The squad car closed the gap, pulling into the adjacent lane to force the motorcycle toward the shoulder. Rachel leaned forward, raising her hand to gesture at the rider through the rain-streaked window.
Then, her heart seized.
"Nolan, wait! Look!" Rachel shouted, pointing frantically through the glass. "There’s a child with him!"
Chapter II: A Breath Away From Silence
Strapped tightly behind the massive, leather-clad biker was a small girl no older than five, bundled inside a bright pink hooded raincoat. Her head was slumped limply against the man’s leather vest, her tiny arms secured with a heavy nylon harness around his waist.
A clear plastic pediatric oxygen mask was strapped over her pale face, connected via a translucent tube to a small aluminum medical tank lashed to the motorcycle's rear sissy bar. The pressure needle on the regulator was hovering dead on the red empty mark.
"It’s medical!" Rachel yelled into the cabin, her voice trembling with sudden adrenaline and horror. "She’s wearing an oxygen mask! Nolan, the tank is almost empty!"
Nolan’s jaw locked as the pieces fell into place. The biker wasn't fleeing from the police. He was running from death itself.