A Whole New Crowd (A Whole New Crowd #1)(87)

“Thank you.”
He looked over at me again. I had so much more to say. I was sorry for the hotel. I was sorry that I didn’t know how conflicted I was about Jace. I was sorry for bringing him into all this. But I didn’t say any of it. We were almost to the door. There wasn’t enough time.
“I’m here, Taryn.”
My heart pounded, not from the adrenalin.
He added, “I came.”
“I meant what I texted you.”
“I know.”
When we made it to the door, we paused, slowing down to go outside, but I braked as I saw that the tunnel kept going. I hadn’t noticed it when I entered. Tray was outside, but he stopped and turned. I heard his feet on the gravel. Then he asked, “What is it?”
“This tunnel. I bet it goes to the river.” That made sense. It was how they shipped their product out. My heart started pounding again. Jace’s probably had a secret entrance down there.
“Taryn, we have to go—” As he said that, we heard shouts from the road.
I shook my head. Three of us couldn’t hide. They would find us. Hearing the engine of their truck and more shouting, I said, “They’re at the front of the field.”
Tray frowned at me.
I looked around. “Did you drive?”
“No. I walked in.”
We had Gray. What could we do?
“Taryn, they’ll search the woods for us.” They would find us. That was what he didn’t say.
A different plan began to form. “Okay.” I shoved down the fear and looked around. “There.” Pointing at a clump of trees, I said, “Put Gray there.”
“What?” He lifted his head from Tray’s side.
Holding onto him so he wouldn’t fall and reinjure himself, Tray helped him down so Gray was standing on his own again. Then he started for the clump of trees, and called out from behind him, “What are you thinking?”
“Gray, you stay there and hide. We’ll draw them into the tunnel. They’ll follow us and won’t look for you.”
Tray helped him sit down, but Gray cried out, “What are you thinking? Stop doing this, Taryn. Whatever you’re doing, just stop it. We can all hide.”
Tray hesitated. I waved him back over. “Text your brother, to tell him where Gray is.”
“What are you two going to do?” Gray was shouting at me. “You can’t jump into the river, Taryn. There’s a goddamn cliff. It’s higher than what Olympic divers do. You can’t do that. No way.”
Tray had pulled his phone out. He was already texting.
“I know.” A knot worked its way up from my stomach, resting at the top of my throat. “I bet it’s how they’re smuggling whatever they keep in here. They use the tunnel so that means there’s an entrance down there. We can try for it.”
The truck was right there. A few more seconds and they would see us.
“We have to go. Gray, get down.”
Tray reached for me. His hand wrapped around my arm and he pulled me close. A tender look was in his eyes and for an earth-shattering moment, time suspended. Was he going to say it too? Then he murmured, releasing me at the same time, “We have to make sure they see us.”
Oh. It felt like an anchor dropped to my feet. I forced myself to nod. “Yeah. Good plan.”
“We can close the door.” Spotting a piece of metal laying on the ground, he picked it up. “We can use this to wedge it closed. They’ll still get it opened, but it’ll slow them down.”
It would give us another head start.
The truck was closer. I started the countdown in my head. Three seconds. I moved back into the tunnel. I glanced at where we had come from, but there was no sound coming from that way.
Two seconds.
Tray was standing in front of me. He gripped the beam tighter.
I looked for Gray, but he was gone.
One second.
Now.
The truck veered around the last bend. Four guards were standing in the back of the truck. Each had a rifle in their hands and as they saw us, they jumped out of the truck before it stopped. They were sprinting for us. Tray heaved the door shut, then wedged the beam at the bottom of the door. They could still open it, but the beam would hold the door shut for a little longer.
Then he turned, his hand touched my back, and we moved as one. We sprang forward.
We soared down the tunnel. Tray was moving at such a fast pace, I couldn’t keep up. My lungs were straining. My legs stretched to the farthest stride they could go, and I pumped my arms, propelling forward. We had to get there. We had to find Jace’s exit.
As we kept going, they were pounding on the door behind us. Gunshots sounded out, then silence for a second, and a deep thud after that.
“Don’t pay attention to them.” Tray grabbed my wrist. He was pulling me behind him now. “The more you pay attention, the more it’ll slow you down. Keep sprinting, Taryn.”
I felt his strength. I felt his calm. His hand gentled, slid to fit into mine, and he squeezed my hand. We ran side by side and then I stopped hearing the men behind us. We were getting closer to the river. The current was slamming against rocks below, but we could hear it echoing through the tunnel. It was becoming deafening and we wouldn’t have heard the guards anymore anyway.
The tunnel was becoming lighter. We were almost to the end and then the tunnel suddenly straightened and we were there.
The edge was right in front of us. Tray twisted, throwing his body to the side. A scream ripped from me. I was going over. I couldn’t stop myself, but Tray yanked me back. I fell into his body and he wrapped his arms around me, shielding my fall with his body. His shoulder slammed hard against the wall and he grunted from the impact, but we had stopped. We hadn’t hurled off the edge.