NO EXIT by TAYLOR ADAMS

Author:TAYLOR ADAMS [ADAMS, TAYLOR]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Joffe Books
Published: 2017-06-24T23:00:00+00:00

2:16 a.m.

Darby froze in the doorway.

Ed was murmuring something (“No signal this far from—”) and stopped mid-sentence when he saw her, mid-step near Espresso Peak with his Android in his palm. Sandi was kneeling by the table, and she whirled to face Darby, revealing a tiny shape standing behind her.

It was . . . it was Jay.

Oh, thank God.

The girl’s dark hair was speckled with snowflakes. Her cheeks were rash-red. She was shrouded in Sandi’s bumblebee-yellow parka, dwarfed by its saggy sleeves. This was the first time Darby had seen the girl in full light, outside of that dog kennel, and for a shivery moment, she wanted only to close the distance between them, to lift this little child she barely knew and squeeze her into a bracing hug.

You turned around.

Oh, thank God, Jay, we lost your tracks but you turned around.

Sandi stood up, a black pepper-spray canister raised in a knuckled hand, her eyes rock-hard. “Not one step closer.”

Jay grabbed her wrist. “No. She rescued me—”

“Sandi,” Ed hissed. “For Christ’s sake—”

The door banged shut behind Darby, jolting her back into the moment. She tried to figure — how far behind her were the brothers now? A hundred yards? Fifty? She caught her breath, tears in her eyes, struggling to speak: “They’re coming. They’re armed, and they’re right behind me—”

Ed knew who they were. “You’re sure they’re armed?”

“Yeah.” She locked the deadbolt.

“With what?”

“They have a gun.”

“Have you seen it?”

“Trust me, they have a gun.” Darby glanced between Ed and Sandi, now realizing the deadbolt was pointless. “And they will not stop until we’re dead. We need to take your truck and drive. Right now.”

“What if they chase us?” Sandi asked.

“They won’t.” Darby showed her Ashley’s keys.

Ed stopped pacing behind her, considering this. He seemed to like it.

Darby realized the ex-veterinarian was holding a lug wrench in his right hand, half-concealed under his Carhartt sleeve. A blunt weapon. He stepped past her, wiping sweat from his eyebrow. “Okay. Okay, Darby, keep your Honda keys on you, too. We can’t have them stealing your car and following us—”

Jay stood up. “Let’s go, then.”

Darby liked her already.

And she noticed a yellow bracelet glinting on Jay’s wrist. She hadn’t seen it before in the murky darkness of the kidnappers’ van. It looked vaguely medical. She wondered briefly — what is that?

No time to ask. Everyone crowded up to the front door, and Ed unlatched the deadbolt with a hard swipe. He rallied the group, like a reluctant coach. “On three, we’ll, uh . . . we’re all going to run to the truck. Okay?”

Darby nodded, noticing the odor of vodka on his breath. “Sounds good.”

“Are they out there?”

Sandi peered out the smudged window. “I . . . I don’t see them yet.”

“Alright. Sandi, you’ll take Jay to the front seat and start the engine. Give it gas and go drive, reverse, drive, reverse—”

“I know how to drive in the snow, Eddie.”

“And Dara, you’re at the back tires with me, so we can push.”

“Deal.”

He pointed at Jay, snapping his fingers: “And somebody carry her.

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