No Exit by Taylor Adams 2

Sandi stirred again on the bench. Luck of the Devil slid a
few centimeters down her face. Darby wondered if she was
really asleep. What if she was only pretending? What if she’d
heard the whole conversation?
“I mean, tell you what.” Ashley suppressed a laugh,
loosening up again. His demeanor came in chilling phasechanges;
light to dark and back again. “You should see this
house, Darbs. Looks like Mr Burns’ mansion. Daddy owns a
tech startup, something to do with a video player. You know,
computer shit, which is over my blue-collar head. I’m more of
a practical nuts-and-bolts guy. Which is why we’re borrowing
Jaybird here, taking her out to the Rockies for a few weeks,
letting Mommy and Daddy get real worried and whip out their
checkbooks, and once we’re fairly compensated for our work,
we’ll cash out and leave her at a bus station in some shitsplat
town in Kansas. She won’t be harmed. It’ll be like a vacation.
Hell, maybe we’ll even teach her how to snowboard while
we’re—”
“You’re lying again.”
His folksy grin vanished again. “I already told you, Darbs.
Try to keep up. We won’t hurt her—”
“You already hurt her,” she snarled, half-hoping Sandi
was really awake under her paperback, really listening. “You
shot a goddamn nail through her hand. And I swear to God,
Ashley, if I get the chance, I’ll do worse to you.”
Silence.
At the door, Lars slipped her wallet back into her purse.
“So …” Ashley paused. “You saw Jay’s hand?”
“Yes.”
He considered this for a few moments, sucking his lower
lip again with a lizard-slurp. “Okay. Good.” He hardened,
another eerie phase-change. “Good, good. Great, even. Let’s
call this a teachable moment, okay? If it’s in my best interests
to keep Jaybird alive — shaken, but alive — and yesterday
morning I got sick of her whining and put a cordless nailer to