Gray, Ginna by The Witness

Author:The Witness
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-12-17T17:12:24+00:00

Twelve

Every second that ticked by seemed an eternity. After twenty minutes Lauren was wound so tight she thought she would surely fly apart at any second. She could barely restrain herself from bursting out from under the cover of the tree and running for her life.

The helicopter was far enough away now that its engine noise was no more than a distant buzz, but Sam still tracked the craft with the binoculars.

"There they go. They're packing it in and heading back."

"At last." She closed her eyes and exhaled a long breath.

"Let's go." Sam grabbed the backpack and scrambled out from beneath the branches. Needing no second urging, Lauren wriggled out right behind him.

How long had they been hiding? she wondered, falling into step behind him. Thirty minutes? Forty-five? She had no idea. It had seemed like forever.

And the whole time the men on their trail had been gaining on them.

As they tramped across the snow she could not stop herself from checking over her shoulder every few minutes.

They broke out of the trees into a clear area. "Let's go! Let's go!" Sam took off at double-time. Lauren didn't object, although she had to hustle just to keep him in sight. Nor did she complain when the slope became steeper. Better to risk her neck in a fall than to take a bullet.

For hours they trekked over rough terrain. At times they were forced to remove their snowshoes to negotiate drop-offs and rocky outcrops, then stop and put them back on to cross patches of fresh powder over three feet deep.

Lauren had never attempted anything so strenuous. She panted and gasped every step. Her lungs burned and her breathing grew so rough and raspy it hurt her throat. Her shoulders and back ached from carrying the duffle bag and her legs felt like lead. Still, she ignored the pain and fatigue and forged on. Somewhere behind them were three assassins.

They ate their noonday meal of jerky and an energy bar on the go. Sam kept the same grueling pace for hours, stopping only rarely to take a compass reading or peer through the binoculars. Lauren took advantage of the infrequent stops to take a drink of water and catch her breath, leaning against a tree or rock, whichever was handy. She didn't dare sit down. She wasn't sure she would have the strength to get back up.

After endless hiking and scrambling over boulders and sidestepping down steep slopes, often snagging the ends of tree limbs to stop themselves from tumbling, Lauren was moving like an automaton, numb to everything but the need to keep going.

When twilight descended she assumed they would soon make camp, but Sam showed no sign of stopping.

"S-Sam! Wh-when are we go-going to stop for the n-night?" she panted.

"We're not," he called back. "The moon is close to being full. The moonlight...reflecting off the snow will provide a lot of illumination...which means it's unlikely those guys...behind us will stop," he explained between breaths. "That means we have to keep going, too.

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