Escape: Day 19

Word Count: 114,008

Summary of Events:

Dallis watched as Fargo approached and waited as Trace fuelled up his truck. Trace made his way out of Fargo westbound. Dallis watched out the rearview mirror for the gangsters, but saw nothing until Trace had to pass a tractor and discovered they'd been hiding in the blind spot right behind the trailer. Trace planned to use the car's hiding in his blind spot to his advantage, once they got onto Highway 52, which would carry them all the way to the Canadian border . . . 

Excerpt of the Day:

""You're not going to do it until we're away from the city, are you?" Dallis asked.

"No way," Trace replied. "There would be countless people who would be able to tell it was deliberate. I mean, unless someone does a dummy move that forces me to anyways, but then I might get nailed with leaving the scene of an accident and being as they must have my plate number memorised by now they'd be able to tell the cops who it was and stop us from getting into Canada."
Dallis nodded.

"We'll wait until we're on the fifty two," Trace said. "And until we're at a nice, secluded place where there isn't really anybody around."

Dallis nodded again. Trace turned his gaze back to the road.

He still felt a little bit guilty about the idea of what he was going to do, in deliberately slamming on the brakes so that a car could rear end him. He felt like it was a cruel and unkind thing to do, but being as these guys had murdered far too many people — much less any — and were bent on capturing Dallis and likely taking his life as well, he really had no other choice.

There were times when he was going to have to be cruel and unkind to people he didn't even know, and this, it appeared, was one of those times.

Exiting off at the exit for the highway he would remain on all the way to the Saskatchewan border: fifty two, Trace maintained the highest speed that was safely possible on the ramps and curves before accelerating as quickly as he could to the top permissible speed on the highway — as indicated by a sign shortly after he merged on — to get away from the city as fast as he could so he could finally do it.

Thankfully it didn't take too long before he finally got far enough away that he was sure no witnesses would see clearly whether it was deliberate or accidental.

"I'm going to warn you, the jake's loud," Trace said.

"What's the jake?" Dallis asked.

"The engine retarder brake," Trace replied. "It helps things slow down faster in the event of an emergency without the brakes seizing up."
"You're going to use it?" Dallis asked.
"Yes," Trace replied. "In three . . . two . . . one!"

He saw Dallis jump out the corner of his eye at the volume of the jake as he applied it, bringing the truck to an abrupt halt. He heard a loud slam and saw a bit of debris go flying.

A twinge of guilt wrenched at him, but he shifted things down and then slowly started to accelerate again, shifting things up as he gained speed. Behind him he saw the wreckage of the Audi, and a man standing outside of it."