He leans away from me slightly. “Try to control it. I don’t know…breathe or something.”
The van lurches off the highway and around a curve. I take the opportunity to moan. “I think I’m going to throw up.”
Now I can actually hear his teeth gritting. “Hold it in.”
“I can’t,” I say, moaning and holding my stomach. I fake a gag, and suddenly Georgie is off my lap looking at me. “Please pull over.”
“Fucking hell,” the guy says under his breath. “She’s going to throw up.”
“Let her, we’re almost there.”
The guy next to me puts up his hands. “If she loses it, I’m not cleaning that shit up. You are.”
I might be laying it on a little thick, but I fake a gag again and groan. They need to believe that I’m fighting to hold this in.
The driver doesn’t pull over. Instead he speeds up, down a winding back road surrounded by trees. The sun is setting, its fading rays pouring through the woods. It’ll be dark soon, and that’s both good and bad for me. If I can get away, it will make hiding easier. But I won’t know where I’m going either.
Jon said that he was coming. How does he know where I am? I don’t have time to think about it, I just need to trust that he is on his way.
The guy next to me is literally leaning away from me now, eyes glued to my face like I’m going to hurl at any moment. Good.
The van pulls into a long driveway far too fast. At the end of the drive looms a big old-fashioned manor house that looks like it’s been here for a hundred years. The van practically skids to a stop and the guy pulls the door open, getting out of my way as I scramble out and stumble to my knees on the gravel, dry heaving. Georgie is with me, and my hand is around his leash.
I know that I only have a few seconds before they realize that I’m not actually going to throw up, and I’ll thank forever the instinct that made me take off my high heels earlier today. Don’t panic. Stay calm. Stay focused.
Run.
I push off the ground and sprint for the line of trees. Georgie instantly runs with me. He knows, somehow, exactly what I need, running faster and practically pulling me after him.
It’s so sudden that it takes a couple of seconds for the men to react. But behind me there’s suddenly yelling, and the crunch of gravel, and I hold back a scream as there’s a gunshot that hits a tree far too close. Don’t panic, don’t react.
I disappear into the trees, pushing myself hard, ducking behind the trees so they don’t have a direct line of sight to me. I hear crashing, but I’m faster. We crest a hill and I stumble down it. The sound of running water is close. That’s good, it’ll cover my sounds.
A small series of waterfalls are in front of me, and I see what might be a good hiding spot. I can’t outrun them forever, and once it gets dark the adrenaline and fear will be too much. I’ll make stupid mistakes. I’ll make sounds. The best thing to do is stay put and trust that Jon will find me. I drop down the couple feet over an outcropping of rocks.
Water seeps into my sneakers and I lift Georgie down with me. He comes into my arms without any trouble. In the distance I hear sirens. And what might be a gunshot.
My heart is pounding in my ears, and Georgie growls softly.
“Shhh.” I try to keep quieter than the rushing water next to me and push further into the shadows.
The snap of a branch makes me jump, adrenaline surging through me. I hold onto Georgie tighter and get ready to run again if I have to. I’m not giving up this easily.
I move closer to the waterfall, not caring that the water is soaking my clothes, only hoping to be less visible.
“Sadie,” my name is called quietly but firmly.
Everything in me sags in relief. It’s Jon’s voice. I step out from the rocks and see him on the bank. His face is tight, searching. “Jon.”
Putting Georgie down, I scramble up the bank but he’s already there pulling me up and into his arms. He scoops me up and I don’t even have time to kiss him because there’s a click behind us. Georgie growls at my feet.
“Clever,” a voice says. “I didn’t think you’d have the guts to run away, Sadie.”
Jon releases me and pushes me behind him before I can turn and see Jack Singleton pointing a gun at the two of us. “Jack,” he says.
“See, I knew that you would follow her. You’re not stupid. You’d have some kind of way to track her. Back-up plan after back-up plan.”