Ahh... so close to the finish... a few more chapters to go though. :) Sorry about being so slow to update- exams an' all-
Tony stopped his car at the top of a hill. He had come at Farrell Heights from the opposite side he knew Gibbs would be taking, vaguely hoping to cover more ground that way. He got out slowly, surveying the area. Years of training left him in that one moment when everything rested on where to start looking. Time was too tight- it pushed in on him from all sides. Suddenly his eye was caught by movement in the trees, and the gunfire decided him. He started at a steady jog which became a hurtling run at the sound of a scream.
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She realised, twenty yards on, that she had dropped the phone. After she had ended the call, her chasers were so close she had grabbed the boy and charged up the hill, not caring anymore whether they saw her or not. She would go out fighting, and right now the only way she had to fight them was make them sweat a little. Pushing the boy in front of her, she realised all too soon that she was not going to be able to keep up this pace. She had had no sleep or food, and an adrenalin rush can only last so long. Before she reached the top of the hill she was at the end of her tether, and it was no surprise to her when her legs gave out. She seemed to fold over on top of herself and crashed forward, slamming her knee against a stump on the way down. The boy kept on his laboured run up the hill, leaving her lying in shock for a moment. She glared at him in a daze, feeling strangely hurt that the guy would just leave her lying there. She had no time to dwell on that however, because rough hands grabbed her before she had a moment to react. They picked her up and slammed her on her back, not un- painfully, and she was suddenly facing a hairy man with sweat pouring off his face. Ethan's face appeared over his shoulder, and she heard someone crash past to retrieve the boy. Ethan had a strange look of amusement on his face, and that amusement brought despair to Kate. He was not done with her, and now she had made him angry. He said nothing, but turned and kept on up the hill, and the man grabbed Kate up and propelled her forwards, practically lifting off the ground. Her breaths came in laboured gasps, but even the sharp pains in her knee and chest weren't enough to take her mind off the fact that she was probably about to die, right now, here, on this hill, at the hands of some random serial killer… her thoughts drifted crazily along until she was set down on flat ground. She almost toppled, but the attention was not on her anymore. Ethan was facing the boy, who was lying motionless on the ground. Ethan had no amusement in is face now, and Kate got a horrible feeling in her guts.
"You are Jake Marsden?" Ethan demanded, his voice ringing in Kate's tired ears.
The boy on the ground made no movement.
"You were told the location of a certain briefcase by your brother, Dave Marsden?"
Kate felt as though she was in an interrogation room. Ethan sounded like a cop making sure he did everything by the book, but she was perfectly certain that this was in no way above board. Ethan had a rifle slung around his neck, his hands ready. She moved slowly, muscles pulling as she inched across the ground. The interrogation was still going on one- sidedly, but she hardly noticed. Her world narrowed to the gun in Ethan's hands, her ambition focused on pointing it away from Jake's prone body. She felt bizarrely responsible for him, even more so now that she knew his name. Time seemed to slow to a dribble as she crawled across, and she finally realised what Ethan had said. Dave Marsden's brother? What was this, a family reunion? Having temporarily lost concentration, she glanced up, and met the cold eyes of Ethan Wright. Eyes still on hers, he raised the gun and shot one in the air. She flinched, but her eyes never left his. He smiled grimly, and lowered the barrel of the rifle until it was level with Jake's head. Kate flinched again, and screamed as his finger pulled the trigger.
Hope you enjoyed!