A million glass fragments exploded into her face moments before Jorja's body was flung to the left, then came smashing into the driver’s side hard steel door. Pain ripped through her head for the briefest of moments as her body lifted off her seat and hung weightless in the car before she came crashing down onto the dashboard. Feeling like she was inside a washing machine being pummeled on all sides by concrete boxing gloves, she tumbled and tossed out of control inside the tight space. Barely conscious of her surroundings her body left the car then slammed face-first into thorny foliage before she flipped over and thudded onto her back. Unable to breathe much she lay still, willing her mind to catch up with what had just happened. As her thoughts became clearer and the dark sky above her head came into vision, she knew she had been in a car accident. At first, she thought she might have been the cause since she was so distracted by the news of Ewan's passing. But then she recalled the deliberate thrusts into the side of her car by a silver pickup truck that had followed the initial collision. Someone had intentionally run her off the road.
She coughed, tasting the metallic tang of blood in her mouth. Ejecting it out the side of her mouth she tried sitting up but couldn't. Something was trapping her legs. When she lifted her head to see, she saw her legs had been caught between the branches of a small tree that had twisted round her legs, trapping her. Further inspection revealed the tree had saved her from rolling down a steep hill toward several sharp boulders that lined the edges of a large piece of rural land. Heaving hard as her torso twisted to one side she tried to free one leg. Pain shot through her ribs and she could hardly breathe. Again, she tried, this time trying to free the other leg instead. It worked, but she was now upside down lying headfirst toward the large boulders at the foot of the cliffside. One slip of her still trapped leg and she would slide down into the rocks below.
And that was one fall she knew she would not survive.
Overhead a jumbo jet flew low, its powerful turbines vibrating throughout her body. The plane's positioning and direction of flight indicated that she was on the east side of the airport, which meant the runway was just on the other side of the land below her.
Steeling herself, she tightened her stomach muscles into a sit-up and reached toward the tree trunk, relying on every bit of muscle in her abdomen to pull her upright. But the attempt proved futile when pain ripped through her left arm the moment she tried to take hold of the tree. Cringing in agony, she collapsed onto her back and clutched her arm to her chest. Although not broken, her arm was severely sprained, rendering it entirely unusable. Tears welled in her eyes and a sense of utter hopelessness and fear overwhelmed her.
Another plane took off and roared overhead. She couldn’t give up, she thought. She had to fight and do what she needed to do, now more than ever. For Ewan. For Ben. For herself.
Using her uninjured arm, she attempted to sit up again, reaching into a cross-body crunch to grab hold of the tree. When her fingers eventually curled around the young tree's nearly smooth stem she pulled her body toward it, hugging it for dear life when she finally managed to sit up. Blood smudged tears ran down her cheeks and she caught herself thanking God for his help. It puzzled her, surprised her even. Almost as if the action was on autopilot and came from somewhere deep within her. She knew she could have died, should have died. The tree had saved her life. As she took a moment to make sense of it all, she couldn't help being reminded of a sermon she’d once heard about the tree of life. In the beginning, God had given it to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, representing man's dependence on God. Then, in the middle of the Bible, he reminded his people of the wisdom and guidance the tree of life offered. Until finally, in Revelation, God told his people that he restores lives through the same tree of life, by offering eternal life in Heaven through his Son, Jesus Christ.
She recalled the conversation she’d had with Charlie. If what he said was true, and Ewan was in Heaven, what about her? Where would she have gone if she had died?
Voices coming from somewhere behind her startled her into the present. It was dark and she couldn't see that far up the side of the hill. She listened. They were male voices. One was shouting something at the other, then a door slammed. Moments later a beam of light shone down the hill.
It was them! The men who’d run her off the road. It could have only been Ludwig and his gang. Andre had mentioned that his methods were ruthless.
Gripping the tree between her legs and leaning her shoulder against the stem, her healthy arm went to find her gun in her waistband. But it was gone. It must have fallen out during the accident. Her passport! The thought echoed in her mind. It was in her bag, in the car, along with a few staple tools she would need to get into Züber's estate. Without her bag, she would not be able to get into his property, much less onto her flight for Geneva. Her eyes searched frantically for her car and almost immediately found it at the bottom of the hill where it had landed upside down against the boulders. Between where she was flung from the car and where the wreckage had come to a halt were several yards but it wasn't impossible to get to it—difficult, but not impossible. Using one arm only, she freed herself from the tree then used the slope to diagonally slide-shuffle down toward the car. From high above her, a flashlight beamed down in search of her until it settled on the wreck. Shielded only by the pitch-black darkness, she continued shuffling her way toward the car, briefly pausing only once when the flashlight's beam nearly exposed her. It wasn't a very bright light but it was strong enough for them to discover her. Adrenaline pumped violently through her body, numbing the pain in its wake. The gun was no longer of concern—she would have had to leave her gun behind in any event. All she needed to do was grab her bag and make a run for it across the acreage. Once she got to the airport, she would be safe. She had a passport and a valid ticket, that's all she needed.
But, in the distance behind her, at the top of the hillside, loose stones noisily rolled down, soon followed by more. The closer she came to the car the closer the tumbling stones rolled toward her, evidence that the men were climbing down to the car. She increased her speed, risking life and limb to get there first. If they caught up with her now they would finish the job and kill her, using the accident as the perfect cover-up. Her legs scraped across the rough terrain, slicing into her bottom and healthy hand along the way.
But she was almost there.
Mere yards away from the upside-down car a bullet smashed into the ground somewhere behind and to her left. It was close, too close.
Another exploded against the car.
Then another, directly behind her.
She was on her feet now, deciding to leap the final yard to the car. The men yelled at each other, the urgency of threat in their voices. One yelled to hit the car so it would explode, the other yelled not to do it. He was clearly the smarter of the two knowing that the bullets would foil their plan to make it look like an accident. Using their arguing to her advantage, Jorja lunged toward the hole in the front of the car where the windshield once was. Once inside the car wreck, crawling on her knees and one hand, she searched for the small satchel that had been next to her on the passenger seat at the time of the accident.
Her search turned up empty.
Further up along the dark slope the men's feet came thundering toward her. She was running out of time.
But it wouldn't be the first time in her life that Jorja came close to being nearly caught. She could handle pressure.
With her wits about her, calm and fully present in the moment, her eyes focused on the dark corners between the seats above her head. Then she spotted it. One of the satchel's straps dangled from behind the brake pedal. The satchel was pinned between the pedals and the floor. Her heart leaped in her chest as she moved to retrieve it.
But, in the shadows of the night that surrounded her, she had underestimated the men's distance from the car, and she had run out of time.