Free Stay Alive by Simon Kernick

the mystery woman’s direction.
    ‘Get down everyone!’ yelled Tim, panic in his voice.
    Out of the corner of her eye, Jess saw Jean scramble down in the other boat, almost upending it in the process, while the mystery woman continued to paddle backwards, keeping her head down. Jess didn’t hesitate: she rolled back in her seat, grabbed Casey in a bear hug and the two of them fell to the bottom of the canoe as a shot whistled somewhere overhead.
    A second shot rang out but Tim was still in his seat, paddling wildly, managing to turn the boat round so it was facing downriver, and then he too scrambled onto the floor, keeping his head down as a third shot cracked across the river. Except this time it sounded as if it was further away, and Jess let out a very small sigh of relief as she hugged Casey close, feeling the wetness of her sister’s tears in the crook of her neck.

Eleven
    KEOGH CLOSED HIS eyes and shook his head angrily. They’d lost Amanda Rowan and now he was in a lot of trouble.
    He’d driven the dead cop’s car off the road and concealed it in undergrowth where it was unlikely to be seen unless someone was looking for it. The cop himself was scrunched up in the boot, and by the time anyone found him, they’d be long gone.
    Now, as he jogged back up to the four-by-four, keeping his head down, the radio in his jacket pocket crackled into life. It was MacLean, the big cop who’d let go of Amanda when she’d whacked him in the balls. ‘Have you got her?’ Keogh demanded, the frustration obvious in his voice.
    ‘There were some canoeists down by the river,’ answered MacLean, sounding out of breath. ‘She jumped in one of the canoes with them.’
    Keogh cursed. ‘How many canoeists?’
    ‘Four of them, I think. A family.’
    This was the problem when you worked with someone you hadn’t chosen, thought Keogh. Things went wrong that much more easily. MacLean worked directly for Keogh’s employer, and Keogh had only known him a week. The guy was supposedly good but he’d messed up by letting the girl go. Still, there was nothing to gain by dwelling on that now. It was time to think fast. ‘How far have they got?’
    ‘Not far. We can still see them, and there’s no mobile reception down there, so they won’t be able to phone for help. There’s a lookout point about half a mile downriver on this side, called Eagles Reach. If we get there in front of them, we can cut them off.’
    ‘Okay, leave it to me,’ said Keogh, jumping in the four-by-four and reaching down behind the driver’s seat for the rifle as he started the engine.
    *
    ‘Who the hell do you think you are, charging into our boat like this?’ demanded Jean, a real anger in her voice. ‘You could have got us killed.’
    The two canoes were side by side, on the other side of the river and out of sight of where the two men had emerged, and they were all sitting upright again now. The river was a good fifty yards wide here, and Jess took a deep breath, feeling safe and shocked at the same time. She took a close look at the mystery woman. She was slim and pretty, and she had that well-off look about her that was only slightly marred by the fact that her hair was all over the place, and a pair of plastic handcuffs hung accusingly from her right wrist. She was paddling fast, while Jean sat glaring at her back, waiting for an answer to her question. From behind her, Jess could hear Casey crying. Turning round, she leaned down and lifted her sister into a sitting position, feeling an intense burst of protective love for her as she wiped the tears from her face.
    ‘It’s all right, baby. It’s all right. No one’s going to hurt you.’
    ‘But who were they?’ Casey asked Jess, her voice small and quavering.
    Tim grunted from his position in the back of the canoe, where he too was paddling. ‘We still need an answer to that,’ he said, looking over at the woman in Jean’s canoe who was facing them all, an apologetic expression on her