Excerpt: The Gamble

Cecilia cleaved the night in her Lexus―a shiny black knife parting the darkness. She had no concern for the hunt, just her cash prize, she wasn’t greedy. She was speeding, though not enough to draw attention from cops. She glanced down at the GPS just in time to feel the impact of her opponent’s car shouldering into her passenger side, pushing her forcefully into the guardrail. Toe on the brake and she dropped back, leaning heavily on the steering wheel and hoping for a three-lane merge to the nearest off-ramp. Her opponent was quick and intercepted her mid-swerve, again corralling her to the left side of the freeway. A quick heel-toe combination, brake then gas, her opponent on her bumper and it was too late. The PIT maneuver spun her and the world became a wrenching blur of stringy light wrapping the darkness. Her car tore through the guardrail with a wild metallic scream, the impact snapping her teeth shut on her tongue. Then she was flying. Time passed, she could tell, though it felt as if she had just blinked. She was still spinning, yet her eyes told a different story. The passenger window shook inward, sparkling like ice. Her black evening dress pulled taut against her skin as the fabric bunched between knuckles thrust near her face. The passenger window’s jagged teeth bit at her as she was pulled through. The smell of Old Spice hung heavy and a black gun-barrel-eye stared at her indifferently, then nothing.