Читать книгу Hide Me - Ava McCarthy - Страница 4

Prologue

Harry pitched head-first over the cliff.

For an instant, she floated. Gunfire ripped the air behind her. Below her, hulking waves exploded, hungry, ready to swallow. Then the cliff rushed skywards and the ocean slammed into her face.

Don’t scream, don’t scream!

Water plunged into her sinuses, packed into her ears. She clamped her mouth shut, choking back the scrap of air she had left in her lungs. Then the current sucked her down into a deep, black tornado.

Her brain clamoured. Growling water thrummed in her ears, funnelling her down.

Don’t breathe, don’t breathe!

The rip tide snatched her. Hurled her in circles. It pitched her upside down and tore at her limbs till her lungs felt ready to burst.

She forced her eyes open. Saw an arrow of white tunnelling past her face. A silent jet-trail.

A bullet?

Jesus! He was going to kill her.

Harry’s diaphragm heaved, fighting for the chance to breathe. Panic screeched through her, and she thrashed her legs, bucked her body. Then the ocean whirled her into another violent twister.

Suffocation crushed her chest. She had to open her mouth, had to inhale!

Don’t breathe!

Her brain lurched, and she felt her eyes roll. Hunter’s face floated before her. Maybe she’d see his body. Was he down here with her somewhere? Had Franco had him killed too?

No more oxygen. Just vapours to fuel her brain.

The undertow grabbed her and whiplashed her into a spiral. She tumbled. Drifted.

Her mother’s face. Always so relieved by Harry’s absences. What would she think when Harry was dead?

Now you don’t have to talk to me, Mom.

Harry glided. Floated in freefall. She felt light. Euphoric, almost. And the reflex to breathe became slowly irresistible.

She couldn’t help it. She opened her mouth. Inhaled.

Cold seawater sluiced down deep into her lungs.