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But before she could fire, the sniper off in the distance fired again. They missed, but the bullet lodged itself into the ground in front of Georgia’s face, sending dirt into her eyes.

She heard the shot ringing out after she was momentarily blinded.

Baxter was still coming at her. Georgia could hear him, hear his feet pounding on the ground.

She couldn’t see much. Debris had gotten into both her eyes, which were filling up with tears as her eyes tried to clear themselves.

Georgia didn’t have much of a chance of hitting him. But she pulled the trigger anyway.

The gun kicked and the shot rang out.

Despite the ringing in her ears, she could still hear Baxter.

It was too late. She’d missed.

Georgia was blinking rapidly, trying to get her eyes working again.

She felt the rifle hit her in the shoulder. Baxter had swung it down like a club. It made a harsh sound as it slammed into her. Her old injury flared up. Pain ran through her.

Baxter was suddenly on top of her, pressing his knees into her back. He was heavy, and she was pressed into the dirt.

Her rifle was knocked out of her hands.

Baxter growled something, but she didn’t hear what it was. It sounded more like the sound an animal would make rather than English.

Georgia wasn’t going to give up.

Baxter’s hands were around her throat from behind. He was trying to strangle her. As quickly as possible.

His hands were strong and rough. He had a firm grip around her neck and he squeezed. Hard.

Georgia felt the loss of oxygen.

But she wasn’t going down without a fight.

Her eyes were finally clear of the debris. Tears flowed down her cheeks and her eyes still burned, but she could see.

She had a handgun with her. But she didn’t have much of a chance of shooting him in the position he was in.

She had a knife, too, but if she could get to it, she’d be stabbing wildly behind her in the hopes of catching him.

She didn’t have much time left before she was unconscious. Mere seconds.

Her rifle wasn’t far from her, lying there in the dirt.

Georgia reached out suddenly and swiftly, so that he’d have no time to stop her.

She seized the rifle around the muzzle with one hand. She brought it up swiftly, raising her arm off the ground as fast and hard as she could. The rifle followed, swinging through the air.

The rifle collided with Baxter. Georgia didn’t know where, but she heard it. He grunted in pain as hit him.

The rifle fell away from her hand. She couldn’t hold onto it. She was getting too weak.

The hands around her neck suddenly relaxed.

Georgia’s instinct was to gasp for breath, to lie there and recover. But there wasn’t time for that.

Still sputtering for air, Georgia made one final attempt to get out from under him. She twisted around, moving her body as fast as she could.

Now she was face up, and she brought her fist up. She punched him right in the face.

He grunted in pain again. He was bleeding from his head where the rifle must have struck him.

Georgia felt weak and energized at the same time. Her injuries sapped the strength from her, and now she was dealing with strangulation. At the same time, the adrenaline coursed through her. And even more powerful than the adrenaline was the knowledge that she had to get back to James and Sadie.

She had to. There was no other option.

She had to keep low to the ground. The sniper was still out there. Although he didn’t seem to be a good enough shot to distinguish between Baxter, who was presumably his friend, and Georgia.

But Georgia didn’t want to risk it.

Georgia was on all fours, in a semi-crouch position.

Baxter was still reeling in pain, but he’d fixed his eyes once again on Georgia. There was only one thing in those eyes, and that was his intention to kill.

The rifle lay on the ground between them. They weren’t far apart.

Georgia was already reaching for her handgun in its holster.

She had her hand around the handle.

She was drawing it. Her hand and arm felt weak, but she had to keep going.

Baxter had gone for the rifle. It was in his hand now.

Georgia had the handgun out. She raised her arm, holding it straight out.

Baxter was raising the rifle.

Georgia took aim.

She pulled the trigger.

The gun kicked and Georgia’s ears rang.

It seemed as if the bullet had hit Baxter right in the heart. A good, clean shot.

Baxter fell forward, facedown onto the earth. Georgia glimpsed the look of surprise and anger as he fell.

There wasn’t any time to savor the victory, to savor the feeling of being alive.

The sniper was still out there. And maybe there was more than one.

Georgia was still gasping for air. Her brain didn’t seem to be working quite right. Her neck burned with pain where his fingers had been.

Georgia had to get down as low as she could again. Shelter would be good. But she’d have to crawl behind a tree. She knew the rough direction of the sniper, but not the location.

Georgia fell to the ground more than she got there herself.

She lay there, trying to catch her breath, trying to breathe.

Someone was out there. And they wanted her dead.

13

MAX

Max and Mandy remained crouched behind stacks of cardboard boxes. They were trying not to move much or make any sounds at all.

They couldn’t see what was happening without peeking out, and they didn’t want to do that.

Light flooded the whole area. One of the cargo doors was open, but Max hadn’t yet heard any sounds. No greetings. No shouts or commands. Nothing.

They waited.

All Max could hear were footsteps.

Now there was some grunting. Some indecipherable sounds. Maybe something being set down? It was a cargo area, after all. Maybe a delivery was being made.

But a delivery? It didn’t make sense.

“What should we do?” whispered Mandy, speaking directly into Max’s ear in an incredibly soft voice.

With the other noises, there wasn’t much chance a whisper like that could be heard.

Max could feel Mandy’s hot breath in his ear. He tried not to let it distract him.

Max shook his head at her, indicating that he didn’t know.

Mandy put her mouth back against his ear. “Do you think it has anything to do with the drugs?”

“The drugs?” whispered Max, using the same technique.

“Didn’t you see the drugs lying around? All those people are high on something. There were needles and everything.”

Max shook his head to let her know he hadn’t seen it.

How had he missed it? That wasn’t like him. Then again, there hadn’t been much time.

So that added a new piece to the puzzle.

Before Max could think about it any further, someone finally spoke.

“OK, boss, I’ve got it all distributed.”

“You got everyone a good supply?”

Max couldn’t hear the next thing. Just some inaudible mumbling.

“OK, then. Who’s it going to be?”

“What about that one?”

“Too thin.”

“He’s only going to get thinner.”

Max was listening as carefully as he could, trying to pick up not just the tone of the conversation and the meaning, but trying to see if he could glean some information about who these men were.

If they needed to fight their way out, knowing something about them ahead of time would be helpful.

A quick glance exchanged with Mandy assured Max that she didn’t know what the conversation was about either.