Time to Run Read Online Free PDF Page A

looking lost.
    "Feeling better, sweetheart?" she asked. She crossed the room to catch his face between her hands. He was almost as tall as she was.
    "Where are we going?" he demanded ignoring the question. "Not with him, I hope."
    "No," she reassured him. "Chief McCaffrey is going to take us as far as Oklahoma," she explained. "From there we'll get a ride to Texas."
    "Why? What's in Texas?"
    The time had come to share her burning secret. "My real mother is in Texas. I was adopted, Kendal. Your father doesn't know that."
    Kendal's jaw dropped. His gaze flicked over her like he'd never really seen her before. "Cool," he finally said. A glimmer of hope lit his eyes.
    "That's why this is going to work," she insisted. "We're going to start all over again, with new names and everything."
    "But what about all my stuff?" he asked with belated regret. "My PlayStation and my computer?"
    "I'll buy you new stuff," Sara promised. "After we get settled and I get a job. It isn't going to be easy, honey," she admitted. "But it will be better. We'll make our own decisions. We'll do whatever we want without constantly having to worry whether we'll upset your father."
    He gave her a searching look. "You would've stayed, wouldn't you, if Dad hadn't killed Mr. Whiskers?"
    "I couldn't stand to watch him hurt you," she admitted.
    "But he hurt you all the time."
    He'd noticed, then, despite her efforts to protect him. Hiding her stricken look, she kissed his cheek and moved past him, into the bathroom.
    When she reemerged, Kendal was watching TV. Chase knocked on the door, and she went to let him in.
    "Spotted a Super Kmart across the street," he announced, letting Jesse off the leash. "I'm gonna run over there and get us what we need."
    Sara snatched up her backpack, pulling out two twenty-dollar bills. "Take this," she said, holding out the money. "I need some scissors and some hair color." She wanted something in a blond shade. "Maybe we should come with you?"
    He took the money, sliding it into his pocket. "Not yet. Stay away from the windows, and keep the door locked," he instructed. "Oh, and Kendal?"
    Kendal lifted wary eyes at him.
    "You mind feedin' the dog for me? His food and bowl are in that plastic bag right there. Don't forget to give him water."
    '"Kay," the boy said, slipping off the bed.
    With a wink at Sara, Chase was gone, shutting the door behind him.
    Reassured by the wink, Sara drew the latch a second time. "I know he sounds rough, honey," she said, as much for herself as for him, "but he helped us four years ago, back in California, when our car wouldn't start at the library. Remember that?"
    Kendal had been six years old, then. "No," he said, dropping nuggets into Jesse's metal bowl.
    Sara plopped down on the edge of a bed and watched him carry the water bowl to the bathroom. It was obvious that Kendal didn't trust the stranger helping them. She couldn't blame him. Chase had been silently forbidding since his appearance at the park, not exactly the laid-back, considerate gentleman he seemed to be before.
    Trust me, no one's going to hurt you again, Kendal, she swore to herself, watching as he offered the dog water and petted his broad head.
    An hour later, she had to wonder if she'd let him down already. In addition to the sandwiches that they'd wolfed down, Chase had bought a deluxe hair-cutting kit that included an electric shaver.
    "We need to cut the boy's hair," he'd said to Sara.
    She'd been so eager to start coloring her own hair that she'd agreed to his offer to do so. The bathroom door was left ajar, reassuring her further as she stood before the desk, using the mirror in the room to put dye in her hair.
    Entering the bathroom fifteen minutes later, she found Kendal's hair buzzed down to a smart, military cut.
    "All set," Chase said, whisking the boy's neck and ears with a brush. Kendal winced at the dusting. Chase pulled the poncho off.
    With the look of a wounded animal, Kendal pushed past his mother and went to flop