Page 7

He wants something from me. Maybe multiple things.

I stared at the last line on the screen until the letters blurred together. He wants something from me. Maybe multiple things. It was the one that kept me up at night and ran through my mind all day because I didn’t know what it meant. I wouldn’t find out what it meant unless he and I came face to face again.

And that was something I didn’t want or need to happen.

I placed the phone down once more and brought my fingers up to my temples. The headache that had been building since the sedan appeared was settling in the middle of my forehead. I assumed it was from all the angles and variables I was dissecting, but I was nowhere near done so this wouldn’t ease for a while.

My head snapped upright and my body immediately regretted it due to the headache I was now sporting. It had just occurred to me that the question wasn’t just about Cain wanting something from me. I also didn’t know what he was willing to do to get it and how much time I had before he decided that psychological pressure had served its purpose. Because that was when this whole game he had created would change and I would have to see him, face to face.

Just like what happened when Bradley Sumpter met his demise at the hands of Cain Ashcroft.

5

SUTTON

A couple days later

My eyes shot open in what still looked like a sea of darkness and I wasn’t sure why. I’d spent most of the night awake, waiting for sleep to finally take over. When it finally had, it hadn’t lasted and that was annoying given I needed all the sleep that I could get.

I didn’t have an alarm set outside of the chair underneath the door handle to alert me that someone was trying to break into the room. There could have been a loud sound that woke me up, but if there was, it hadn’t repeated itself.

That didn’t give me the encouragement to move though. Instead, I lay there for who knows how long, running through a checklist of things that I could hear against the things I knew I should be able to hear. I could hear the sounds of vehicles passing every so often on the road near the motel and the vending machine that helped me cure some of the food cravings that had popped up in the middle of the night. But something still felt off even with it being so early in the morning.

It took a minute or two, but then it finally clicked. Every night since I’d checked in, there was a light in the parking lot that would shine almost directly toward my window. The deep orange light had been my nightlight for days.

However, it was now gone and I knew for a fact that it had been on when I went to sleep last night. The only thing I could ask was why.

For some reason, I needed to double-check that I wasn’t still dreaming or something. I reached over to check the burner phone and saw that it was 5.23 in the morning. It was too early for the light in the parking lot to be off.

I was out of bed before I finished the thought. I walked across the room to the window and pulled the curtain back two inches which was just enough to see out the glass without being seen.

A black sedan was in the parking lot. Now, on any given day, I wouldn’t find that peculiar. However, due to the incident that happened a couple of days ago involving a similar black sedan, my gut told me this wasn’t a coincidence.

Every hair on my body stood at attention as I stared at the sight before me. This time was quite different from the last because instead of circling the space repeatedly, the vehicle was parked with its headlights still on, but I didn’t hear an engine running.

This was way worse than the car circling and speeding off. Several deep breaths gave me the ability to maintain control and not panic, although that reaction was bubbling underneath the surface. Unfortunately, I’d been waiting for this moment and calculating how it might occur for days now. The only question had been when.

Maybe it hadn’t been a great idea to wait to see if the black sedan returned, but it was a choice I’d made. After being on the run for days, I was exhausted and running on fumes. Was it foolish in hindsight? Yes, but it wasn’t something I could take back now.

I put my clothes on in the dark, running through the movements I’d rehearsed in my head a million times at this point. A backpack that I’d bought at some point on this journey was already packed and ready to grab at a moment’s notice. The only thing that I hadn’t packed was the burner phone and its charger, but once I was finished pulling myself together, I did just that.

The only exit out of here was through the front door and I needed to move fast because every minute wasted meant another minute that the sun would rise higher in the sky, making it more difficult to slip away if someone was trying to find me.

I slung the backpack over my shoulder and moved toward the door. I slowly pulled the chair and it came out from under the handle with ease. It lightly scraped against the carpeted floor, but even that sound made me jump because of the adrenaline coursing through my veins. I eased the door chain off its track and turned the deadbolt slowly until I heard a soft click, alerting me that the door was now unlocked.

I pressed my ear to the door for several seconds to see if I could hear anything, but I found that there was complete silence. I took two deep breaths and said a quick prayer as I opened the door.

The only thing that surprised me was the chill in the air and for that I was grateful. There was no way in hell I was going to walk toward the parking lot. That would have been suicide given the sedan parked there with its headlights cutting through the dark. Instead, I turned right and headed toward the back of the building.

I knew this motel didn’t technically have a rear exit because I’d asked the clerk on day one, but I’d also walked the perimeter twice and found something better. The walkway curved around the side of the building and if I kept moving, I would eventually be able to walk parallel to the state route nearby once I got past this area that was partially contained by a large chain-link fence. I’d timed it during the day and again at night, counting my steps, just in case a moment like this happened and now it was go time.

The door clicked shut behind me and I hurried around the building and down the path I’d found. I glanced over my shoulder. However, I didn’t see anything indicating that the black sedan had moved. Another blessing that I was counting on and gave me a small amount of relief. I was grateful for the small amount of light that I did have because it meant that I didn’t have to take out my burner phone to see. For a few minutes, I let myself believe I might actually make it out of this unscathed.

That was my first mistake.

I heard the engine before I saw the car. I wasn’t sure if it was the car from the parking lot from here, but I prayed that it was just someone headed toward the state route and not looking for me. That dream quickly fled my brain as dread crept in because I could tell that the car had slowed down. I stopped moving for about a minute to see if that would give the vehicle enough time to speed off, but it didn’t.

So I changed direction slightly because I knew that I still wanted to make it to the bus stop that wasn’t terribly far away. A car would have a harder time pivoting than I would. I was putting a lot of faith in that.