Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
“Noa Hayles, Gretchen Ward—you’ve been caught.”
My heart pumped adrenaline through me, sharpening my senses, and I could finally see better.
“They didn’t mention Ivy,” I said, breathing heavily.
“Christ. I don’t wanna speculate.” Shay sped up and darted over a fallen tree. “She wouldn’t sell her soul to the devil, would she?”
“Yeah, I don’t wanna speculate either.” I swallowed against the dryness in my throat and held up an arm as we ran straight into a thicket. The branches slapped against us, but we didn’t so much as slow down. The back of the forest—we were almost there. “The farmers are done with the harvest, right?”
“I think so.”
I nodded to myself. “We’ll run out a bit in the field, go around and up—I think we can get rid of them along the dirt road.”
“Good idea.”
“Cameron Jacobson, Darnell Jackson—you’ve been caught.”
Shay and I broke through the tree line in a sprint and kept running straight out into the field.
Fuck me twice, I was already beat. I needed our friends to fight harder. To run faster. Otherwise, I had a feeling that Shay and I were gonna end up with more men chasing us.
We’d officially left the playing field, and the music became fainter with every step.
“I need to breathe.” Shay slowed down.
“Thank fuck.” I gulped some air into my lungs and planted my hands on my thighs. I bet if it were light out, I’d see black spots everywhere.
“Are you kidding me?” he gasped.
“What?” I whipped toward him and followed his line of sight, once more ending up eyeing the sky. It was the fucking drone.
“No way! No goddamn way! Not a chance in hell!” Shay ripped his shirt over his head, then started kicking off his sneakers. “Check your clothes,” he snapped. “They can’t fucking guess that we’re out here.”
He was right.
“River was reading some catalogue this morning,” he grunted. “Full of security crap—vests, goggles, cameras, night vision shit, goddamn GPS trackers.”
The second he said GPS trackers, I felt a button-type thing at the bottom of my back pocket. Motherfucker! Lee had planted a tracker on me!
I looked up toward the forest, and it took me a couple seconds to see three dark figures moving in the right corner.
I swallowed dryly. “Dude—”
“Found it!” Shay tossed something aside before he stuck his feet into his boots again.
“Dude. We have company.” I had no choice; I dragged him with me until he picked up the pace, GPS trackers and his shirt abandoned. “We have to gun it. Up alongside the forest, past the property and garage, then the dirt road.”
“We’ll try to lose Reese’s drone in the thicket along the way,” he added.
“Yeah.”
We could hope.
“Get them,” I heard one of the men growl. They were roughly one hundred, maybe one-hundred-and-fifty feet away, but I recognized that voice. Colt sure as fuck wasn’t at Langley.
“Corey Cruz—you’ve been caught.”
“Holy shit,” I panted. “Just three of us left, right? You, me, Aiko. Was Darnell caught?”
“Yeah.”
Looking over my shoulder, I determined we were faster than the three guys chasing us, but we’d lose speed if we ran through bushes and high grass. Not to mention all the trees we’d have to dodge.
Good luck catching Aiko, though. She was one of those high achievers who ran ten miles a day.
“I don’t see the drone.” Shay almost tripped over the uneven soil, but I managed to steady him. “Wait—way behind us. Maybe he’s searching for us. We could hide.”
“The garage,” I gasped. God, I needed water. “Run faster. We’ll hide there.”
On the other side of the wall of trees were the Founders’ cabins, and I glimpsed several men around the pool area wearing all black and ski masks.
By now, we’d run around almost the entire property—and then some—except for the front. Hiding spots were scarce. The dirt road leading up to the house had ditches and a thicket; the rest of the area was flat.
“Shay Acton, Tate Ridley—you’ll face consequences for what you’ve done.”
I slapped a hand over my mouth before I could bark out an incredulous laugh. We were gonna be punished because a bunch of Sadists had planted GPS trackers on us?
“I have a…fuck…better idea.” Shay was losing his voice. I couldn’t blame him. I was right there behind him. “We’ll hide in the grass right where the dirt road starts.”
Yeah, that was a better idea. When the Sadists caught up, they’d make guesses between the dirt road and the garage. Maybe they’d split up. Either way, if they found us in the garage, we’d have nowhere to go. But would they guess we were hiding right in the beginning of a ditch? Maybe even the ditch on the other side of the road.
“Across the road—the ditch there,” I panted.
Shay nodded, and we bolted the last way. Behind the garage, making sure we were alone, then across the cul-de-sac, until we reached the dirt road. Nothing was lit up out here. The house was too far away. We’d put enough distance between us and civilization.