No Exit by Taylor Adams 2

And she wasn’t even awake. She snored like a purring cat
on the blue bench, her arms crossed across her potbelly, her
paperback precariously balanced on her face. The lightest
breeze could disturb it. For the first time all night, Darby could
read the title: Luck of the Devil. For the next sixty seconds or
so, Darby’s life depended on how light of a sleeper this
middle-aged woman was.
“Romcoms,” Ashley muttered under his breath. “That’s
cute.”
“Better than Godzilla.”
“Alright, Darbs, I’m sick of talking around it.” Ashley
kept his voice low, controlled, watching Sandi in the corner of
his eye. “So here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to make
you an offer.”
She listened, but in the back of her mind she was counting
seconds, like steady clockwork: Sixty seconds for Ed to walk
to his cousin’s truck and back.
Fifty seconds, now?
“This offer is going to stand once, Darbs, and then it’ll be
gone forever. No second chances. So think hard, please, before
you make a decision—”
“What’re you doing with that little girl?”
He licked his lips. “We’re not talking about Jay right
now.”
“Are you going to kill her?”
“That’s not important.”
“It’s pretty goddamn important to me—”
“Darby.” He was getting aggravated now, baring his
perfect Colgate teeth, his voice a strained whisper: “This isn’t
about her. Don’t you understand? This is about you, and me,
and my brother, and everyone else caught in the crossfire at
this rest stop. This is about the decision you’re going to make,
right now.”