Without a Trace by Stacy Claflin

Author:Stacy Claflin [Claflin, Stacy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-05-12T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Then

Angela struggled to gasp in air. She didn’t dare look back, but the footsteps still thundered behind her.

Hopefully Dad hadn’t gotten around to fixing the loose boards in the fence. If she could get through those, she stood a chance of escaping. If not, then she’d likely face the same fate as Jeff.

Tears blurred her vision remembering the pool of blood. It didn’t seem real.

Jeff couldn’t be dead. But he was. There was no way he’d survived that.

And she didn’t have time to think about it. She would cry over his loss later. After she managed to survive. He would want her to get away. She’d want that for him if their roles were reversed.

She glanced back over her shoulder.

The moonlight revealed two men behind her.

Angela raced toward a group of trees. Luckily this was a large yard, and she knew it better than they did. She’d spent her entire childhood playing back here with her sister. Even if there hadn’t been what scant moonlight there was, she could have gotten around in total darkness.

She had the advantage. Barely.

Her shoulder hit a tree as she ran between them. More than anything, she wanted to stop and lean against one to catch her breath.

There was no time. Not if she wanted to live through this.

The footsteps got louder, and the men spoke in hushed tones.

She pressed forward. The fence was almost in sight. Just needed to round the corner. The other side of the house had plenty of trees and bushes. Cover. Exactly what she needed. Then she would reach the loose boards.

Being short and just under a hundred pounds, she would be able to squeeze through. Not as easily as when she was a kid, but she would still clear it. Her pursuers would have a harder time. Might not even be able to make it.

Angela prayed they wouldn’t.

She went around the house and pressed herself against it to get by the thick bushes. Ducked low so she would be harder to see. Pressed her palm on the fence, felt around for the loose boards.

Voices.

They were asking where she went.

Holding her breath, she pressed firmly on the board with the big knot.

Squeak!

She froze.

“Over there!”

Angela pressed as hard as she could. The board pushed out.

She squeezed through the tight space. Rough wood scraped her face. Pulled on her hair. But she made it through the gap.

She’d done it!

But this was far from over.

The board popped out. A hand grasped it.

Angela swallowed a scream. She glanced at her house. The place she’d grown up. Had so many happy memories. She held the image in her mind. Pulled her attention away.

Turned her back toward it.

Ran.

Her sneakers pounded on the concrete sidewalk. She headed away from the neighborhood’s main entrance. That’s where the killers would expect her to go.

No. She knew another way out. One they wouldn’t be aware of. Only residents knew about it, and only a few at that. Mostly the teenagers who needed to sneak out unnoticed.

She glanced back.

One man leaped over her fence from the backyard.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.