No way! It’s all in your head all–
“Hey!” a deep male voice echoed through the canyon.
What? Jesus, no!
She froze. Flattened herself to the rugged canyon wall. Prayed she was mistaken, that the sounds were all her own paranoia. Barely daring to breathe, her ears straining, her heartbeat thundering through her brain, she listened hard.
What was it?
Nothing! It wasn’t anything—
From the corner of her eye, she saw movement. A shift in the darkness of the cave from which she’d just exited. She flicked off her flashlight.
Thud. Thud-thud. Thud. Thud-thud.
Not footsteps, she realized with a sinking sensation, but horses’ hooves thundering and shaking the ground overhead on the ridge some thirty feet above her!
Damn!
He’d found her!
She took another step, nearly fell and caught herself, her face pressed into the frozen dirt and rock of this cliff.
Silently she prayed to a god she didn’t trust that a cloud would cover the moon.
Moon-shmoon, idiot. He has night vision goggles! Oh, God!
She had to keep moving. If she could just reach the space where the ledge ended and connected to the path leading downward, she might be able to dive into the woods and elude the riders. On horseback, they would have to find a trail in the woods on higher ground, then pick their way downward. She still had a head start! If she could reach the river before they caught up with her, she might find a way to safety.
You can do this, Lauren, you know you can!
If she had to, she could swim, though she wouldn’t last long in the near-freezing water.
Go! Go! Go!
Moving again, sidling toward the forest, she heard the first bone-chilling howl.
The dogs!
A horrible cacophony of echoing barks erupted from the caves! The dogs weren’t with the riders on the ridge overhead with the horsemen, but had made their way along the very trail she’d taken through the caverns.
Thud, thud-thud! Thud, thud-thud.
Still the horsemen came.
The noises around her crescendoed, hideous howls rising like the voices of demons in the night, heavy hooves shaking the ground overhead.
Just go!
Another step.
She let out her breath.
One more.
Almost there!
Her toe connected with a rock, sending it reeling.