She gagged as the pain grew in intensity. “Why now? You probably think … you could have … killed me days ago.”

“Months ago, Kendra. Don’t fool yourself.”

“Then why didn’t you?”

He smiled again. “I had time in prison and my sojourn in Mexico to decide exactly what I wanted for you. It all had to go according to plan.” He loosened the wire slightly, making it easier for her to speak.

“And it was part of your plan to try to fool us when you crossed into Mexico tonight? How did you get back across the border to the U.S.?”

“As I said, all according to plan. I bought two sets of documents before I left Mexico. Wingate and Childress. I saved the Victor Childress identity to return for our grand finale.”

“What a convoluted plan it turned out to be. Is it worth it to you?”

“Absolutely. Surely, you didn’t think a quick and uninspired kill was the way I wanted to go with you.”

“Of course not. You always liked to torture your victims first.”

“Much more interesting, no?”

“No.” She started to shake her head, then stopped as the wire bit deeper. “Just sad.”

“Hmm. Maybe sometimes. A twinge, now and then.”

Kendra looked back at Colby. He was, as always, supremely confident and self-satisfied. “So what is your great plan for me?”

“All in good time. First, I need you to lower your window and toss your mobile phone out. You won’t need it where you’re going.”

“Just take it, it’s all yours. The phone’s there … on the console.”

“Nice try, but your friends are far too technologically astute. I know they can use it to track you. So do as I say. Out the window, Kendra.”

She lowered her window and tossed out her phone. In the side view mirror, she saw it strike sparks on the freeway.

“Perfect. Thank you.”

“Do you know where we’re going, or am I just supposed to drive all night?”

“Oh, I definitely know where we’re headed. And deep down in your soul, so do you. It’s a special place for both of us.”

“I doubt that.”

“Do I really need to tell you?” he asked softly.

No, he didn’t. The awful realization had sunk home. Of course that’s where he’d take her. “We’re going to Coachella Valley. We’re going back to the gully.”

“Ah, I knew it would come to you. I knew this day would come. I’ve known it for four years, from the day I woke up in that hospital with a fractured skull. Did you know I’ve had a terrible ringing in my ears ever since that night? It has never quite gone away, a constant reminder of you, Kendra.”

Weapons. How could she get hold of a weapon? Her gun was in the glove box, but there was no way she could reach it.

“I’m sure that night hasn’t quite faded for the families of those two FBI agents you murdered there, either.”

“The honored dead. Those people should thank me. I made those men heroes.”

“You slaughtered them.”

“I saved them from an ordinary, mediocre existence. Those men didn’t have it in them to rise to the great heights of human achievement. Not like you do, Kendra. I was their only hope for an extraordinary life, and I delivered it to them.”

“What’s disgusting is that I know … you’re not saying this to goad me. You really believe it.”

“Of course I do. I never say anything I don’t believe. Think about it: Do you know anyone more honest than I am?”

Kendra’s eyes darted around the front seat. If only she had Olivia’s nasty box of tricks …

“You know the way, Kendra. And just know that if you manage to flag a police officer during our journey, I will kill him. And our fair city will have yet another fallen hero to mourn … and I will have made another ordinary life extraordinary. Do you doubt me?”

“No. Not for a second.”

“Good girl.”

*   *   *

KENDRA AND COLBY DIDN’T TALK for the remainder of their long drive to Coachella Valley, with Colby keeping his wire taut and painful against her throat the entire way. Kendra broke the silence as they turned and took the slow climb up Rock Road. “You haven’t been back here since that night, have you?”

“No. How did you know?”

“Because I’ve been here many times in the past few months. I knew you’d be drawn to this place, so I kept coming back to look for some sign of you here. I never saw any, but I knew you’d be back someday.”

“Correct as always, Kendra. Unfortunately for you. It has to end here. It’s a compliment to you and your abilities that I know I can’t let you live.” He paused. “And you didn’t only visit this place searching for me, did you? How many times did you dream of the gully, Kendra?”

“Too many times.”

“I knew it, I felt it.”

Kendra looked ahead to the hillside where she had seen Colby murder those two brave FBI agents. And just below it was the gully where she’d had her own horrible confrontation with him.

The wire around her neck loosened slightly, and as she glanced in her rearview mirror, she realized that Colby was also looking ahead and remembering that night. “You could have just gone away, Colby. No one was looking for you.”

“No one but you.”

Kendra picked up speed as she climbed the curvy mountain road, her headlights darting back and forth like machetes clearing the landscape. She could see the wooden roadside barrier and the dark waters of the quarry below. “No one was listening to me. You could have just stayed away and lived out the rest of your days as a free man.”

“I still can.”

“How?”

“This world has a short attention span. It got even shorter in just the few years I was away, with all of our texts, news bursts, alerts, and twenty-four-hour news cycles. There’s always another atrocity to push the last one aside, then another after that. No one will be looking for me in a few months. I’ll be a faint, unpleasant memory. Then I’ll be back, doing what I’ve always done, rescuing people from their mediocre lives.”

Dear God, his words held a terrible truth that could lead to an even more terrible reality. She could actually see it all coming to pass.

No. No. No.

Kendra took a deep breath. She couldn’t let it happen. “No, Colby. Not again. Never again.”

No weapons.

Only one way.

She spun the wheel hard left. The next moment, the car broke through the roadside barrier that separated them from the Coachella Quarry.

She heard Colby curse as her car became airborne in the darkness. The car plummeted thirty feet, then struck the still, deep water with a bone-crunching force that hit her at the exact same moment as the air bag. Her entire body throbbed with pain.

Water. Water everywhere, rising over her legs and stomach …

But she was alive!

But where was Colby…?

Move. Get the hell out. Now.

She clawed through the air bag, trying to reach her seat-belt latch.

Success.

Her hands flew to her throat, where Colby’s wire still dangled. She slid her fingers underneath to loosen it, then slowly lifted the wire over her chin, her nose, her forehead…”

Zippp.

It suddenly closed over her head and fingers.

Pain. Sharp, excruciating pain …

She looked back at Colby. With no seat belt and no air bag, his face had borne the brunt of their impact. Blood dripped from his chin and nose, and he’d lost several front teeth.

He braced himself against the backseat and pulled on the wire.

She pushed upward on the wire as it cut into her scalp. Her hands were a bloody mess. Just a little bit more …

The water rose more quickly now, and the car listed to the left. She unlocked the door and leaned against it.

It didn’t budge. The pressure was just too great.

She looked desperately into her rearview mirror.

Colby had his knife out. He raised it with his right hand while keeping her head pulled back with his wire.

No, dammit.

She kicked the drivers-side window. Water flooded inside, blasting Colby back into his seat.