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“Call out—or something,” she said.
He turned as he pulled his gun from its place at the small of his back. “Huh?”
“You know,” she said, fluttering her fingers. “Like a bird call or something. Then you can follow my voice if you get lost.”
He smirked. “Bird call. Got it.”
“Just don’t be stupid, okay?”
“All right. Not stupid either.” He nodded and headed for the trees. “Caw-caw,” he called softly.
Her snorting laughter carried on the breeze, and his cheeks warmed on a smile. If he survived the night, he’d never last the fucking week.
***
Great.
Savannah had spent half the day wanting to be rid of Toth Holmes and now she wanted to cling to his departing legs like a three-year-old trying to stop her parents from going to work. Pathetic.
Unease swam in her belly as she stared at the vast mosaic of trees that had swallowed Toth. An owl hooted and Savannah shivered. She placed her hand around the gun in her lap then brought her attention to the satellite phone he’d given her.
N is someone else.
Like his girlfriend. Had to be. He hadn’t given her an option to dial N, just instructions to get a hold of Rami.
Who cares if he has a girlfriend? You’re running for your life, stupid.
She was exhausted, her brain was scrambled from the accident, and she desperately needed out of the woods. Of course her mind was going to wander. She was losing it.
Forcing all thoughts of Toth out of her mind, she tapped Rami’s number and brought the bulky device to her ear. There was a long pause before the line connected.
“Hello?”
Savannah cleared her throat. “Rami, it’s Savannah. Toth and I were in a car wreck on our way out of town. We need backup.” She closed her eyes. It sounded so silly.We need backup.As if she were one of them and not their cash cow for the week.
“Shit. You okay? Where’s Toth?”
She brought her fingers to her throbbing temple. “Yeah, we’re fine,” she said stiffly. After tumbling down a friggin’ mountain she was anything but fine, but that wasn’t important right now. “Toth went to stop Red Eyez from following us. He said you could use our coordinates and help. We’re in the woods.”
He cursed. “I know where he was taking you. Text me your location. There’s an app installed to give you the points.”
Just what she needed with a suspected concussion—to tinker with technology. “I’ll do that now.”
“All right. If you have any problems or Toth doesn’t return soon, call me back.”
“’Kay.” She disconnected and flicked her thumb over the screen. Unlike her phone, this one had only a handful of apps, which made finding the locator thing fairly easy. A few minutes later, the device spit out a coordinate. She copied the numbers, pasted them into the text field, and hit send.
There. Help was on the way.
She tucked the phone back inside the bag then brought her hand to her neck, gently massaging. Part of her wanted to crack open one of the protein bars, but she couldn’t chance putting anything in her stomach. Her senses were on alert. She heard every branch creaking in the wind. Her heart rate hiked up with each passing second. She’d never been overly anxious, but an unfamiliar urge to chew her fingernails gripped her as the shrouded trees closed in around her, the scent of pine and dirt thickened in her nostrils.
Chill. She needed to chill. If she didn’t get her breathing under control, Toth would come back to find her passed out or having a panic attack. Neither would suit her image.
She placed a hand on the cool rock beside her thigh and kept the other on the reassuring metal of the gun. Then she focused her gaze on her feet instead of the shadows morphing into threatening shapes. The constant trickling of water over rocks, slow yet steady, calmed her nerves further. Within a couple of minutes, the muscles in her chest loosened and air flowed freely in and out of her lungs. There. Sanity returned.
Toth wouldn’t be gone long. They’d probably walked twenty minutes or so after crossing the road, but he’d been carrying her and their bags. Surely he’d cover much more ground with less baggage. By the time Toth returned and they made it back to the road, Rami wouldn’t be far. Hell, in an hour or two she’d probably be cozy in whatever place Toth had been taking her to. Even a cheap motel would do.
She needed food, a bath, and a bed. In that order. Toth better be a quick killer, because—