No Exit by Taylor Adams 2

No fear in those eyes. Not even a tremor.
She just looked him up and down, assessing him, like this
CU-Boulder redhead had somehow already anticipated this
encounter, hours ago, and had a contingency plan prepared,
which was of course impossible. Tonight had been a swirling,
sweaty shitstorm of blind chance and left-field surprises. Not
even a magic man like Ashley himself could stay on top of
everything all the time.
But still, he thought, I wish you hadn’t turned around.
It makes this harder.
He raised the cordless nailer again. He depressed the
Paslode’s muzzle with his left palm, tricking the safety,
squeezing the two-stage trigger, drawing careful aim on her
left eye—
Darby didn’t flinch. “That’d be a mistake.”
“What?”
“You don’t want to kill me.”
“Yeah? Why’s that?”
“I hid your keychain,” she said. “I know where your Astro
keys are, and if you kill me now, you’ll never find them. Now
that Sandi’s truck is stuck here, and you shot up my Honda,
you’ve trapped yourself here. That van is the only way you
and your brother will ever escape this rest stop tonight.”
Silence.
She raised her hands, like a mic drop.
And from the front of Sandi’s truck, Ashley heard a
strange, scraping chitter. A sound he’d never heard before.
It was Jay laughing.