Free Traci On The Spot by Marie Ferrarella Page B

road that rain and encroaching darkness were bent on obscuring.
    Holding her breath, Traci drove slower than she’d ever driven in her life. The wind continued to pick up, howling. Jeremiah joined in the competition.
    It got on her nerves. “I hope you don’t intend to do that all the way home. I’m fresh out of aspirin.” And patience, she added silently.
    She should have remained in the house with Morgan, she told herself. She realized that her jaw was clenched, as clenched as her fingers were on the steering wheel. Focusing, she tried to ease up on both. But the tension in her shoulders persisted.
    And there was something more. The wind had initially masked it, but now the sound grew louder. Water. Rushing water. It took her a second to make the connection. The gully beneath the bridge had filled with water. That meant she had to be getting close to it.
    Damn it, where was the bridge? Why couldn’t she see it? It had to be here somewhere.
    Traci craned her neck farther, searching for the small wooden structure. Crossing it earlier, she’d thought that time had made the bridge almost rickety. Not that it had ever been all that strong to begin with. And in this weather it would have to be—
    Gone.
    Fear seemed to manually force her heart into her throat where it remained, stuck, as Traci realized that she was now directly over where the bridge should have been.
    And there was nothing there.
    The edges of her front tires were touching nothing. The headache that had been threatening to engulf her ever since she left the house made an appearance, full bodied and strong. It pounded over her temples and forehead like a scorned, irate lover as Traci frantically threw the car into reverse, trying to keep the car from plunging straight into the gully.
    She overcompensated, turning the steering wheel too far to the left, and the car went speeding backward, making contact with a tree.
    Shrieking, Traci slammed on her brakes, but itwas after the fact. The collision was already in motion. Metal against wood.
    It felt as if something vital had been jarred loose in her body as she hit her forehead against the steering wheel. The last thing she heard was Jeremiah’s mournful cry.
    And then there was an inky blackness dropping over her, too heavy to resist.
    Her eyelids weighed a ton. Each one. It took her several vain attempts to pry open her eyes. Each time she tried, she found she couldn’t lift them. It was as if they were nailed down.
    Traci thought she heard a voice. Someone was talking to her, but she couldn’t place who it was or what was being said. And there were shadows moving, drifting here and there. Some belonged to the voice. Others didn’t.
    Each time she was sure she’d opened her eyes and looked, she discovered that she hadn’t.
    It was frustrating as hell.
    Traci moaned, trying to turn, to sit up, confident that if she did, her eyes would open.
    She began to make things out more clearly. There were hands holding her down. Gentle hands. Strong hands. She struggled against them and lost that fight, too. There seemed to be no energy flowing through her. Nothing. No blood.
    Blood.
    Jeremiah.
    Oh, God, she’d killed Jeremiah. She’d heard his pitiful moan just before she—what?
    Where was she? Traci twisted again, but the same two hands were holding her down. They were pressing on her arms. She fought, struggled, tried to speak, and still her eyes refused to budge.
    Was it a dream? Was she dead?
    It was a lot drier where she was.
    Heaven?
    In the distance somewhere, she heard the crackle of something. Fire?
    Was she in hell? She groaned in fear.
    “Damn it, even when you’re unconscious, you’re a problem.”
    Morgan, that was Morgan’s voice. Was he dead, too? No, she’d left him in the house. Him and his lips.
    With supreme effort, Traci concentrated on the sound of his voice, on surfacing out of this cottony netherworld she was trapped in.
    Inch by inch, she made it to the top. Her eyes finally flew