The man's next words were cut off by his cell phone.
He checked the display. "Ah, the boss. Now keep your mouth shut, blondie, okay? Or else..." He put his foot on her shoulder, making her gasp. Then he answered with a "Hey."
A moment's pause.
"Not so well. Got a bit of a problem. I was following Marsten and his girlfriend, and they led me to the blonde. Adele was chasing her with a gun. I rescued her, which I figured was what you'd want, but I couldn't do it without making contact. She's not nearly as grateful as she should be."
He listened.
"That's what I figured. I was going to bring her to you, but Marsten's hot on my trail. We've been dodging them, but they're gaining. I can hear him coming right now."
Robyn heard only the wind sighing through the trees.
"I'm just saying, this might not go down the way you were hoping. I have a feeling, as hard as I try to avoid it, fur is gonna fly." His grin belied the regret in his voice. "Marsten's a cold-blooded bastard. Negotiations with a guy like that usually end with corpses. Just so you know."
A pause.
"All right then. I'll do my best - "
Robyn grabbed his foot and heaved. When the man staggered back, off balance, she leapt up, wrenching his leg. He toppled over backward, phone falling.
Robyn ran.
Curses rang out behind her. This time, she was sure the word he used wasn't witch.
She ran full out, adrenaline pumping so hard that if her lungs were complaining, she didn't feel it. She kept her head down, watching the moonlit path for obstacles this time.
The path had to end soon. It had to -
And there it was. The end. A barricade across the path with a white sign so big she could read it in the dark. "Soil erosion. Path closed. We apologize for the inconvenience."
She let out a huffing laugh. They had no idea how damned inconvenient it was. Screw soil erosion. She was going through.
She vaulted over the barrier. Amazing what adrenaline could do.
She ran another dozen paces, then pulled up short on the edge of a ten-foot drop-off.
Uh, I do believe that's the soil erosion, Bobby.
She considered jumping, but couldn't see the bottom in the dark and would probably impale herself on a retaining rod.
There had to be a way around. She ran into the bushes and found herself in a veritable jungle, so thick she'd need a machete to chop her way through. The running footsteps sounded again.
She flailed about until she found a clear path. Once she got in deeper, she could take advantage of the thick woods to hide -
A figure loomed in her path. She let out a shriek. He lunged and grabbed her, his hand slapping over her mouth, his other arm swinging her off her feet, carrying her, kicking and writhing before setting her down in a clearing, still gagged, with one hand pressing the top of her head.
"Get down. Hope?"
Another pair of hands tugged her shirt. "I've got her. Rob, get down."
Robyn recognized the voices but after the last time, she didn't trust herself. She followed the hand over her mouth and saw Karl.
"Down," he said.
Hope grabbed her arm and pulled her to her knees.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are," the man's voice sang out. Brush rustled, then stopped. "What's that I smell? The big bad wolf took the bait?"