“How badly are you hurt?”
He didn’t answer.
“I’m not going anywhere. I’ll pull you up.” Eve backed away from the shaft entrance. “I need to find something I can use to—”
“Who asked you to do that? I’ll get out on my own. Run, dammit.”
“I can’t leave you.”
“Then stay here and let Doane catch you and pick me off like a duck in a shooting gallery. There’s no time. Doane is on his way. He thinks he’s trailing you, and I led him through a maze of shrubs, but he should be heading this way by now.”
“What?”
“You heard me, I’ve been leading him here. Dammit, he should be on top of us anytime now.”
“I have a knife.”
“Are you willing to risk it? You can’t win … Not like this.”
“Can you get up here on your own?”
“Yes.” He gazed appraisingly up at the craggy sides of the mine shaft, which appeared to present plenty of hand- and footholds. It wouldn’t be easy, especially with this damn useless left hand, but he’d gotten out of tougher spots before. “I told you, I don’t need you.”
“He’s coming.” Eve’s voice was suddenly tense. “I see the beam of Doane’s flashlight near that bluff.”
“Get out of here.”
“No, I’ll go toward him and let Doane see me, so I can lead him away from here.”
“No! Don’t you—”
“Stop telling me what to do,” she said fiercely. “I won’t have you shot. I won’t have Doane and his Kevin survive if anything happens to me. Evil. So much evil. You’re the only safety net I have to make sure that they’re destroyed. You won’t care about Venable or cops or politicians or anyone else. You’ll run right over them. You’ll go after Doane and keep on going after him.” She whirled back toward the path. “Now shut up and start trying to get up that mine shaft.”
Then, the next second, Eve was gone.
* * *
EVE STARTED RUNNING,CUTTING back into the forest to where she’d seen the beam of Doane’s flashlight.
The shrubs were wet, and she was soaked in seconds.
A light shining bright in the darkness.
The light was on her, targeting her.
She braced herself, standing there like a deer caught in the headlight. Then she turned and started running back through the forest.
Keep away from the mine shaft.
Had Doane caught sight of her? She’d thought that the beam had zeroed in on her long enough.
Just in case, make as much noise as she could to draw attention.
But the thunder that had been her friend was suddenly her enemy. How could you hear the sound of footsteps and crash of vegetation with that rumbling all around them?
But it didn’t matter. Doane had seen her!
She could hear him cursing behind her. He must be close for her to hear him so clearly.
She glanced over her shoulder and her heart jumped in her breast.
Oh, yes, very close.
Should she pull out the knife? She jumped over a fallen tree stump and ran down the overgrown trail. If he caught up with her, she’d be ready for him.
“You won’t win … Not like this.”
Zander’s words were still ringing in her ears. He was right, of course, especially if Doane now had a laser-sighted rifle aimed at her back.
She glanced back. She couldn’t see him, but she could hear the stomping of his rubber-soled boots and the jangling of keys on his belt. At least, she had drawn him away from Zander.
Now she just had to save her own neck.
“Give up, Eve,” Doane called out behind her. “You’d never have lit that fire if you hadn’t been exhausted. It’s the end for you tonight.”
She became aware of another sound. It was water, babbling and slapping over rocks. She turned toward a cluster of trees to her left.
A stream.
She bolted toward it.
She ran through dozens of outstretched branches, clawing at her face, her clothes, her hair. Just another few feet …
Doane’s voice behind her, even closer this time. “You have to finish what you started. He’s waiting for you.”
She leaped into the stream and gasped as a million icy razors cut into her. The frigid water immediately took her breath away and slowed her movements. What was she thinking?
That he’d be crazy to follow her.
She dove to the shallow bottom and swam as far and fast as she could without breaking the surface. Doane was undoubtedly running on the bank alongside waiting for her to show herself.
She let the stream carry her along, moving faster than she ever could under her own power.
And, hopefully, faster than Doane, she thought desperately.
She swam until she felt that her lungs were about to burst. In one fluid motion, she broke the surface, hungrily gulped the air, then dove back under. Had he seen her?
It didn’t matter. The current was picking up.
She could do this.
A bullet tore into the water only a foot from her head.
“The next bullet will be aimed much closer,” Doane shouted from the bank. “Do you think you can swim faster than a bullet, Eve?”
No, and the stream was so narrow it would make it easy for him to see her in the water.
Get out.
Take to the woods again.
She waited until she rounded the next curve, then left the stream and crossed to the other side. The trail was growing rougher and more overgrown here. She hoped she wasn’t circling back toward Zander. She was so cold and tired, she was disoriented. Go deeper, toward the trail leading to the factory.
“Stop,” he called. “Can’t you see it’s over?”
He might be right. He could be going to catch her, she realized in despair.
She might be able to fend him off once he brought her down. She had a weapon now.
But that weapon would let Doane know that someone had been here and tried to help her.
And so would this vest she was wearing.
Protect Zander.
Don’t let Doane go back and shoot him while he was helpless in that mine shaft.
Fight the common enemy.
At a turn in the trail she instinctively shrugged out of the vest and threw it deep into the bushes.
Keep running. Don’t let Doane bring her down until they were far away from the place where Zander had gone down.
Run.
Faster.
“Bitch!” Doane shouted. “I told you I’d blow your kneecaps out. I’ll do it, Eve.”
But he wouldn’t do it unless he had to do it, in spite of his threat. She would be an encumbrance crippled.
Lead him away from Zander.
The bushes were scratching her arms and face as she tore into the forest.
But she’d lost time by making the turn, and Doane was even closer now.
Darkness.
Trees.
The sound of Doane’s harsh breathing behind her.
Keep running.
Too late.
He was on her, taking her down!
She rolled over, kneeing him in the groin.
He grunted in pain.
While her leg was raised, she reached down and felt desperately for the hilt of the knife.
“Bitch.” Her head rang as Doane slapped her.
She had the knife out.
“What the—” His hand brutally grasped her wrist and twisted it. The knife fell from her grasp.
He grabbed it and pressed the blade against her throat. “Move, and I’ll slice you to pieces.”
She froze.
“Now get up … slowly.”
She got to her knees.
He stood up and towered over her. His gaze went to the knife in his hand.
“Where did you get the knife, you little viper?”
Think.
He slapped her again. “Where?”
“In an old, dilapidated hunter’s blind about ten miles from here. There was a backpack and the knife and some spoiled food packs. I thought you and Kevin might have left them when you were up here hunting.”
He shook his head.
“I was just glad to find the knife.” She glared at him. “I was going to skewer you, Doane.”
“I’m sure you would. You’re as bloodthirsty as your father.”