CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
In the darkness of the car’s trunk, on a swaying, battering ride that she knew would end in death, Cami did her best to suppress her panic.
She accessed the program, feeling frustrated that she was so slow, because her fingers kept being jolted off the keyboard. She fought for control, fought in the darkness.
She had the program up, but a button was flashing on the screen, because it had lost connection.
But Cami wasn’t going to give up now.
She hit the button and the program did what it could. It began searching, to see if there were any nearby devices or electronics connected up.
There it was. “Tesla X.” That was her prison. That was where she was trapped. What could she do? Was there any way she could at least activate its geolocation to help Ethan find her?
Or could she do more?
There would be a way into this operating system, she was sure of it. But it would take time. That was what she didn’t have as time was working against her now.
Her heart was pounding.
She couldn’t let panic take over. Forcing herself to be strong, she knew she had to use what she had.
Cami fought to keep a steady breathing rhythm in her dark prison, the only light coming from her screen.
Her phone’s battery was low. She saw that with another surge of concern. Everything she was doing was draining the device. She was in the car, in the dark, and there was no way to charge her phone. She hadn’t had a chance to charge it earlier as she was so busy hunting for the killer.
Little did she knew he’d been hunting for her too.
She didn’t have much time, Cami knew.
There wasn’t enough time to get into this car’s operating system. But what else was here? There was something else in this car that her program was picking up.
The car veered around a corner and Cami heard brakes screech. She flinched, banging her head against the lid, feeling her hands icy cold with adrenaline.
It was a satellite tracking and maintenance system. The car had a remote tracker installed.
Now that would be easier to get into. Cami’s mind flew, her fingers were less fast, but this would require fewer steps to take over. If she could trick this device into believing the vehicle had been reported stolen, then she could take it over. She could take over the controls.
With the cramped space feeling hot and airless, dizzy from the ride and the stress, Cami worked furiously.
There. She was in.
She pressed the key to disable the car, to turn the engine off, hoping it would work, praying this would get her somewhere.
It didn’t work.
All she got was a red, flashing Error message.
Why? Why was she getting this?
Cami’s heart hammered furiously. Why, at this critical time, with her phone almost ready to die, could she not access the system to stop the car? She was in! Why this error?
Cami was hyperventilating with stress. Really? At this time, technology was refusing to cooperate? And then, she realized.
The button would only work if the car was stopped. The program would not allow the car to be disabled while in motion. It was a safety feature, presumably.
She wished she could see where this car was headed on its wild, veering ride. Perhaps the only time he’d stop would be at the end. Perhaps he was already on a long stretch of road, racing to the destination he had in mind for her.
Or perhaps he was still in an urban area, with stop signs and traffic lights, and at some stage, the car would come to a stop.