Every Second Counts by Sophie McKenzie Read Free Book Online

also true that he wants to meet you. Would you like that?’
    I looked up. I had the strongest sensation that Riley would see through any lie. Which made it just as well that I didn’t need to tell one.
    ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I would.’

Nat
    It was the middle of the night and raining hard as I jogged along the dark road. I’d had to put the SIM card back in my phone for a few minutes in order to use the maps
app to locate the wood near the ops base and the skin on the back of my neck prickled as I ran. Was somebody tracking me? I glanced around. Was I being watched? I couldn’t see anyone.
    My phone beeped several times in quick succession. Hoping the texts were from Charlie I took a speedy glance, only to find a series of increasingly angry messages from Aaron, sent several hours
ago.
    Ignoring these, I checked the map one last time. If it was accurate, then the woodland I was looking for should be just around the corner. I switched off my phone and removed the SIM card again
so that Aaron couldn’t trace me. I didn’t have a proper address for the operations base – which was basically a derelict farmhouse set in acres of field – but I was certain
if I could just find the wooded area that surrounded it, I’d be able to track down the building itself no problem.
    The road was deserted as I ran around the corner. To my great relief the trees came immediately into view. I darted under the cover of their branches and took stock of where I was –
we’d run through these woods several times during our training weekend here months ago. Even though it was dark, I was fairly confident that the farmhouse was through the trees and slightly
to the east.
    I ran on, ducking under the wet branches, the bushes I passed damp against my legs. It felt different in here. I wasn’t spooked by the dark – the moon overhead gave off plenty of
light – but the sound of the wind in the branches was like someone whispering the words ‘leave, leave’.
    I told myself not to let my imagination get the better of me. But the feeling someone was watching me persisted, not helped by the memories of the last time I ran through these woods, trying to
escape from Riley and his soldiers, with Charlie and Aaron at my side. The thought of Charlie sent a new anxiety spiralling through me. Where was she, I wondered? Had she reached Riley’s
house? Was she speaking with him right now? Was she okay?
    Of all the people I’d ever met, Charlie was probably the most truly confident. And yet, though she was careful to hide it, I knew she was vulnerable too. All that rubbish about her not
caring what Riley had said about her dad still being alive. Of
course
she cared. Anyone would.
    And I cared about her. More, far more, than I wanted to admit even to myself.
    It took about fifteen minutes to reach the edge of the trees. I stopped and peered out across the empty field beyond. Rain pattered loudly on the leaves above my head. The sound was strangely
soothing, calming my raw nerves. I could just make out a light in the distance: that had to be coming from the ops base. The two sleeping bags – one tied on either side of the rucksack
– made my bundle cumbersome. I took my knife, a torch and a length of rope and left the rest in the shelter of a tree. Now I was actually on the verge of approaching the farmhouse and finding
Jas: I was so nervous I felt sick. If Riley’s men found me, they would kill me, just as they tried to kill me before.
    Part of me wanted to turn around and run away, back through the trees. But Jas was here, my twin sister, to whom I’d been closer, all my life, than anyone else in the world. I would never
forgive myself if I didn’t at least try to save her.
    And then the sound of breaking twigs and rustling leaves filtered towards me. I froze, moving closer to the nearest tree. Was that an animal wandering through the wood? No, surely no woodland
animal could possibly make that much noise. The sounds slowed. The