After that…
South America awaited. Ernie had been planning escape routes for a long, long time.
He had planned their lives fully now.
Riely would adjust. Children were quite resilient, after all. In time, she would even enjoy living abroad. It would afford her far more opportunities. “All good things must come to an end, young lady. It is time.”
105
Okay,that just sounded beyond creepy. Like, who wrote his bad-guy villain lines, anyway? Madison couldn’t have done better, though. Not…considering that this was real life and not a bad B-movie type of thriller or anything.
She almost told him he was a sociopath—but he just wouldn’t care. That was kind of what a sociopath meant, right?
There was some give in the zip tie.
Just enough…With a twist…Madison pulled her hand free. Thankfully, those were thecheapzip ties that had been purchased from the cleaning supply company. They used those to fasten the bags they’d put soiled disposable jumpsuits in,beforeputting them in the biohazard container for future disposal—if the jumpsuits didn’t require processing themselves to make sure they weren’t contaminated. He’d found the ties in the console of the van.
The really good ones, the ones that were just disposable handcuffs—the ERT van didn’t carry those. It wasn’t really the ERT teams’ job to cuff suspects or anything, after all.
She kept her arms behind her, though.
In the dim interior light—mostly a macabre glow from the dash—she did not want him realizing her hands were free. Madison was starting to form a plan here.
It was a plan, not a good one, but it was a plan. So to speak.
She was younger, not much smaller, and a lot more determined to get back to her caveman and make cavebabies. To get back to her mom, and Max, and Vince. To her friends.
She had survived the ambush in Garrity before. She had survived the choir hall shooting despite being shot in the back. She had survived Joey Costovia, followed by his little buddy Steve Wilson. And she had survived the ambush with Dom.
She would survive Ernie Newcomb, too.
Gloria Gaynor had nothing on her.
Madison hummed the song to herself as she braced for him to touch her.She would survive.No matter what.
As soon as he put his hands on her…
As soon as he did—she was going to fight.
No matter what.
106
K.J. walkedas close to the entrance to the mine as she could get; while ensuring she couldn’t be seen from the entrance. It wasn’t completely without risk—there could be other openings. Mines were like that—and with sinkholes above—the mines of Barratt County were very dangerous places. Everyone knew that.
People got lost in the mines on a regular basis. Most of them didn’t make it out again. She suspected countless bodies were in those mines.
It had the making of a horror movie.
About a serial killer.
Then again, if Ernie Newcomb had run a successful murder-for-hire or cop-killing ring forfortyyears—a serial killer was exactly what he was. He’d just profited off it. That was his motivation—money. And he got some sort of thrill from it.
As far as she knew, all serial killers got something intrinsically from their kills—so why not just money?
Then again, Ernie Newcomb had always come off as an anal-retentive control freak when she’d had to work with him in any capacity. One who had a real problem withwomen.
But this?
