At the bottom of the exit ramp, Tad had mentally flipped a coin and took a left onto the secondary road. He watched his speed and meandered northwest towards the Virginia state line. It was mostly countryside with an occasional house set back a healthy distance from the road, the perfect place for someone seeking anonymity. During the next half hour Tad burned through most of his adrenalin. The knot in his stomach began to loosen; a heavy blanket of weariness settled upon him.
At the bottom of the exit Up ahead, the road snaked along a creek to its left, the water made fast and frothy by the heavy rain. Kudzu claimed most everything to the right of the pavement, a green blanket that draped from trees and threatened to swallow the occasional billboard. Tad crossed a narrow bridge and on t
