ice. She stepped out, her heels sinking into the mud. S

reamed back at Ben. "Wi

ed. The driver was slumped over the wheel,

e metal slick with rain and diesel fuel.

an you

oaned. "My le

She tried to pry the door open,

r something to break

rough the sou

a tu

ad. The rider had bailed, but the bike-four hundred pounds of steel-was sliding sideways, sp

!" someon

't think.

rowing herself backward into the

nd hard. The air

truck right where she had been

um. Her right foot twisted violently in

O

le-not a break, but a severe, tearing wren

the sound lost

She tried to move her foot. Agony. She gritted her teeth, forcing herse

headlights cutting through the glo

shoulder, forcing their way through the debris

ed thirty

f up on her elbows,

f the middl

las. They weren't protecting themselves. Th

harcoal trench coat that looked like it cost more than the v

ped the umbrellas and sprinted toward the tr

h coat stood alone i

were shaking, slippery with mud and bloo

zoom

eekbones. Eyes the color of slate

erling. T

raiser in Manhattan right now. What was

tur

lens, his ey

... annoyed. Cold. Like she was a c

apped th