She darted to the side, her dark hair swishing in the low light of the streetlamps.
Ezra was close. With a final burst of energy he barely caught her elbow. She twisted away and took off in a new direction. Something fell out of her bag, but he couldn’t make out what it was. Ezra scooped it up while Ryker kept chasing.
He turned down a street, but there were people all over. Smart of her to find a busy area.
He scanned the crowd.
Fuck!
She was gone.
Defeated, he trekked back to find his friend. He was sitting on a stoop and catching his breath.
“She’s gone,” he admitted.
“Figured considering you’re standing here by yourself.” He held up an envelope. “Looks like we’ve got her address.”
Ryker’s stomach twisted. She hadn’t done anything wrong except be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Ezra brought his phone up to his ear. “Yeah… there was an extra set of eyes. We, uh, have an address.”
He stared off absently as he listened. Ryker couldn’t make out any of it.
His jaw clenched. “Okay. Got it…”
Eyes glued to the ground, he said, “We have to track her down.”
Chapter 5
Willow
She couldn’t sleep. None of her tricks were working.
Willow stared at the ceiling, making out various shapes in the patterns of the texture.
A frog. A puppy. Blob.
She sighed. Maybe some fresh air would help. Her mind was buzzing with the new zombie FPS game she’d bought called Final Dawn. She’d been looking forward to it for months and took the week off so she could binge.
But then it was hard to sleep. Ugh. The necessity of having to regulate yourself as an adult was a pain sometimes.
Willow pulled herself out of bed and stretched. Still dressed in her black pajama pants and a T-shirt, she pulled on her favorite purple jacket. There was no point in changing all of her clothes. It was going to be a short walk around the block.
She tugged on a hat and made her way outside into the chilly spring air. Fall was her favorite season, but spring wasn’t bad. There was a lot of rain and pretty flowers in the park.
Willow took her time, meandering down the empty street. This was the best time to go walking. No one around to botherher or get in the way. The only thing that could make it better was some picturesque scenery. But the park was too far and walking through it in the dark would be less than ideal. Still, pavement and car exhaust weren’t as refreshing as dense forest air on a trail.
The walk made her eyeballs ache from exhaustion. She would need to remember to grab her notebook to sit next to her bed. These late walks usually gave her wild dreams. It was easiest to remember them if she wrote it all down immediately.
She turned the corner, the promise of bed awaiting her. This was the right idea. She just needed some fresh air. Now she could crash.
Wait. When did that van get there? It definitely wasn’t there when she left, was it?
It was a dark color, maybe blue, with no back windows. Probably nothing. Only a random person stopping by to see someone. No one in her complex owned a van like that.
She kept a wide distance from it. Goosebumps prickled across her skin the closer she got.
Willow was almost even with the front door. Soon, she’d be able to see if anyone was in the driver’s seat.
