Page 17 of Turn the Tide
Chapter 3
Noise, at the end of the hall. Voices.Crap crap crap!
“Someone’s coming!” Zoe stage-whispered.
Frantic, she stuck her head in the room, only to pull it back out when Eric clocked the guy, hard, on the temple. Something about his expressionless efficiency gave her the heebie-jeebies. This man was nothing like the lazy fisherman she’d flirted with for the past couple years.
Which is probably a good thing.Not comfortable, but right now, certainly convenient.
He emerged from the room with a gun, a phone, and a deadly looking knife in hand, locked the door behind him, and grabbed her elbow.
“Let’s go.”
Without a word, she followed him to the door at the end of the hall, her back itchy as the voices drew closer. They’d just stepped through when yelling broke out behind them.
His “Run!” was totally unnecessary.
She ran faster than she had since, well,ever, and crashed into him at the top of a ladder.
“Go!”
He urged her in front of him, and she half slid down the rungs, arriving with a wet smack on the next deck, him at her heels.
While her chest hurt from pushing herself so hard—and probably from panic—Eric showed absolutely no signs of fatigue or stress or, frankly,anything at allas he charged ahead, pulling her with him. It wasn’t until she heard his voice that she realized he’d dialed the phone in his hand. While running. And keeping an eye out for their pursuers.
“Ford. It’s Eric. I’m in a bind. There’s a decommissioned oil rig just off San Elias. You know where Dad used to fish on theDaphne?” When he didn’t pause to listen, Zoe figured he was leaving a message. “Somebody’s made it into a research facility—off-grid, heavy security. Didn’t you say you had funding from Chronos Corp? Need your input, fast. Call me back at this number.”
He hung up, pulled her under an overhang, and made another call. “Von. It’s Coop. Could use some backup.” Above them, footsteps rang out across the metal. He lowered his voice so Zoe could just barely make out his words. “Hope you locate this phone if I leave it on. We’re on a platform near San Elias Island—the Polaris. But we’re heading out. Need you to extract a woman named Zoe if shit goes bad. Thanks, man.” He set the phone between the wall and a pipe, snagged Zoe by the wrist, and took off running, this time straight for one of the sides.
“Wait,” she huffed, trying to pull back when he didn’t slow down. “Wait…oh…no!”
A loud pop rang out behind them.Spotted! Oh no oh no oh no.
Another loud crack, this one ending with the high ping of metal to metal. A ricochet, Zoe thought, though that was only a guess. She’d never before been in the line of fire. Eric picked up the pace, dragging her along so fast she barely touched the floor.
Up ahead was a big, unsheltered stretch—they’d be sitting ducks there—and beyond it, the edge. She wanted to stop, to pull back at least, but Eric wouldn’t let her. He plowed on to the end of the unprotected area and then put a hand out to stop her.
“Listen. When I tell you to go, you run.”
“Where?”
“See that section without a handrail?”
More shots, zinging around them, made Zoe hunch as she peered out at the platform’s edge.
“We’re jumping, Zoe.”
She took an automatic step back, head already shaking from side to side. “No.” She’d take her chances here.
Another loud bark sounded above, and a bullet sparked against the metal beside her.
“Yes, okay!” she squealed.
“On one. Three…two… Run, Zoe!”
Eric swung out, shooting up at whoever was attacking them, and Zoe ran, faster than she’d run in her life. Adrenaline rushed her like a drug, and she used it to push hard. Harder. Everything was numb but the burn of her lungs and the fiery rasp of air through her throat. They were out in the open now, only she wasn’t really, because Eric had somehow managed to put himself right behind her—making himself into a human bulletproof vest. Which wasn’t okay. He shouldn’t sacrifice himself for—
Crap.There was the edge. Right up ahead. Every dizzying foot she’d climbed came back to smack her in the face.
