Excerpt
The Chase
Hardin tired of the wait and accelerated to about 60 miles per hour. Another three miles brought them to the Creedman Coulee bridge.
Hardin eased off the gas pedal to about 20 m.p.h. to negotiate the narrow bridge. As they swung into the corner, they saw a car blocking the far side of the structure, and a voice commanded, "Stop that car or I'll kill you!" Hardin instead floor-boarded it, and drove off the road and around the blockagde. They kept low because the hijackers had opened fire with rifles and they were unarmed.
Suddenly Hardin moaned and slumped over the wheel. A bullet had struck him in the back of the head and killed him instantly. His brains and blood were gruesomely spattered on the bullet-riddled windshield. Kilbourne, stunned with horror, momentarily recovered his senses and grabbed the steering wheel. The bandits' car came alongside and one of them daringly jumped on the Hudson's running board. "Stop the car or we'll fill you full of lead," he ordered.