Free Run: An Emma Caldridge Novella: The Final Episode by Jamie Freveletti Page B

you going to ask me for?”
    “Access to Ryan’s cell phone. It’s always bothered me that those nuts from the Supreme Son who chased us in Miami Beach were able to follow us to Vanderlock’s place in Largo. Seemed like someone was tracking us remotely. The Miami police said the phone is off, but some apps will still send GPS signals even when a phone is powered down. I’ll bet they’ve kept his phone with them, or stored it nearby. Maybe I can get a confirmation of his location.”
    “Didn’t the police follow that angle?”
    “They hit a brick wall. The app company refused—they claimed privacy violation, but we all know they were really protecting their tail. Their apps shouldn’t be collecting information on a phone that’s turned off. They demanded proof that Ryan had their app downloaded, which I couldn’t provide, and they also demanded a subpoena. The police decided Ryan was a suicide and moved on. I asked the feds before I came here, but they were happy to leave the investigation where it was. Maybe now that they’re headed this way the FBI will agree.”
    Emma saw a flash of movement to her right. She dropped into a crouch and scuttled behind a small shrub. Lily raised her head and looked in that direction. Her ears flicked forward as if she were trying to listen.
    “I’m out,” she said. “Someone’s tracking me and I need to move. I’ll get back to you.” She took two quick steps to Lily’s side, put the phone in the saddlebag and mounted.
    The first shot missed her, but winged close to Lily’s ear and sent the horse into a panic. She reared, dropped back down, and Emma felt Lily’s muscles tense as she prepared to bolt.
    “You’re okay.” Emma murmured the words soft and low, trying to calm the horse. She kept the reins firm and Lily surged forward and stopped, surged and stopped. Emma battled to keep her in hand and not allow her to clamp onto the bit in headlong flight. Lily lowered her head to buck, and Emma used her knees to press her to the right and released some pressure off the reins. The horse got the message and burst into motion, her body heaving as she plunged up the trail. Bits of rock and debris clattered loose under her hooves and she scrabbled to keep her balance. Emma grabbed a pistol from the holster, chambered a bullet, and scanned the path ahead. The roar of an engine on the road running parallel to them signaled nothing good. The posse had found her.
    She focused on a stand of trees about three hundred yards off. While small, it would provide some cover for both her and Lily. After the conversation with Sam about the dogs, Emma had no doubt they’d shoot the horse out from under her. She would be at a massive disadvantage on foot. She could run for hours, so it wasn’t her abilities in that regard that worried her. Nor was she worried about the cars overtaking her, because they would be forced to remain on the road and she was on the trail. They’d have to disgorge their men to chase her on foot, and that would level the playing field. Even those on horseback didn’t worry her, because as long as the path remained steep she could move as quickly as a horse. Her real concern was that while on foot she would be required to either run or shoot, but not both. Being mounted had the advantage that Lily could keep going while she twisted around to fire.
    They reached the trees and bits of bark flew off the trunk nearest to Lily’s head; she jerked and swerved right. Cutting too close to another tree, Lily’s charge forced Emma to throw one leg over the horse’s withers to avoid having it crushed between her flank and the trunk. After galloping a few yards into the forest, Emma stopped, dismounted, and prepared to fire.
    There was nothing to shoot. Emma stared down the moon-illuminated trail. The branches above her head swayed and creaked in a slight breeze, and Lily blew out a breath, but all the remaining noises were natural. There was nothing to indicate a man on