Tail Lights(Ross Thompson) TAIL LIGHTS

Henry glanced into the rear vision mirror. The headlights were still there, five hundred yards back. They had been tailing him for an hour now. What to do? There was no point in continuing to run. Call their bluff, that was it.
He pulled into the next rest area and swung the car around in a U-turn. Back down the hill the pursuing vehicle had stopped. Henry let his car roll down the slope, foot on the break to keep the speed down. Once he had covered the five hundred yards, he slowed his car down letting it come into gentle contact with the other vehicle, bumper to bumper. The two front doors of the other car swung open, and two figures emerged. Two men it looked like, but Henry could see them only as black shapes in the darkness.
They advanced on his car. Henry had the doors locked and all the windows up. He shifted the gear stick into first gear and pressed down on the accelerator. Nothing happened at first, then as Henry increased pressure on the accelerator the other vehicle began to move back. By this time fists had begun pounding on both front windows of Henrys vehicle. Uh Oh, better get moving! He gave his vehicle full pedal and both vehicles moved, picking up pace.
The rear end of the other vehicle began to screw sideways. Henry pulled right on his steering wheel. One rear wheel of the other vehicle moved off the road and hung out over the steep incline. Henry kept the pressure on and soon both rear wheels were hanging in space. A bit more juice and the car slowly toppled off the road and slid down the steep incline picking up speed as it went. For a second or two Henry feared his car might go over the edge with the other. With his foot heavy on the break, he breathed easy as the two cars separated.
Slipping into top gear Henry sped off into the night. Take that you goons! He was almost at the T-intersection when an idea came to him. He slowed the car and made a made another U-turn. He had noticed a side road not far back. If he could get the car up the track a half mile or so he might be able to see that portion of the road where the two men were. No doubt they had called for assistance. It might be informative to see who picked them up. Henry left the car concealed among the trees and walked further up the incline. He had grabbed binoculars from the boot. Yes. He came to a spot where he had an unobstructed view of the two figures in the dark, now seated on a couple of rocks obviously waiting. It was an hour to daylight. It would take whoever was coming a while to arrive. Hopefully, there would be plenty of light by then.
The sound of a car woke Henry. He had nodded off during the hour wait in the dark. The binoculars revealed a blue BMW. The car was familiar. The driver got out. Jenkins the new office manager! Ah! the break in at the office last week. The research results taken from the safe overnight. Is that what this is about? Was he a suspect? Jenkins must be a plant, FBI, or a Detective agency.
It came out in the interviews after the burglary that Henry as a trusted employee had the combination to the safe. He had never used it and probably never would. He had not memorized it. It sat in the back of a drawer in his desk. It was for emergencies only, when the two executives who had the combination were not available.
Once he was certain he was being tailed he had turned off up the mountain road. There was no way he was going to lead them to his house. But he could have gone straight home. Jenkins had access to his address.

Henry let the curtain fall back into place. The car, not the one he had pushed over the edge, was one hundred yards down the street with two individuals in it. It had been there three hours. They were making it obvious they were watching him. A strategy to apply pressure, hoping to induce panic. Well, he could apply a little pressure of his own. The neighbourhood kids were playing in the street. He went out and called Billy Smith over. “Billy, do you have two or three friends with a phone who can take photos? “The kid nodded. “Good, I’ll give each of you $5 if you go out at 9am tomorrow and take photos of that car down there, and the passengers. Then come and show me yours after lunch and I’ll give you the money. OK?” The kid smiled. No problem.
He did not intend to do anything with the photos. Just make them sweat a bit about where the photos may end up. If that did not get rid of them, he knew one or two of the kids had drones with cameras. Video footage next up.
Henry had decided he would decline to be involved with the new security, safe, or combination, citing how suspicion had fallen on him. They had got away with it this time, but his CIA bosses would have to produce a better strategy next time around.

---