Page 97 of Zain

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Zain raced witheverything in him. He ignored the sweat pouring off his face, relished the burn of his muscles. Leaping over fallen logs and tree roots, he ran toward the sound of the gunshot as if his life fucking depended on it—because it did.

It’d been about five minutes since he heard the gun go off. Jesus, he’d better be running in the right direction.

Taschen’s voice crackled in his ear.

“What was that?” Zain huffed, the words broken with exertion. “I’m close. They can’t be far.”

“I found a body. Looks like our guy Drake. He’s dead. His skull was bashed in with a rock.”

One asshole down. But right now, all that mattered was getting to the bastard who’d fired the—

A scream shook the forest. The bloodcurdling cry made Zain’s hair stand on end. He skidded to a stop, chest pumping, as he tried to decipher the direction the cry had come from.

“Holy shit, that was Dana!” Taschen shouted in his ear. “Did you hear that?”

“Yeah,” he gasped.

Hope set his shoulders in a determined line as he veered a little more north. She was alive. Had they missed her with the first gunshot? He’d never prayed for anything so hard in his life.Come on, babe, scream again for me.

“I don’t think I’m far either. Micha’s freaking out. I’m going to let her loose.”

“Do it.” Zain came to a sharp ravine and stopped at the top. His pulse beat fiercely in his ears, conspiring against him. He scanned down to the center of the ravine, and footsteps in the mud caught his eye. He slid down the slope, rushing to the shoe tracks. “I’ve got prints,” he said. He followed them, and eventually, one of the three sets of tracks disappeared.

“Have you reached the ravine?” he asked Taschen, when he got to the top.

“Yup, just went around it.”

“Good.”

He strained his ears as he followed the muddy footprints, which were becoming harder and harder to decipher on the trail. The path sloped down, and the gushing of the waterfall told him it’d be near the bottom. Only the prints stopped. All of them.

He scanned the ground, but other than skid marks moving toward a tree to his left, there was nothing. Had she fallen?

His heart galloped in his chest as he leaned over the ledge that dropped a good fifty feet. Branches and sharp rocks jutted out, but there was nobody to be seen.

Summoning a deep breath, he cupped his hands over his mouth. “Dana!” He didn’t give a damn if a whole army came after him. Let them come.

If Dana was alive, she needed to know he was here.

Silence.

“Dana!” he bellowed again, at the top of his lungs.

“Real subtle, dude,” Taschen said dryly in his ear.

“If you’ve got a better—”

“Zain!” Dana’s desperate voice reverberated through the trees. He broke into a run, heading toward a thicket of bushes and charging right through. Twigs clawed at him, but he barreled down the slope at a breakneck pace.

He needed another scream.One more, baby. Come on.

***

Thud!

Dana’s assailant slammed into her back. She went flying forward, landing on her chest. Stars blipped in front of her vision. Weakness crept over her, muffling the angry sounds disturbing the air.

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