No Exit by Taylor Adams 2

This gave her a sick chill. Her adrenaline high, her crazystupid
fearlessness — it was all slipping away, fading like a
weak buzz. Two beers, fun while they last, but gone by
dessert.
Lars peered inside the van. “How long ago did she break
out?”
Ashley was pacing again. Thinking.
The silence made Darby uneasy. Like any good showman,
Ashley was difficult to read, only telegraphing his violence
when he meant to. His younger brother still dutifully held her
at gunpoint, never letting the barrel touch her back. Never
letting the weapon bob within grabbing distance.
Lars asked again. “How long ago did she break out?”
Again, Ashley didn’t answer. He stopped with his hands
on his hips, studying Jay’s footprints in the snow. They led
north. Away from the rest stop. Up the rising land, past the
overpass, along the on-ramp. Toward State Route Seven.
His words simmered in her mind. You don’t get it yet,
Darbs.
You will.
She estimated, based on the powder that had accumulated
atop the van’s rear door, that Jay had broken out and escaped
roughly twenty minutes ago. Before the attack on the
restroom, at least. The girl’s footprints were already growing
faint, filling in with dusty snowflakes.
“What’s that?” Lars asked.
Ashley knelt to retrieve something, like a wrinkled black
snakeskin. But Darby recognized it — the electrical tape
they’d sealed over Jay’s mouth. She’d discarded it here as she
fled.
Wisely, Jay had avoided the visitor center, because she’d
known Ashley and Lars were inside. So she’d gone for the
highway, probably in hope of flagging down a passerby and
calling the police — except this poor girl didn’t know where