No Exit by Taylor Adams 2

“Four.”
“Please, Ashley—”
“Three. Come on, Darbs.” He punched the nail gun’s
muzzle against Ed’s forehead in cruel, bruising impacts:
“Look. At. Him.”
Ed now stared across the room at her through watering
eyes. Poor old Edward Schaeffer, the ex-veterinarian with an
estranged family waiting for him in Aurora, Colorado. A
human cover story; Sandi’s unwitting collateral damage. He
was moving his lips again, muffled by clammy red gauze,
trying to form words with a tongue impaled to the roof of his
mouth. She could feel his eyes on her, begging her to tell
Ashley what he wanted to know. To just please tell him—
“If I tell Ashley,” Darby whispered to Ed, “they’ll kill us
both—”
This was true, but she wished she could tell him another,
greater truth, to reassure him: The police are almost here.
They’re a few minutes late. Any second now, they’re going to
kick down that door and shoot Ashley and Lars—
“Two.”
“I … I can’t say it.” She looked at Ed, realizing what this
meant, and a racking sob rattled through her lips. “I’m … oh
God, I’m so sorry—”
Ed nodded slowly, knowingly, dripping globs of stringy
blood into his lap. Like he somehow, impossibly, understood.
She wanted to scream it to him: Any second, now, Ed. The
cops are coming to save us. Please, God, let them get here in
time—
The patience drained from Ashley’s voice. “One.”
* * *
“Ten-twenty-three. Approaching the structure on foot.”
Corporal Ron Hill clasped his shoulder radio and tripped
on a snow bank, catching himself on a gloved palm. The ice