I F  I  R U N

(A Ruby Hunter FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 1)

M o l l y   B l a c k

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

EPILOGUE

PROLOGUE

Somewhere between the bar and home, it got quiet. Back a few blocks, Alannah Danes had been one of many tipsy twenty-somethings spilling out of nightclubs in teetering heels. Now, the street was empty.

She pulled her phone out of her clutch, finding the last number she dialed.

“Make it home safe?” her sister asked groggily. Not only was Sylvia home on a Friday night but she’d apparently gone to bed early.

“Walking home,” Alannah replied, putting her sister on speakerphone. “Will you take me to get my car tomorrow?”

“Sure. What time will you be done with that hangover?” Sylvia teased.

“I’ll be fine. I’m already sobering up,” Alannah said.

Maybe it was the cold, but it was more likely her nervousness bringing her senses back into focus. Her eyes flitted for signs of movement around her. The flicker of something out of the corner of her eye made her jump. Only as the car headlights passed her did she realize it was her own shadow moving across the wall. That’s where she was at. Startling at nothing.

Alannah huffed out a breath, her faith in her awareness shaken. She swore there was a quiet approach of footsteps, but maybe it was just her imagination jumping to conclusions again.

She paused, listening a little closer.

“It's a little late to be on your own.”

Alannah heard him before she saw him, a man in dark clothes stepping out of an alley into the dim light thrown by distant streetlamps. He was easily bigger and taller than she was, all the things she didn’t want to bump into late at night.

“Who was that?” Sylvia demanded.

Alannah said nothing, frozen in place.

“I could walk you home,” the man said.

All at once, Alannah could move again, shaking her head. Plenty of guys had offered her that in her life, but never so eerily. Never without flirtation.

That unnerved her more than if he had leered.

“That’s okay,” she said hurriedly, shuffling past.

“Alannah?” Sylvia tried again.

“Help,” Alannah whispered back. Where was she? She knew she’d struck out due east from the bar, but what streets had she already passed? How many more blocks to go?

“What’s happening?” Sylvia asked.