Chapter 97

97

Caleb must have been lying low, somewhere close to where she'd exited the building, waiting until he thought it was clear.

Elin looks wildly around her. If he finds her here, out in the open, she loses any element of surprise. With Caleb armed, she stands no chance.

Her gaze lurches toward the lodge, the doors. Too late: she goes that way and she'll be heading straight toward them, plus she needs her pass to get in. It'll take too long.

The woods.

The throbbing in her ribs, chest, is now insistent, but she tries to force a jog across the grass, toward the first thicket of trees. Wood chippings and pine needles spray out as her feet clumsily pound the ground.

She's only a few yards from the forest when her foot slides out from under her. No purchase on the slippery ground.

Tumbling forward, her hands jerk out to break her fall. A brutal jarring as her palms slam against the ground, the impact surging up her arms to her chest. The pain around her ribs grips tighter and she gasps, drawing herself up onto her hands and knees.

Elin glances in the direction of the lodge.

They're closer. A few more feet and they'll be almost parallel to her.

Aghast, she lies flat, tries not to make a sound, draw attention to herself. The soil is damp, tiny stones within it digging into her cheeks.

Holding her breath, she can feel her heart pounding.

The wind drops so she can hear voices again. Caleb's, growing louder.

Did they see her fall? Are they heading her way now?

If they hadn't seen her then, once they get parallel to her, they're certain to.

Move. She has to move.

Hauling herself forward, staying low, she plunges into the dense undergrowth. Brambles and twigs poke and prod at her face, snagging on her clothing.

A voice sounds out again—some kind of shouted directive.

Still crouching, Elin pushes deeper, thorns catching in her neck, hair. She winces as one snags the soft skin of her scalp.

Between the gusts of wind, Caleb's voice is audible again.

Panic flares.

She lifts her head a fraction, but all she can see is the undergrowth in front of her: spikes of pine needles, churned-up soil. Leaf litter, sodden and creased. Her nostrils are filled with the scent of fresh soil, undertones of decay.

"You see that?" Caleb's voice sounds out: a shout that drifts in the wind. "Down there?"

Whether he's talking to himself or Ronan, she has no idea.

A flurry of movement.

Heart racing, Elin lies frozen on the spot, eyes wide open, staring into the undergrowth. The effort of holding the position is too much; her muscles twitch. She's going to have to move.

There's a guttural rumble of thunder.

As it fades, Caleb speaks again. "Let's go. Nothing here."

The relief is instantaneous, but still, she lets a few minutes pass until she moves.

Slowly breathing out, she gradually hauls herself up, using the woodland as cover while she surveys the grass in front, the space around her. Her legs are numb and stiff; it takes a moment until they feel like hers again.

Still looking about, on her guard, she stumbles up the grass toward the main lodge. No sign of them, but she guesses they've continued in the same direction—away from where they'd exited the building, toward the rock.

Back to the wall, she moves slowly around the side of the building, once again struck by paranoia: that Caleb's watching somewhere. Waiting. Fleeting glimpses of the interior of the lodge only heighten her unease: in the shifting shadows beyond the glass there's movement everywhere.

Elin passes the base of the rock, about to start down the steps to the villas, when there's a brief lull in the wind. The thrashing of the trees is stilled, the swirling sand and dirt settling to the ground. She catches the strains of speech, then a harsh, scraping noise. More speech. Short, angry sounds. Lost as the wind gusts again.

Heart pounding, she waits, poised, willing another moment of quiet.

Elin only has to wait a minute or so for it to arrive. A moaning noise: Ronan?

Straining her ears, she tries to isolate the source of the sound.

It's only when the noise gets louder that Elin realizes that it's coming from above her.

The rock.