Page 86 of Holiday Hostage
“Payton, please.” Tucker was gaining on me.
The only reason I’d outrun him this long was his age.
I had love on my side, and it propelled me even closer. “I’m coming, Mav.”
There was no way he’d hear me, but I needed to say it, needed to hear the words in the screaming void that my mind had become.
Almost there.
Only a few feet separated us.
A few more seconds and I’d be in his arms.
Firelight bloomed behind Maverick.
It happened so suddenly, so unexpectedly, that I didn’t understand what happened until the cabin exploded into millions of wooden shards.
The wave hit me in the chest and threw me into the air.
My arms windmilled, but there was no way in hell I’d find my way to my feet in the onslaught of the blast.
We should have expected it.
That was my last thought as I crashed into a tree, my head snapping backward with a sickening thud that turned the world black.
25
PAYTON
Why did I smell motor oil and copper?
I tried to open my eyes, but they were stuck shut.
Pain lanced across the back of my neck and down my shoulders.
I took a slow, careful breath and assessed my body in the darkness. Aches and pains littered my limbs, but they all seemed functional.
I rolled my ankles, then my wrists. Functional.
I checked my major joints next.
My neck was the worst of them, and moving my head too far to one side caused pain to bloom across my temples.
A cold draft raced over my cheeks, and a warm vibration beneath my spine contrasted the sensation.
I slowed my racing heart and tried to focus. What happened? Where was I?
Sounds clarified, and I realized I was in a vehicle.
The sounds I heard was an engine thrumming and tires rolling across pavement.
Panic flared hot and bright.
Had I been kidnapped again? Was that why my head hurt?
I raised my hand. No restraints. That was good, right?
A clicking sound speared my tender ears, and the low hum of a staticky radio station filled the silence.
