Once Burned (Task Force Eagle) Read Online Free PDF

and jerked her hard. Kept her
head from hitting the steering wheel. The Forester swerved across the yellow
line. The guard rail seemed to reach for her. She wrenched the car back into
her lane. Her pulse pounded and blood roared in her ears.
    This was no joy rider. That ramming was deliberate. “You
idiot!”
    When she glanced into her side mirror, the truck’s
high beams blinded her. But why was someone attacking her? And who would do
such a thing? No time to wonder now.
    The headlights behind her veered to the left.
    Thank God. He’s going to pass.
    As the bigger vehicle overtook her, it lurched right.
The truck rammed her. The force jerked her hands from the wheel and slammed the
car to the side.
    Lani stomped on the brakes. The tires howled as they
ground on the blacktop. Momentum careened the car sideways. Toward the guard
rail and the wave-battered granite below the Devil’s Elbow.
    The bottom dropped out of her stomach.

 
     
    Chapter 4
     
    Jake rubbed the back of his neck. Driving to Birch
Brook Farm this time of night was probably a butt-stupid thing to do. The arson
investigator had reached a hasty conclusion based on too little evidence the
fire was accidental. Lani’d pulled her sister out of that damn barn. She must’ve
seen something. Maybe someone. He had to question her some more. She’d probably
had counseling years ago, but not now, not after returning to the scene of the
crime. He winced at the phrase. Hell, maybe he’d talk her into hypnosis.
    And it wouldn’t hurt to make sure she was okay after
discovering that smoking animal in her kitchen.
    The half moon’s beam poured like a ribbon of milk
across the island-dotted ocean. Fucking poetic . That’s what the coast of
Maine did to him. Or was it thinking about Lani? How proud and determined this
grown-up Lani was. The zing when he thought of her made denial impossible. But
was it her he wanted or a ghost? Complicated and impossible.
    The more he thought about her, the more he felt he
owed her the truth about the night of the fire. Once he explained, maybe his
conscience would be clearer. Yeah, right . She could already be in
danger. He wanted her to remember, but what if someone else feared she would?
Pain stabbed him like somebody’d dumped roofing nails in his gut.
    A dark pickup whipped around the turn and careered
toward Jake. Its high halogen beams blinded him. Dirt and mud covered most of the
truck. The truck, more massive than his vehicle, straddled the middle yellow
lines, occupying the whole road.
    Jake let loose a string of expletives that seared the
air. He nearly wrenched his vehicle into the hillside to avoid a collision. By
the time he braked to a stop, the truck had vanished around the next turn.
Damn, if only he could’ve seen their license number. He inhaled and blew out a
harsh breath as he steered back onto the road.
    He slowed at the next curve. Lights pierced the sky
from a skewed angle. Headlights. And they weren’t moving.
    His beams slid across a white Forester at the apex of
the sharp turn. Its driver-side tires hung a foot above the rocky ground. Shit,
the vehicle had skidded partway over the edge. He lowered his window for a better
look. The only thing holding it was the guard rail. Above the rumble of waves,
straining metal shrieked.
    He stopped the Cherokee. Was that the car from Birch
Brook Farm?
    Lani?
    His heart rate lurched into high gear. He steered the
SUV to the side and punched on the emergency flashers. As soon as he got out,
the driver’s door opened a crack.
    The Forester rocked. Tilted even higher. The metal
guard rail groaned and snapped.
    “Don’t move!” he shouted. “You’ll send it over.”
    A head appeared in the driver’s side window. “Help me.”
    Her terrified call stabbed him in the gut. His pulse
clattered. “Lani, are you hurt?”
    “Jake,” she said with shaky relief. “I’m okay. Help me
get out. The guard rail...it’s going.”
    Gut tight, heart thumping against his