Page 16 of Critical Mass
The sound made her press harder against the deck, as if she could somehow make herself smaller, invisible.
How was this her life? How had following Timothy—Hudson—whoever he was!—to a marina turned into this nightmare?
The boat bucked and weaved as Hudson threw it into evasive maneuvers.
Natalie’s stomach rebelled.
She was going to be sick. She was going to die.
Both, probably.
“Hudson!” His name ripped from her throat, raw with terror she’d never experienced before.
“I’ve got you!” he called back. “Just stay down.”
But he didn’thaveher. How could he?
They were on a stolen boat racing through pitch-black water with armed men chasing them, and this was all his fault—his lies, his secrets, whatever dangerous world he’d dragged her into without her knowledge or consent.
Natalie thought about Virginia Beach. In the distance, impossibly far away.
Civilization. Safety. Home.
Everything that had been normal just hours ago.
Now she had no idea what the future might hold.
All because ofhim.
She looked up and gave Hudson a death glare, annoyed that he was too busy trying to save their lives to notice.
CHAPTER
EIGHT
Behind them,the pursuing boat was close enough now that Natalie could see the dark shapes of men, could see the flashes of light when they fired their weapons.
Another bullet whined past, so close she felt it more than heard it—a disturbance in the air that made every nerve in her body scream danger.
The boat lurched again, spray soaking her already-drenched clothes.
October in Virginia Beach was supposed to be mild, comfortable. But out here on the water, in wet clothes with wind cutting through her, Natalie had never been so cold in her life.
Or so terrified.
Hudson maneuvered the boat with surprising expertise, silhouetted against the faint glow of the instrument panel. Even now, even after everything, part of her wanted to trust that he knew what he was doing, that he could get them out of this.
But the rational part of her brain—the part that wasn’t paralyzed with fear—knew the truth: She was trapped on a boat with a man who had lied about everything, running from people who wanted to kill her for reasons she couldn’t begin to understand.
And home—her safe place, her normal life—kept getting farther away with every second that passed.
Another wave hit, and this time Natalie couldn’t hold back.
She gripped the side of the boat, leaned over the edge, and heaved.
Her mind screamed at her that this wasn’t the time, that she needed to hold it together.
But she couldn’t hold it together.
