With shocking force, he hurls the stone.
I stifle a scream, clapping my hand over my mouth as shattering glass explodes through the suburban quiet.
The crash reverberates between houses, impossibly loud in the night’s stillness.
I flinch, ducking lower as if I could somehow hide from the noise itself.
A car alarm screams to life, the piercing wail cutting through the darkness.
What the heck is he doing? Setting off car alarmsagain? He’s going to wake up the whole neighborhood.
But Kolya’s already moving, a dark shadow flowing through the night.
Two more houses down, we find a sleek black Mercedes parked in a driveway.
This time, he doesn’t bother with a rock and instead uses his elbow. The sharp, contained impact splinters the side window. The second car alarm joins the first, creating a shrieking, discordant symphony that causes my teeth to ache.
Lamps snap on in windows up and down the street. A porch light flickers to life. A door opens. A dog’s barked alert bounces between houses like a tennis ball nobody wants to catch.
The dark figures across the street melt away like ice in hot water.
The sedan lurking at the end of the cul-de-sac peels off, tires squealing against pavement as it heads toward the disturbances Kolya has deliberately created.
He’s drawing them away from Bree and me.
Kolya materializes so suddenly I have to muffle my scream.
His face is calm, with no hint of the chaos he’s unleashed reflected in his expression.
“Let’s go.” Grabbing my hand, he takes off in the opposite direction from before, away from the car alarms and the gathering neighbors and scary men.
I follow him through yards and side streets, skirting fences and more howling dogs. The world blurs into dark grass and darker shadows.
Adrenaline zips through my veins like liquid electricity, making everything sharper, brighter, faster.
I run.
My bare feet hit the ground with jarring impact. Each step blasts shockwaves up my legs. The sharp, persistent reality of sticks and stones numbs my soles. A twig scratches my heel, but I refuse to slow down. Why in the heck didn’t I ask Bree for a pair of her tennis shoes?
My lungs ache with every breath, the cool night air acid in my chest.
This isn’t a chase anymore. The men aren’t directly behind us, but they’re still out there, hunting.
And I’m the prey. I know I am.
Kolya drops back to lope beside me, a quiet, efficient machine. We move as one unit, my body instinctively responding to his cues. When he points to a low fence, I’m already scrambling over the wood, my muscles working on pure instinct.
I spot the treacherous gleam of a pool cover ahead and veer left, a silent warning he instantly heeds.
The yards start getting larger as we venture deeper into the subdivision. Bigger lots. More space between houses.
Elaborate landscaping.
The scent of chlorine and astroturf scald my nose.
McMansions loom before us, gray monstrosities with three- and four-car garages and pretentious columns.
Kolya jerks to a halt behind the largest column on the block.
