Page 105 of Heartless Sinner

It was vehicle manslaughter.

Exhaust burned my lungs as the engines roared around me.

“We’ll give you a ten-second head start,” Brooks whispered in my ear. “Good luck. You’ll need it.”

Brooks released me and disappeared into the shadows.

“Ten!”

I spun in a desperate circle.

Vehicles. Masked Sons. Trees.

Every possible escape route had something blocking it.

So much for a head start.

“Eight!” Brooks screamed into the night.

Which is worse—getting hit by a Son or a car?

I had seconds to come up with a plan.

Think, Daphne. Think.

The Mustang was the smallest weapon in their arsenal, and there was just enough space between it and the tree line for me to squeeze through.

I bolted toward it.

The Son guarding the Mustang reached inside the car and pulled out a megaphone.

“Four seconds!” he yelled through the static.

My sneakers tore through the loose dirt as I cut hard to the right.

“Three!”

I pushed harder.

“Two! Dos! Deux! Dva!”

There was no way I could outrun horsepower.

I veered toward the nearest tree, grabbed a low-hanging branch, and hoisted myself up. Rough bark scraped my bare skin, but a few splinters were better than becoming a speed bump.

I climbed higher and wrapped myself around the trunk.

Let’s see if any of you lazy assholes can climb a tree.

The vehicles started circling below me like starved animals.

“Welcome to the Jungle” blasted through the woods.

One of the G-Wagons rammed the tree.

The whole tree bucked under me hard enough to almost throw me off. My grip slipped, nails scraping over the bark before I caught myself.

“Stop ruining Mother Nature!” I screeched.