Shine (Kentucky Outlaw Book 1) (23 page)

“Really?
 
Why?”

“We’re done here,” said Essing standing up from the desk.
 
He was on her in two steps and yanked her out of the chair.
 
She stumbled as he brought her out the back door of the offices.
 
He pushed her hard against his Cadillac and she hit her hip on the side view mirror.

“You’re driving,” Essing said, throwing her the car keys.

She missed and bent down to grab them, and when she rose up she had a small gun trained on her.
 

“Go on, get in,” he said, indicating with the gun.
 
She got in the driver’s seat and started the car.
 
Essing was in the back seat, directly behind her before she could even think to get away.
 
Julie felt the gun pressed into the back of the seat.
 
“Drive.”

Julie got the car moving, noting that Essing hadn’t put on his seatbelt.
 
“You’ve told me everything else.
 
Just tell me why Traxler wants the Daltons out of the picture.”

“Turn left here.
 
He doesn’t want them out of the picture, that’s his fucking problem.”
 
She saw Essing roll his eyes in the rearview mirror.
 
“I hate this fucking place.
 
I never wanted to come to this bullshit town.
 
Even Lexington has the University of Kentucky and bars where I could hook up with college girls.
 
This place just has goddamn moonshine and backwards ass ways.”

Essing gave her more instructions.
 
He wouldn’t saying where they were going, but it was obvious they were headed towards the factory district.
 

“Are you taking me to where Nick was killed?” she asked.

“Return to the scene of the crime?
 
Hell no.
 
Make right at the stop sign here.
 
Traxler knew that if Butler got your father elected, Nick would help the Daltons get their liquor bond.”

“And that was a reason to kill him?”

“You don’t know anything.
 
Guess that’s what you get living up on that hill.
 
If the Daltons stop making moonshine and start selling in stores, how much money do you think Traxler is going to lose?
 
He sells to everyone, their shine is so good even I drink it.”

So there it was, Nick had been killed because of money.
 
Julie felt deflated. She’d thought it would be something bigger, epic even, but he had been killed for something as stupid as money.
 
Now Julie was about to die, too.
 
She just hoped that the truth would come out eventually somehow.
 
Then a funny feeling came over her.
 
The car was riding next to a deep ditch that ran the length of the road, an overspill canal to keep the road from flooding.
 
What did it matter?
 
Essing was going to kill her anyway.
 

“What the hell is that?” she yelled.

In the rearview mirror, she saw Essing look out the window and she felt the gun leave the back of the seat.
 
Julie jerked the wheel hard and her stomach went into her throat as the Cadillac’s front end tipped down and the bottom of the ditch rushed up to meet them.

There was a loud crash, the windshield spider webbed, and the seat belt bit into Julie’s shoulder.
 
The back of her head exploded with pain as something heavy hit the base of her skull.
 
Her vision went blurry and when it cleared she was staring at the ground outside the cracked glass.

There was a moan from the backseat as her fingers fumbled with the belt buckle.
 
She managed to get it off and somehow got the heavy door open.
 
She swung her left leg out and while getting her right leg to follow suit she saw Essing’s gun laying against the radio.
 
That must’ve been what hit her head.
 
She grabbed it then got out of the car.
 

Her knees buckled when she tried to stand and she fell in the cold dirt, but got up quickly.
 
After climbing to the road she looked back, the car was at a forty-five degree angle and she couldn’t see Essing in the backseat.
 
She scrambled up the hill and ran away as fast as she could.
 
Then she pulled out her phone and called Ethan.

This was bad.
 
This was very bad.
 
Ethan hit the accelerator, but no matter what he did he couldn’t get away from the cops.
 
He told himself to calm down and just drive.
 
He told himself he’d been in tougher spots before, but he couldn’t convince himself of that.
 
He’d been in jams before, but now there were two cops on his tail and he was a long way from home.

One of the cruisers popped his rear bumper and he felt the front end of the Mazda lurch to the left. He coaxed the wheel back to the right and managed to stay on the road.
 
He had gotten lucky last time, there was no way this car was going off road again and he was getting away with it.

The night hadn’t start badly.
 
After he’d left Julie at the house, they had gone to the still to load every drop of shine they had in their stores.
 
The ride out to Ohio County was a piece of cake.
 
He’d run into a cop on the way, but he had lost him easily and had gotten the truck to the drop spot with no problems.
 
They’d sold their liquor, gotten a major payday, and had headed back.
 
The truck was sticking to the highways now that they weren’t carrying anything illegal, while Ethan kept to the back roads and smaller state highways since the car needed to stay off the radar.
 
Then, on the outskirts of Richmond, some damn cop looking to make a name for himself came up on him hard and was now trying to run Ethan off the road.

He hadn’t even been speeding, since he was trying to keep from drawing attention to himself, but even with the stolen license plate on the back of the car, the whole state must’ve been on the lookout for this car and now, just thirty miles from his house, everything was all coming down around him.

He shifted into third and the needle jumped to eight thousand RPMs, causing the sleek little RX-8 to zoom forward, giving him some distance from the cops, not enough to lose them, but enough to keep them from smashing him up anymore.
 
He knew it was just a matter of time before they tried to shoot out his tires, and maybe even shoot him, depending on how trigger-happy the redneck cops were in that area.

The one clear advantage he had over them was his driving skill.
 
The police had a lot of horsepower under their hoods, but none of them were much use behind the wheel.
 
He could gain a good amount of distance in the curves, but there just weren’t enough of them on that little highway.

The phone rang inside the car and Ethan reached for the phone to shut it off.
 
He saw it was Julie, but he hit the hang up button anyway.
 
He could talk to her later, either after he got away or through the bars of whatever prison he’d end up in.
 
Just when his right hand was back on the wheel the phone rang again.
 
OK, twice now, something must be up, so he answered it and her hard ragged breathing coming through the car speakers.

“Ethan,” he heard Julie say.
 
He knew immediately something wasn’t right.
 
Her voice was tense and she sounded shaky.

“Julie, what’s wrong?”

“It’s Essing, Ethan.
 
Essing and Alexander.
 
They had Nick killed.
 
Essing is trying to kill me, too.
 
I left him in the car, but he’ll be coming for me.”

“Julie, what the hell are you talking about?”

“I crashed his car, Ethan.
 
I see him.
 
He’s out of the car and he’s coming for me.”

Ethan didn’t know what was going on, but he knew she was in trouble.
 
He pressed harder on the accelerator, taking the curves too fast.
 
He gripped the wheel tightly with his gloved hands and managed to steer through the bends in the road.
 
When he hit a straightaway he threw the car back into fourth, got a shot of speed.
 
The flashing red and blue lights in his mirror dropped back more, but still not enough to lose them.
 

Ethan saw the sign for Interstate 75, pulled the wheel hard and flew up the ramp.
 
At the top the car’s wheels left the road for a heart pounding second, then landed back onto the pavement.
 
His front end skidded to the left and he regained control just as a semi-truck went past him, honking loudly.

He was still on the line with Julie.
 
“Honey, are you OK?”

“I’m hurrying, Ethan, but I don’t know where to go.”

“I’m on my way, where are you?”

“Down by the fertilizer plant.”

 
“There are plenty of places to hide there.
 
I want you to hang up the phone and concentrate on getting away.
 
OK?”

“OK.
 
How long until you get to me?”

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.
 
You’re going to have to hang on a bit.
 
Hang up and call the cops.
 
Get a better feel of where you are.
 
Street sign, something, then call your brother and tell him to get his ass in gear.”

She said she would and hung up.
 
The police cruisers were still behind him.
 
He wondered if they had helicopters.
 
Would he be in one of those police chases he saw on the news?
 
He didn’t know how he would get out of this one, and at that point he really didn’t care.
 
All that mattered was getting to Julie.
 
He was on a main highway now, so the cops chasing him were surely calling in reinforcements.
 
They could put roadblocks up at anytime.
 

He reached for the phone again and dialed Ged.
 

“You back already?” his brother asked.

“Fuck no, I’m in real hot water.
 
I got two cops on my ass and I ain’t shaking them, but that’s not the problem.
 
Julie’s in trouble.
 
Real bad fucking trouble. Nick’s killer is after her.
 
She’s down by the factories, near the fertilizer plant, so I need you to haul ass down there and help her if you can.
 
I don’t think I’m going to make it, the cops are going to grab me any second so I need you to do it.”

“Ethan, we’re still on the Bluegrass Parkway outside of Versailles.
 
It’ll take us at least an hour to get there in this heap.”

“Jesus Christ, what the hell?
 
I took the long way to avoid getting spotted.
 
You should be home by now.”

“We stopped to eat.”

Ethan slammed his hand against the wheel.
 
“Then call Uncle Lenny and wake his ass up.
 
I’m going to need a goddamn lawyer.”

He hung up the phone and saw more police up head.
 
Flashing lights, red and blue, lots of them, were up ahead on the interstate waiting for him.
 
He guessed he wasn’t just dealing with locals anymore; this had to be state police.
 
Ethan wrenched the car to the right, hitting the off ramp.
 
He knew what his final destination was and the cops didn’t, so he was going to use that to his advantage.
 
He spilled the car onto a smaller state highway, his back end sliding out as he cursed and stomped the accelerator.
 
In his mind he spoke to Julie, telling her he was on his way, and to please, please hang on.