Erased by Jordan Marshall

perfect slow motion. Then the moment passed, and the Roadrunner plunged into the lake.
    The water saved Sara’s life. If she had landed in the trees or on the highway, she would have been dead. Only by the sheerest improbable luck did she manage to make it all the way to the water. The car was still upside-down when it slammed into the waves. The choppy surface resisted the car’s forward inertia, pulling against the broad surface of the roof and the hood. As a result, the Roadrunner rolled onto its side as it slid below the surface.
    Somehow, Sara had the presence of mind to take off her seat belt. She took a deep breath and rolled the window down. She braced herself as the icy water cascaded over her, forcing her back into the car. The current held her trapped for a few moments, pressed up against the dash with her feet standing on the passenger door. Sara panicked as the car plummeted into the inky depths, dragging her along with it. She clawed at the seat and the dash.
    Then, as the Roadrunner’s interior filled with water and depressurized, Sara found herself sliding towards the open window. She twisted around the steering wheel, pressed forward by kicking against the dash, and shot out.
    As Sara kicked away, the Roadrunner disappeared into the murky waters below. She surfaced long enough to get her bearings and a few quick breaths. Then she swam underwater in the opposite direction for as long as she could, until it felt like her lungs would explode. When she finally surfaced, she took two deep gasping breaths and quickly submerged again.
    The adrenaline was working its magic. Sara made it farther and faster than she ever would have dreamed. The next thing she knew, she was on the far side of the lake. She emerged from the icy waters and climbed up the shallow embankment, gasping and heaving, her clothes dripping and heavy.
    Sara’s lungs were on fire and her arms and legs tingled with numbness. She glanced back and saw a number of people running back and forth along the far embankment, both uniformed and civilian. They didn’t seem to see her. She turned away and disappeared under the shadows of the trees.
     

 
     
     
    Chapter 17
     
     
     
    “This doesn’t make sense,” Brandy mumbled. She was riding shotgun with Lee because he’d convinced her that his car was more comfortable. He was right. Her car was a piece of crap. Lee’s leather upholstery and power windows made Brandy jealous in a way she wasn’t comfortable talking about.
    “What’s that?” Lee said.
    “Murphy’s address. It’s not what I was expecting. Mill Valley is one of the most expensive and prestigious neighborhoods in northern California. Look at this: three bedroom, one bath, asking price one-point-five million. ”
    “Yeah, so?”
    “Well, according to what your team dug up, Murphy’s got a long list of criminal violations and possible connections to a couple terrorist organizations. I don’t know if she’s a pro or not, but this doesn’t sound like her type of neighborhood. She doesn’t strike me as the suburban type.”
    “You’re reading a lot into this,” Lee said. “We can’t assume that everything we’ve heard is accurate. Take out the terrorist aspect and what’ve you got? A common criminal. Believe me, crazy comes in every tax bracket. She doesn’t have to be a professional assassin to know how to use a sniper rifle. This country’s full of whack-jobs looking to take out a celebrity.”
    “Maybe,” Brandy said, “but something’s not clicking.”
    Brandy had been trying to profile Murphy, and she’d had two possibilities in mind. The first was that Sara was a psychotic of some sort. That fit well with her criminal record, and Brandy wouldn’t have been surprised to find out Sara had a history of mental illness. This theory fit right into Lee’s assessment of the situation.
    The second possibility was that Sara Murphy was a professional, probably ex-military, who had been hired for the job. It