We tumble, tumble, tumble. First through the air.
Then we hit the water hard, our bodies sinking beneath the surface. I struggle to come up for air but he’s there, too. I know I need to create distance between us now. He probably lost his gun in the fall, but he’s too big for me to fight without Noah.
I try to pull away but his arm snakes up and grabs my neck, pushing me under.
I have no breath in my lungs.
Water fills them and I struggle, inhaling way too much.
I reach the surface and sputter, my lungs burning. And again he pushes me down. This is it. I’m going to die here. I feel my body growing heavy. Sinking.
Darkness closes in.
*
“Lara, wake up.”
Noah? Is that you?
“Come on. Please wake up.”
I’m trying.
“Fuck, don’t leave me.”
Is he crying?
Oh God. Noah. I can hear you. I’m coming back.
I try to focus on my eyes, but they won’t open. They just won’t work. I take a ragged breath, and try again. They flicker.
“Yes, fuck. Baby, please.”
I’m almost there.
Another deep breath, and this time I manage to flutter one open. It’s blurred, my vision, but I can see the hazy outline of Noah leaning over me. I blink a few more times, getting my other eye open, and I realize I’m on something soft. Really soft, like a bed. I frantically clear my vision and peer around. I don’t know where we are. It looks like some sort of room.
“Noah?” I croak.
“Oh thank God,” he rasps. “I was worried you wouldn’t wake up.”
I blink again. “I thought … I thought I was going to drown.”
He leans down and presses his head against my forehead. “Fuck. I was afraid. You’re okay. Are you feeling unwell?”
“Sore, but okay … I think. Where are we?”
“I found his hideout,” Noah says, voice thick. “It’s underground. I noticed an oddly placed shrub and was walking around it, and I realized it was an entrance.”
Underground.
Of course it is.
I bolt upright, body screaming in pain. “Where is he? Is he dead?”
Noah shakes his head. “I don’t think so. I bashed his head with a rock once I reached you in the water, but you went under and he got away while I was bringing you to shore. Didn’t get his bike, though. I saw it at the waterfall and drove us a safe distance away, then happened upon this place. I hid the bike in the bushes, I don’t want him to know we’re here.”
I study the space. It’s big, considering its location. It has rustic wooden walls, no windows, and a staircase going upward to what looks like an exit. There is a bed, a sofa, a small kitchenette, and a bath. There are also televisions everywhere, lining one entire wall. The other wall has a closet that’s open, and I can see that it’s full of military-style clothing and tactical gear. A desk in the corner is stacked with papers, clippings about my nan and Noah’s time with the fire station, and pictures of the two of us arguing, together, running, all of it.
“This space is making me feel ill,” I rasp.
“I know, but it’s the only place we can be right now where we can anticipate him. He’s injured. It can finally be over.”
“Are there any weapons?”
He gets a troubled look on his face. “Yes, one knife.” He pulls it from his waistband and hands it to me. I clutch it likes it’s the Holy Grail. “Bryce isn’t a man to make stupid decisions, so either his leaving this here was a mistake … or he planted it here, knowing we would come.”
“Do you have a feeling one way or the other?”
He shakes his head. “Impossible to tell.”
I look down at my leg and see that my shin is covered in clean white gauze. “You found bandages?”
“First aid, yeah. Peroxide and antibacterial ointment, too. I cleaned us both up. I also found food and water. You need to drink and eat a little.”
“Phone?” I ask hopefully.
“No communication out. He’s not stupid.”
“What do we do now? Just wait for him to show up?”
“If he knows we’re here. If not, this is the perfect place to ambush him. That’s why I turned off all the lights and hid the bike. This is our last chance to end this.”
“And when we do, how do we get out?”
“I disabled the electric fences. When he’s dead, we’ll find a way out past them.”
“I feel like we’re closer than ever to being free.”
“Thanks to you, brave girl.” He squeezes my hand. “Your nan would be proud.”
I smile at the thought of her.
“Remember the first time you met her?” I say, trying to change the subject.
He smiles and nods.
“Nan, this is Noah,” I say.
Nan has just stepped into my house, a container of cookies in her hands, when she stops dead and looks up at Noah.
“This is the man you were telling me about?” she asks, squinting.
I inwardly giggle. She likes to act tough but my old nan is the sweetest woman in the world.
“Yes. Noah, this is my nan.”
Noah steps forward and extends his hand. “Lovely to meet you. Lara has told me so much about you.”
Nan sets the cookies down and takes his hand. “Do you have a criminal record, Noah?”
He blinks. “Ah. No.”
“Ever stolen something?”
“No ma’am.”
“Ever hurt an animal or a child?”
I press a hand to my mouth to stop my giggle.
“Of course not,” Noah says, his lips twitching.
“You going to hurt my granddaughter?”
“Not if I can help it.”
She narrows her eyes, but her lips twitch. “Which baseball team do you root for? Be careful how you answer, Noah. I’m picky.”
“The Cubs, ma’am.”
She smiles. Nan loves the Cubs. She might not live anywhere near them, but she’s a diehard fan.
“Pizza or pasta?”
I’m giggling hysterically now.
“Pizza.”
Nan lets him go with a huge smile on her face and turns to me. “I like him, you can keep him.”
Noah is laughing when I snap out of the memory. “She was the coolest lady I’ve ever met.”
I laugh. “She was. I’m glad you got to meet her.”
“Me too, Lara. Me too. Now get some sleep,” he says. “We need our strength for what’s coming.”
He turns out the lights and lies back down beside me.
I close my eyes and think of my nanna, smiling as another memory comes back to me. She always wanted me to believe in myself. She embraced my confident side.
“There’s nothing wrong with being confident, Lara, but don’t be cocky. Nobody likes a cocky person.”
“The world is such an ugly place, Nan,” I say, crossing my legs on her sofa. “I think sometimes you do have to be cocky; otherwise you get pushed around.”
“You make a good point, dear, but there is also something else you can be.”
I raise my brows. “Don’t leave me hanging, Nanna.”
She smiles. So beautiful. “You can be kind. You can be brave. You can be loyal. You can be strong. No matter how ugly the world is, if you’re that beautiful it can’t get past you.”