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"Stop - "
I grinned again, clicked the lighter on, and tossed the flickering flame onto the floor.
WHOOSH!
The thing about mountain moonshine that made it so irresistible to some folks was the high alcohol content. I'd only been sucking down the fumes for a minute, and I already felt light-headed. In my case, I wasn't looking for a buzz so much as a burn, and I got one.
It only took a second for the fire to zip across the alcohol trail that I'd created on the floor and over to the puddles of liquor. It wouldn't be long before the flames would cause more of the glass jars to shatter, which would add even more fuel to the fire. I grinned into the heat of the flames even as the guy at the door turned and ran.
This should keep at least a few of Grimes's men busy and out of the hunt. Otherwise, the whole camp might go up in smoke - and wouldn't that just be a crying shame.
Shouts rose from the front of the building as smoke boiled up and the fire started edging toward the windows.
The shimmering red-orange flames made the stills glow a bright copper.
Crack!
Crack! Crack!
Crack!
I ducked, thinking that the idiots outside were shooting at the building, but it was only the glass jars breaking. More moonshine spilled to the floor, and the flames arched higher.
"Burn, baby, burn," I murmured, encouraging the fire a final time before turning and running out the back door.
Chapter Twenty-two
Several working stills squatted in the backyard behind the building, but they were far too big and heavy for me to tip over and add to the mayhem, so I raced past them, my eyes fixed on the woods ahead.
Crack!
Crack! Crack!
Crack!
Bullets pinged off the metal stills and pipes and rattled away into the trees. Apparently, my five minutes were already up. Or maybe I'd forfeited my laughable head start by not playing by the rules.
Apparently, not as many of Grimes's men as I thought were staying behind to fight the fire, because more shouts rose behind me.
"There she is!"
"I see her!"
"Get that bitch!"
I hopped over the white picket fence at the edge of the yard and darted into the woods. Despite the fact that men with guns were chasing me, I still made myself slow down and watch where I put my feet so I wouldn't fall victim to one of the traps strung up around the camp. I had no desire to escape the hunting party only to get a face full of elemental Fire from a sunburst rune seared into one of the trees.
But the good thing about nasty surprises like booby traps was that they could work both ways - like helping me thin out the murderous herd thundering through the forest behind me.
I darted through the woods as fast as I could, searching for anything that might trip me up - or at least injure one of my pursuers. More bullets crackled through the trees and leaves around me, but they weren't as close as they had been before, meaning that I'd managed to put a little distance between myself and my would-be murderers.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the sun gleaming on something close to the forest floor, and I veered in that direction. Even though I knew it was there, it still took me a few seconds to spot the fishing line. The trap was identical to the first one that Warren had disarmed earlier. One end of the line taped to a sunburst rune that had been scorched into a tree trunk, the line running across the path at ankle level, then the other end wrapped around a small peg that had been pounded into the ground.
Perhaps Lady Luck had finally decided to smile on me, because this particular peg was actually hidden by a thick rhododendron bush. I stepped off the path and crouched down behind the bush, making sure that I was as hidden as I could be by the arching branches and green, glossy leaves. Then I carefully took hold of the fishing line and waited - just waited.
Ten . . . twenty . . . thirty . . . forty-five . . . sixty . . .
I counted off the seconds in my head as I listened for sounds of pursuit. Finally, after about three minutes, two men came crashing through the woods toward me, rifles clutched in their hands. I peered through the branches at them.
