2007 Ghost R

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You son of a bitch!
Johnny charged. He grabbed for the other man, intending to tackle him to the pavement, but, all at
once, the stranger wasn t there. Johnny s arms closed on empty air and he stumbled forward, almost
falling onto his face. At the last second, he managed to hang onto his balance and he spun around to
find that the stranger was now standing behind him. His startled eyes bulged from their sockets.
How & ?
One day, the stranger said, when I need you, I will come. Until then I will be watching. More
thunder rumbled on the horizon. A solitary windmill spun its blades. Buzzards circled overhead.
Forget about friends. Forget about family. He reached out and laid his hand upon Johnny s
shoulder. An icy chill spread through the teenager s bones, freezing him in place. Johnny tried to pull
away from the stranger s touch, but his body refused to cooperate. Forget love.
Roxanne & ? What about her?
You re mine, Johnny Blaze.
A torrid wind whipped up the dust at Johnny s feet. The whirling sand enveloped him, forcing him
to close his eyes against the barrage of tiny particles. The stranger withdrew his hand.
The dust devil dispersed as quickly as it had appeared. Opening his eyes, Johnny found himself
sprawled upon the pavement, right where he had crashed before. Grace lay on her side several feet
away. Just like last night, it was as though this latest confrontation had never occurred.
Empty roads stretched out before him. Johnny was alone at the crossroads, with no one else in sight
for miles around. Once again, the stranger was gone.
But his parting words reverberated in the young man s memory.
You re mine& .
Roxanne was waiting under the old oak tree, just like she promised. Johnny saw her standing atop
Crowley Hill, looking as fantastic as usual. Her auburn hair and chestnut eyes filled him with a hopeless
yearning. He longed to bury himself in her arms. With his father dead, she was all he had left.
And yet he had to let her go.
No love, the stranger had warned him. Did Johnny have any choice but to take that injunction
seriously? His brief dealings with the sinister black-garbed man, whose true name and nature Johnny
shrunk from thinking about, had already cost his father his life & and Johnny his future. For Roxanne s
sake, he couldn t allow her to become trapped in the stranger s web of death and deception. Johnny
knew he d never forgive himself if something terrible happened to her as well.
She spotted him as he rounded the bend on Grace. She waved at him excitedly, practically jumping
up and down in her eagerness to start their new life together. Her gorgeous smile broke his heart.
Just like he was about to break hers.
He slowed to a stop at the bottom of the hill, treating himself to one last look at the best thing that
had ever happened to him. Somehow he knew that no matter what became of him now, no matter how
many years and miles he put between them, he would never find another woman who would touch his
soul the way Roxanne had. She was one of a kind.
She still beckoned to him from atop the hill, looking slightly puzzled as to what he was waiting for.
Her light brown eyebrows arched quizzically and her incandescent smile went down a few watts. She
started down toward him, unwilling to wait any longer.
Johnny knew he had to leave before she joined him. Once she was in his arms again, her shining
eyes and lips only inches from his own, there was no way that he would ever be able to say good-bye to
her for good. If he wanted to get away, spare her from the nightmarish purgatory his life had become, he
had to go now, right this very minute.
He tore his gaze away from her breathtaking beauty and put Grace into gear. The Harley accelerated
beneath him and he hammered down the road, leaving Crowley Hill behind. Sneaking a peek at his
wing mirror, he saw Roxanne standing speechless upon the lonely mound. He caught only a glimpse of
her stricken expression before her figure shrunk out of sight.
The woman he loved disappeared in a cloud of dust.
His heart ached, but he knew that he had made the right decision. Someday the stranger would
return. When that happened, Johnny wanted Roxanne Simpson to have no part in whatever was in store
for him.
It s better this way.
Light and hope faded from his eyes as Johnny stared grimly into the horizon.
An endless road stretched before him.
4
Present Day
Haunted eyes stared through the face shield of a sturdy crash helmet. The tinted plastic visor
reflected a sea of spectators packed into the bleachers surrounding the El Paso motor speedway.
Floodlights lit up the infield area in the middle of the oval racetrack. The bright lights overpowered the
starry night sky overhead, not that anyone was looking up. Thousands of eager fans awaited the
appearance of their idol. Concessions workers trotted up and down the steps of the bleachers, hawking
cold drinks, Popsicles, and snacks. Fat cats and celebrities lounged in air-conditioned comfort in [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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