The Hitcher II: I’ve Been Waiting

Jim Halsey travels to Texas to visit retired Captain Esteridge and discuss his lingering PTSD after being suspended for excessive force. Maggie accompanies him, unaware of Jim's past. The visit sets the stage for their road trip and the trouble that follows.

Arriving in Texas, the couple picks up a car Esteridge left for them and begin their trek to his house. Jim's memories surface on the lonely road, heightening the tension between them. They push forward toward Esteridge's home despite the unease.

The Hitcher secretly rides with them, making small talk that unsettles Jim. Overwhelmed by memories and fear, Jim ejects the intruder from the car. Maggie remains wary but continues the trip.

A routine traffic stop escalates as the Hitcher hijacks an 18-wheeler and murders its driver. He shoots the responding cop and closes in on Jim and Maggie, who manage to drive away. The highway chase becomes a deadly predator-prey game through the night.

They arrive at Esteridge's residence only to find the Captain and his wife murdered by the Hitcher. A gunfight erupts between the Hitcher and local police in the hayloft while Maggie and Jim scramble to survive. Jim is fatally wounded, telling Maggie to finish off the Hitcher before he dies.

Maggie escapes the chaos and ends up stranded in the desert, where she is knocked unconscious and placed inside an abandoned water tower. The Hitcher taunts her from outside before leaving her trapped. She eventually escapes, steals the Hitcher's 18-wheeler, and drives off into the night.

Maggie reaches a gas station, makes a call, and tends to her wounds. The Hitcher ambushes the clerk, killing him, and schemes to frame Maggie for the deaths by severing his own finger. Police arrive, and Maggie is arrested as the Hitcher manipulates the situation.

Maggie is transported in a sheriff's van but is knocked off course when a nearby excavator tilts the vehicle. The Hitcher kills all the escorting officers and tosses the key and revolver to Maggie, making it seem as if she was responsible for the killings. The trap tightens around her.

Maggie drives to a nearby airfield and rams the Hitcher's tanker with a mail carrier plane, triggering a fiery explosion. She rescues herself by escaping, then finds the unconscious Hitcher and ties him to the truck so he cannot escape.

The police arrive on the scene and the Hitcher accuses Maggie of attempting to kill him. Officers free the Hitcher and shoot Maggie in the leg as she approaches the truck cab. The Hitcher then kills the pursuing officers.

Maggie gains ground and detonates the tanker by firing into it, causing a massive explosion that kills the Hitcher. She stands at a safe distance, watching the burning wreckage and the remains of the tanker. The immediate threat is eliminated, though she bears the physical and emotional scars of the ordeal.