Never Run (May Moore Suspense Thriller 1)

But in what felt like a few moments, it lifted.

She'd passed out for a while, she realized, piecing together where she was.

She was in the trunk of a car, on a dizzying, rocking journey in the dark. Her hands were tied together with rope. She was blindfolded. But she was awake.

Claire started trying to loosen the knots, working with the strength of desperation.

Her hands were shaking with fear, and her heart pounded so loudly that she was sure he would be able to hear.

The car traveled a little way, then stopped. It started again, then stopped. Did that mean they were nearly there?

She kicked and struggled, trying to reach her blindfold, wrestling to get her wrists out of the coarse loops so she could escape.

She felt the car stop and realized that he'd parked.

This was going to be her only chance. She was going to have to take control of the situation, do the unexpected - she had to make a run for it. He lifted the trunk. Even through the blindfold, light rushed in, and she smelled the fresh scent of air, water, grass.

She kept limp as he lifted her. She pressed her arms together so he wouldn’t realize the knots were undone.

Fear filled her. This decision was life or death. She had to time it right. Was now too soon?

He lifted her in his arms. He carried her a short way, then laid her down.

She felt cool, damp grass beneath her and knew she had no more time to wait. Sitting up with a gasp, she pushed him, shoving him away as hard as she could, hearing his cry of surprise as the ropes fell away from her wrists.

She sprang to her feet and ran, her legs shaking from weakness.

The blindfold was still tightly in place. She wrenched at it, trying to loosen it. Ahead, she heard water, and realized she was running straight into the lake.

That was fine. She was a strong swimmer. In fact, Claire realized this was her only hope of losing him. A slim hope, but she had to try.

She leaped into the water. It was icy cold.

She felt the water sluice away the sweat and dirt and fear that she was caked in. In the distance, she heard a cry of rage.

She dove, and swam underwater, her blindfold loosening and drifting into the waves as she tried to put as much distance as she could between her and him.

Terror ripped through her, and she had to fight the urge to freeze so she could continue swimming as fast as possible.

She dove again and swam under water. Her lungs were bursting, and she felt giddy with lack of air, but she kept going.

When she surfaced and took a breath, she heard shouting behind her. He was still on the bank. He sounded furious. Then she heard a huge splash as he jumped in.

Her time was almost up, because he was pursuing her.