Excerpt: Another Way To Die

Chapter One

     If I had seen Daniel Logan coming I would have run on instinct alone. Six months into training for a marathon and I was strong enough for the race. Fast enough to compete. And steady enough, had I had a gun I would have never gotten into this situation.

     My heart was pounding as I crested the hill, pushing myself hardest at the end of the run. And no matter how many times I did it, it was always hard. My mouth was parched, I was out of Gatorade and even though it was still freezing outside I was sweating as if it were ninety degrees.

     I was fast, but I was no match for Daniel. He ran like a fucking machine and even though I prided myself on listening for footsteps coming up behind me he came barreling out of the woods and at me it startled me, so I charged at him sending us sliding down a patch of ice.

     I slipped free and fumbled for my keys propelling myself into a blistering pace. The adrenaline kicked in and memories from a night long ago flooded me. Slipping out a window into the dead of night. Running through the streets. Through the woods. Running until I could run no more. I had run fast that night. I ran even faster now.

     My fingers were numb, I couldn’t even feel my car key as I approached my car. I’d often curse the piece of shit when the heat wouldn’t want to work. I didn’t care about the heat now. I just wanted the thing to start.

     My hands were shaking so hard I dropped my keys to the ground. “Fuck.” My voice was trembling and it felt like the ten years I had lived a free woman were coming to an end. And that my father had finally managed to find me. I scooped up the keys and as I slid it into the lock and felt the cold barrel of a gun press into my back.

     When he spoke his voice, cool, clipped, and accented, he wasn’t from Kentucky, he wasn’t even from the States, he was from England. “Just get into the car and everything will be fine.”

     Well, if Jack had found me, fine, but I wasn’t about to go anywhere without a fight. I hurled my head backwards and smashed my crown and caught him in the chin. Stomped on the instep of his foot, and elbowed him hard in the stomach, taking the wind out of him. I managed to wiggle part of the way free before his hand closed around my wrist like a vise. He whipped me around and fixed me with a cold, glittering, set of ice blue eyes.

     “You are coming with me. If I leave you here--,” shots punctured the quiet morning air and we both looked to another man, this one with jet black hair, had his gun drawn and was closing ground, fast. “You get the point. Now get in the God damn car.” He shoved me and a split second later my collarbone was burning like it was on fire.