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THIRTY-FIVE
Mackenzie heard the explosion and stumbled. Her knees hit the ground, then she fell forward and sobbed into the pine needles. Oh, God ... Nora!
There was no way Nora, Tilden, and Carson had made it out of there without a rescue. But Tilden had called 911, and she’d heard emergency vehicles. She had an ounce of hope.
God, please, please, please let them be okay!
Whatever had happened, Mackenzie had to survive so that William wouldn’t win.
She pushed from the ground and started running again. How much farther was it to the ravine and the zip line? Taking it across then disabling it would get her to safety. William was a runner, and there was no way she could outrun him.
She wasn’t sure how she’d gotten away from him in the first place. But there was no way she would let him take her away on that helicopter. No. Way. She shuddered to think of what he had planned for her. Initially, she’d escaped him because he didn’t know which way she’d run, and he took off in the wrong direction.
The zip-line escape was a decent idea—though she really didn’t want to cross the ravine. And another issue was that it could have been dismantled after the accident. Her idea could be a big mistake. If it was, she would just have to find a place to hide in the wilds of Montana.
She tripped over a stone and fell to the ground again. Scrambling back to her feet, she approached the ravine and heard the roar of the Grayback River. She hoped and prayed the authorities were invading the woods. Nebulous 2.0 could be captured.
Finally.
But she couldn’t know if she would be dead or alive when that happened. Catching her breath, she stood at the edge of the ravine. As she’d feared, the zip line had been removed.
She wasn’t getting across. Footfalls pounded the ground behind her.
Hide. Move.
She dashed away from the ravine and dove behind a large rock.
“I see you, Mackenzie. You can’t hide from me. You never could and you never will.”
Gasping for breath, she remained behind the rocks. Lord, what do I do?
“I told you I would come back when you least expected it. It was worth the wait to see the surprise in your eyes.”
Now she understood why he’d continued to pursue her romantically. She wished she’d thrown up on him during the octopus ride on their date at the carnival.
“You are Nebulous 2.0?”
“You thought you were smarter than me, even back then. Now you see how wrong you’ve been. And what were you expecting? A scrawny creature like Julian Abel?”
“I was expecting someone else. Not you.”
“You didn’t seriously think I would forget about you. Just let you go.”
“Honestly, I had forgotten about you.” Why am I antagonizing him? “I was trying to put my mistakes behind me.”
Mackenzie remained behind the rock. If she tried to dash along the ravine’s edge and then back into the woods, she doubted she would make it far. Time for a new tactic.
She slowly stood so she could see William over the rock.
An unfamiliar wicked grin spread across his face. “By mistakes, you mean turning over our scheme to the authorities. You wish you hadn’t done that.”
Acid churned in her stomach, but she stood her ground. “I wish I had never let you coerce me into committing those crimes in the first place. Look where it got me. Here with you.” And most of her family lost to her forever.
His lips curled into a snarl.
Now wasn’t the time to cower with fear. “You have the prototype drone and the data you can sell on the black market, so just leave now while you still can. The company will collapse.” Though she hoped not, but better to convince him otherwise. “You got your revenge.”
“Oh, I’m only getting started.”
He had escaped the authorities for over a decade. Anyone who had waited so long for revenge would finish the job. Her knees started shaking at the thought. She had to hold it together a little longer and keep him talking.
Help would come. God, please ... “Wait. You couldn’t have hit Julian. You were there with me. Who are you working with?”
“You should already know I can be very convincing when needed.”
William started toward her.
She backed away from the boulder, barely avoiding the ravine. “When did you become so physical? So violent? This is not who you were.”
“When it became necessary.” In a flash, William scrambled over the boulder, the only thing standing between them.
