Jane ran through the medieval cemetery, barely glancing at the long-faded markers. Normally she could spend hours at a place like this, photographing the ancient headstones and imagining the amazing lives of the people buried just a few feet below. Now, however, she had only one purpose, running from Caleb, and it was a task both challenging and exhausting. She stopped as she was about to leave the cemetery to catch her breath and glance over the terrain. No sign of him yet. Their game had begun earlier in the morning with a chase along the Fife Coastal Path, and Caleb almost caught up to her when she’d tried to take a brief rest in a docked fishing boat. At that point he’d been less than forty minutes behind her. Then shortly before noon, she’d thought she’d given him the slip by hitching a ride with a motorcycle-riding delivery person only to realize that Caleb had anticipated her move and was watching a NorthLink ferry terminal for her arrival. Another close call…

He was fast as a panther and silently relentless. She had never been stalked by Caleb before. At first, it had been a challenge that was almost enjoyable. Pure cat and mouse with no consequences. But as time passed, she could appreciate the panic Caleb must engender when that challenge was a case of life or death. Relentless, indeed.

She’d seen how Caleb could track anyone, anywhere with ease. And he often said that the better he knew his mark, the easier it was for him.

And no one knew her better than Caleb.

But she couldn’t let him find her. Because there could be consequences this time. Their relationship had already cost too many lives. She wouldn’t let herself be the bait that would again bring Bohdan down on him.

Cat and mouse, Caleb. She started to run again.

She entered a dense forest near Rannoch Moor, an area she’d visited on her first trip to Scotland. This was Cira country, near the place where she and her husband, Antonio, had founded the first MacDuff family castle. Caleb was familiar with it, too. She’d shown it to him during one of their trips up to these Highlands last year. She knew he’d been everywhere, and he seemed to remember everyplace he’d been with incredible clarity. That was okay. Today she was counting on it.

She jumped over a rotting log and glanced behind her. She wasn’t just running from Caleb, she realized. She was still trying to escape the horror she had witnessed at MacDuff’s Run. She couldn’t shake the image of those workers bleeding on the ground in front of her, and every time a strong wind blew through the trees, she swore she heard another one of those awful drones.

Stop it, she told herself.

Move forward, not back.