The Book of Maps by David Slater

Author:David Slater
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CBAY Books
Published: 2012-01-14T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

split decision

“What do you mean?” Daphna asked. This was, of course, nearly the best possible thing she could have hoped to hear, but it had to be too good to be true.

“There!” Conrad said, pointing to the window, toward the helicopter. “I take off in fifteen minutes. When I leave the room,” he instructed, “break the window with the lamp, then get into the closet. I’ll come back and find you gone. I’ll tell everyone I saw you running into the woods. When they start the search, we’ll get into the chopper.”

“What?” Daphna gasped. Her mind was unspooling. “No,” she said. “Absolutely not. Not without my brother.”

“You have one minute to decide. Or I’ll just have to find another way to shut you up.”

Now Daphna was frantic. She couldn’t possibly leave without Dex. She was the one who made them promise to stick together no matter what! But she was being given a chance to save them both! Regardless of what this man thought, she hadn’t called anyone. If she got away, she could get help. Or maybe getting away was the same as getting herself killed, a sure way to shut her up. “What do they want with us?” she cried, mad with indecision.

“He won’t hurt him,” Conrad promised. “Durante doesn’t like messes. He wants to know what you know. He’s aware that you’ve been involved in all kinds of clandestine activities involving old books.” Daphna looked down at her T-shirt and decided to change it as soon as possible. “They know your father was, too. And your mother. They know about that bookstore that burned down. Most of all, he wants to know what that book has to do with people getting sick. I’m flying to the hospital to get the story on the lady you live with before she dies.”

“I’ll go,” Daphna said. She was looking around the room for a way to bring her brother with her, but there was no way. Reluctantly, she picked up the lamp. It was heavy, a beige ceramic base topped by a rippled brown shade. As she approached the window, the cord nearly jerked it out of her sweating hands. She yanked it out of the wall.

After pocketing the pieces of broken phone, Conrad hurried out.

Daphna stood at the window, which was bolted closed, no doubt to prevent her escape. Almost everything in the room was bolted down. She looked out at the helicopter. How could they have a Life Flight chopper? Then again, if that lunatic could pay a billion dollars for a book, he could have anything he wanted.

Except us, Daphna thought bitterly, and she hurled the lamp.

It went straight through the window and shattered on the ground below. Daphna turned fearfully to the door, but no one came through it. There wasn’t quite enough room for someone to climb through the jagged shards remaining in the frame, so she pushed some out with her foot. She didn’t get them all, but it would have to do.

Then she rushed into the closet, closed it, and sat down.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.