Claire was exhausted, but she couldn't stand the idea of giving up before they'd gotten a solid lock on Roth. She reached around the seat to pick up the map that they'd been working from, which was now highlighted in color-block patches of yellow, green, and orange, to indicate the range of areas where her sense of Roth had been the strongest. "Where the hell are you?" she whispered low under her breath, tuning out the ding of the station bell as a car pulled into the full- service pump next to her. She put all her concentration into that beat of dark, visceral awareness that ticked in her pulse, trying not to think about the fact that Roth must be sensing her in much the same way. Did he know how close she was to finding him right now? He must, surely. Only the simple fact that the sun had yet to set gave her any kind of comfort when she thought about the fury she would face if she ever fell into his hands again. He would kill her, she was certain. But not before he took his anger out on her and made her wish she was dead. Rattled by the thought of him, Claire pivoted in her seat again to stow the map. It was then she noticed the two men getting out of the car beside her. They were big men, both dressed in black from their zipped-up leather jackets to the fatigues tucked into the tops of their combat boots. They looked her way as she watched them, and a chill settled deep in Claire's bones. Their eyes were cruel, strangely vacant. And this wasn't the first time she'd seen the pair of human males today. Claire had noticed them just a couple of hours earlier, when she and Renata and Dylan had paused at a greasy-spoon diner for lunch in a neighboring town.
Hard to miss all that dark clothing and barely concealed menace. Hard to miss the way the two men studied her now, then exchanged a wordless look with each other before one of them went around back to get something out of the trunk. She jumped when Renata opened the driver's-side door. "We've got a tail." "I know," Claire said as Renata dropped into the seat, closing the door with one hand and turning the key in the ignition with the other.
"I saw them earlier. They were staring at us then, too. There's something wrong with them--with their eyes. It's making my skin crawl." "That's because they're Minions," Renata said matter-of-factly as she threw the SUV into gear. From the backseat, Dylan sat up and sucked in a quick breath. "Oh, shit. You guys, we've got company." "Yeah, we're on it," Renata replied, glancing in the rearview mirror. "Buckle up." Dylan started to say something more, but then Renata stomped on the gas and the Range Rover's tires peeled rubber on the pavement. They screamed out of the gas station and onto the tree-lined, curvy two-laner.
In seconds, the Minions were right behind them. Claire pivoted around to gauge their distance. "They're coming up fast. Oh, my God, they're going to ram--" The sudden jolt of impact made the Rover jump and jostle on the road. To Renata's credit, she held the wheel steady, correcting the vehicle when it started to veer sharply into the other lane. She sped up, gaining a couple of car lengths before the sedan came roaring up on them again, trying to force them off the road. "There's a small access lane up ahead on the right," Dylan said, her voice raised to be heard over the whine of the engine and the pounding air of urgency that filled the cabin. "Turn in there, Renata. It's just past that dead tree stump. Do you see it?" "I see it," Renata said, "but I don't want to risk turning off and getting us trapped in the middle of the forest. Hang on. I think I can outrun these bastards." "We won't be trapped," Dylan insisted. "You have to do it now!" Claire glanced back at the auburn-haired Breedmate and saw the certainty in her gaze. "How can you be sure of that?" "Because the ghost of the dead Breedmate sitting back here next to me is telling me it's our best chance of surviving." Claire felt her eyes go wide.
"Good enough for me in that case," Renata said, and eased up on the gas only enough for her to make the turn off the road and onto the bumpy woodland path that Dylan had indicated. "Keep going," Dylan instructed.
"Just follow this thing until I tell you to stop." "All right." Renata gunned it, throwing up dust and pebbles in their wake. Behind them, the Minions in the sedan had to hit their brakes hard as they skidded sideways to make the turn. They managed it, the car lurching forward like a bullet, still fast on their tail. Through the cloud of debris between the two vehicles, Claire could just make out the bared teeth and dark, sharklike eyes of the two human mind slaves. Were they Roth's Minions, or did they belong to someone even more dangerous than him--Dragos? She didn't want to know. She only hoped that Renata's driving skills and Dylan's Breedmate talent would be enough to spare them. If not... If not, then this stretch of thicket-choked forest might be the last thing any of them saw. "Faster, Renata!" Dylan urged. "Keep going--as fast as you can!" The Range Rover rocked and bounced, branches scraping its sides and slapping at the windshield and windows like spiny tentacles. And still the Minions kept coming. "Cut left," Dylan shouted. "As sharply as you can, Renata. Cut left then punch the gas!" Claire gripped the dashboard as the vehicle made a sudden, swinging pivot on its front wheels. The rear of the SUV arced out behind them in what felt like a slow-motion turn, as graceful as a ballerina. Claire glanced out her window just in time to see that they were riding the very edge of a sharp drop. Below them a couple of steep yards, a river raced and tumbled past boulders the size of a small car. She couldn't bite back her scream. Nor could she do anything but watch in stricken wonder as the Minions' sedan came barreling toward them in that same instant.