Part 32 (1/2)

Twenty-five paces forward now. Could they still see her through the trees? She had to be out of their sight before she turned off. The woods had to be thick enough to s.h.i.+eld her movements. And they would listen for her, too. Forty paces now...

It had been forty seconds. She had to run faster, faster...

Please don't let me trip.

She ran forward, dodging tree trunks and branches as their great shapes threw themselves up in front of her. Fifty paces, now, and she knew she would not have long before they came after her. Turn soon...turn, and run for a few minutes, then another seventy-five paces back towards the road. It had to work.

I can do it. I'm fast enough. I can run in the dark. I can do this.

Sixty paces...They would be after her soon. She looked at her watch-it had almost been a minute-here they come-and then she was falling-NO!-tripping over a great slippery patch of moss and gnarled roots. She slid and hit a tree, her already sore wrist sc.r.a.ping painfully against the coa.r.s.e bark.

No!

They are after you now. Get up! Go!

CHAPTER 65.

Roy watched his brother as he raised his wrist.w.a.tch to his face.

”Okay. Ready?”

Through his green-lensed night-vision goggles, Roy saw the lips move, saw the smile that followed, but somehow it was not his brother.

Roy grabbed him by the arm. ”No.”

Daniel shook his arm away. ”We're in this together now. Trust me, you'll like it.”

”You don't understand. You can't do this-”

”Stop wasting time. She's had her sixty seconds. It's time.”

Roy held the rifle firmly in one hand, and raised his other, palm up, just as he had done in so many of their confrontations. ”You've gone too far, Danny. Let her go,” he said softly, trying to placate his brother. ”I'll get you some help. It'll be okay.”

CHAPTER 66.

Makedde prayed that she had her bearings right, and kept running.

You can do it. Don't give up...

Seventy-five paces, now turn. She made a sharp left and tried to run in a straight line again. If she lost her way, if she miscalculated her direction she'd be deep in the woods with no hope of rescue. Even if she hid from them she'd probably die from the elements. Even if she lasted overnight, she would not know her way back.

Then she heard shouting.

BANG!.

A gunshot in the distance.

Then another.

They echoed through the darkness, corrupting the stillness. One of them had fired. Had they seen her? They were nowhere near her. Were they? Perhaps it was their way of letting her know that the hunt was on?

Just run...

She ran on and on, never slowing, never turning back, and when the time was right, she turned again and headed back to where she thought the road must be.

And then like a miracle the forest gave way to a clearing, and she could see gravel...the gravel road that led to the cabin. Her heart lifted, her breath so hard in her chest, and she was running down the road, which way? There...to the right...she hadn't quite run far enough.

She could see the cabin.

My G.o.d, yes! I can do it...

CHAPTER 67.

Makedde ran up the cabin steps and inside. When she had been trapped in there, she wouldn't have believed she would have voluntarily returned. But it was the only strategy that might work.

Find any weapon, anything...and a phone.

She went to the kitchen first, hoping there'd be a knife. Who knew how long it would take for them to come back? Perhaps they had already seen her turn back this way with their night-vision goggles. She saw unopened cases of beer on the kitchen counter, some leftover bottles, an empty bag of potato chips. She opened the first drawer where she found cutlery, spoons, forks, table knives. Useless.

She looked the other way.

Bingo.

Makedde grabbed a butcher's knife off a magnetic holder on the opposite wall.

Now guns...Do they have any more guns and ammunition? Go to the trophy room and find that door...Find out what they have in there...

Thump.

Movement.

The front door burst open.

She looked frantically around her, knife in her grasp.