No Exit by Taylor Adams 2

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DRAFT EMAIL (UNSENT)12/24/17 5:31 p.m.To: amagicman13@gmail.comFrom: Fat_Kenny1964@outlook.comSorry for the delay Ashley, we got our own snowmageddongoin on up here too. The neighbors barn finally caved in andthe horses are going apeshit. You won’t even recognize theplace.But yah, you wanted it in writing and you bet, let’s do thisthing, 10k upgfront plus 10% of everything I pull after. It’sbeen awhile since weve done one of these, but I’ve got thebunker ready and two interested fellas already one fromMilwaukee, one Portland.Those meds you’re getting will make her better right, atleast for a while? Sick is OK, barfing is NOT OK.Hope you did a clean job on the schoolbus lady. Youshould be in Bozeman by now so be here the day after Xmasthen? Stay safe, keep Lars’s nose clean and keep off the bigroads.Talk soon, I’ve got someone knocking at the front doo__
EPILOGUEFebruary 8Provo, UtahJay didn’t realize Darby’s last name was spelled with a silent‘e’ until she saw it milled into a cement gravestone. Below it,the date of death: December 24.One day before Christmas.Seven days before New Year’s.Forty-six days ago.She was here with her parents in Darby’s hometown, on acemetery hillside still scaled with thawing snow, because herfather had insisted on making the trip. Originally, he’d wantedto fly here much earlier in January, but Jay’s adrenal conditionhad flared up with two seizures that left her bedridden andunder watch. Finally, she’d been deemed healthy enough fortravel last week. All the while, her father had insisted: We haveto see Darby Thorne again. We owe her something that can’tbe written on a check.“That’s the one?” he asked now. A few steps downhill,catching up.“Yeah.”The hours and days after the incident on the Coloradohighway were a sickly blur, but little moments snagged inJay’s memory. The ache of the IV needle. The roar of the rotorblades. The way the medics had circled and applauded whenthey carried her onto the helipad of Saint Joseph. The strangeblur of the drugs. The way her mother and father came racingdown that corridor in dreamy slow motion, their fingersinterlocked, holding hands in a way she’d never seen thembefore. Speaking in choked voices she’d never heard. Thethree-way hug atop her creaking bed. The taste of salty tears.
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NO EXITA gripping thriller full of
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DEDICATIONFor Riley.
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Sent: 12/23 6:52 p.m.To: Fat_Kenny1
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7:39 p.m.December 23“Screw you, B
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“No, no, no.” She pumped the ga
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Darby almost ran it over.Her windsh
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couldn’t sink into that muck agai
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“Not since White Bend.”Her hear
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outlines of distant peaks. Craggy s
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Darby chuckled.They’d reached the
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but that’s not true. It takes yea
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highway. She knew she was lucky to
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8:17 p.m.She went back inside.Ashle
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Jesus, Darby, just turn around.Face
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wayto summon help from cellular dea
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Ashley glanced up at her over a han
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She didn’t realize Rodent Face ha
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In this tiny rest stop.All night.
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overnight in a snowy rest stop? It
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“Reminds me of a joke. What does
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Darby scooted her chair out and sto
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9:25 p.m.Darby walked to the Nightm
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Strangely, though, her body itself
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the deserted cafeteria, and took tw
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She crouched and ripped the white s
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Dangerous. She’d acted without th
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“From your house?” Darby rephra
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The girl nodded.Darby’s mind flut
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But he didn’t. He kept walking, c
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He was looking at Jay’s kennel in
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Jay didn’t blink, her bloodstaine
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media to aid the coming manhunt. Sh
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his forehead, which reminded her of
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pinned on Darby as he spoke. “You
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The time she dreamt that her throat
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flesh of his throat, or his eyes. N
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Ed blinked. “What?”“Circle ti
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these ancient ore carts, over these
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entire world teetered on a knife ed
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11:09 p.m.In the men’s restroom,
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He’d caught his breath now, and l
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this asshole. And since he suspects
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“Am I Person B?”Darby placed th
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him, to decide how to deal with us.
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Ashley reached through the security
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She wished he’d just inhale some
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Ashley swallowed. Some color was ba
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So she did — she decided to keep
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“Believe me, Jay, that’ll chang
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into the restroom? After she made k
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MIDNIGHT
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She needed to find it fast. Under t
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But she knew the pistol was just fo
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rust-eaten hinge, and it seemed to
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update. What was the timetable befo
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they’d used before, back when she
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“Afraid so.”“Well, I guess we
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And those green dragon eyes kept st
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It was just a small error, only a f
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It didn’t matter, because Ashley
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And she wasn’t even awake. She sn
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“See, Darbs, we’ll all agree th
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Every second felt volatile. She gla
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Sandi stirred again on the bench. L
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Darby shook her head sharply, squee
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Now, he reached through the securit
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fingernail around the trigger, whif
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He wasn’t sure.Please?Finally he
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But it was fine. No worries. Ashley
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hadn’t. She knew Ashley had sent
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Roofing Service, that her father
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“Shh.” Ashley moved his head, l
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Nothing.“Isn’t it funny, then?
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Lars’s eyes widened, darting from
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Darby skidded, reaching the driver
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“And you should eat a goddamn bre
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she was. She didn’t know they wer
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No answer. Only the stiff creak of
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She wished she could rewind this ho
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Lars liked it well enough. But he
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rolled on knees and elbows, kicking
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single window, the parked cars, the
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sticky, duct-taped in patches. A cr
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“With what?”“They have a gun.
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Darby grabbed his wrist, vise-tight
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they’d be leaving the cars unguar
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Perched against a vertical world of
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table and the window frame. “Ashl
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“Front window.”“Barricaded.
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enough. And she was grateful she di
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2:56 a.m.On her way back into the l
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She remembered the sharp odor of vo
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Ed knelt to Jay. “When they come,
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“He has the newest Gears of War.
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“You’re just drunk. If we try t
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“Answer me.” Darby’s voice wo
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3:33 a.m.Ed screamed: “SANDI—
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rubbing her nose. “I mean … God
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To his right, Lars took a diligent
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Sandi was in hysterics. She cried o
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She pressed the gas pedal and the F
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sounded different. They were gettin
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“What if we need to get out and r
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shards bounced. Darby banged her ja
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time bomb; a single bad moment away
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Jay peered over the door. “What i
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Jay faced her now, standing in the
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4:05 a.m.Thirty minutes.Thirty minu
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she’d once mistaken for Ashley’
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Jay cried, struggling to look away,
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made a strange sound, like a wet bu
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She nodded, and another tear hit th
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—But it was real. It was all real
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REST AREA ONE MILE.* * *“Hey.”
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“But, see, I had a plan, too.”
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“What?”“Women’s shelters. S
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makes her a liability. So we came u
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was rock-hard here, like sculpted c
Page 238 and 239: meaningless to him; you might as we
Page 240 and 241: The worst part of it all? Their she
Page 242 and 243: “No, Darby—”“Please, tell m
Page 244 and 245: a donut. She knew it might appear h
Page 246 and 247: Perfect darkness.Lars knelt to the
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Page 250 and 251: Darby held on — knowing it was st
Page 252 and 253: “Darby, I swear to God, if you re
Page 254 and 255: “It’s okay.”She hadn’t yet
Page 256 and 257: “Don’t miss.”“I won’t.”
Page 258 and 259: “Yeah, well, I lied.”THWUMP-THW
Page 260 and 261: “We could’ve gone to Idaho. Tog
Page 262 and 263: plunger. It clicked, like a gun’s
Page 264 and 265: “Oh, come on—”* * *A fireball
Page 266 and 267: “You named your car?”“I’ll
Page 268 and 269: 5:44 a.m.“Daaaaarby.”Yes, Ashle
Page 270 and 271: I won’t.* * *Ashley was perplexed
Page 272 and 273: Uphill, the flaming visitor center
Page 274 and 275: “What were you going to do with J
Page 276 and 277: 6:01 a.m.Ashley flinched at the gun
Page 278 and 279: DAWN
Page 280 and 281: through the truck’s windshield
Page 282 and 283: 6:22 a.m.Ashley Garver flinched aga
Page 284 and 285: profound horror, he’d forgotten w
Page 286 and 287: “I said thank you.”This gave Da
Page 290 and 291: The cameras, too. The fuzzy microph
Page 292 and 293: FREE KINDLE BOOKS AND OFFERSPlease
Page 294 and 295: OTHER BOOKS BY TAYLOR ADAMSFollow T
Page 296 and 297: As the clock ticks down, Dan’s pa
Page 298 and 299: Can this duo track down the murdere
Page 300 and 301: Will Swift get to the truth before
Page 302 and 303: DARK CRIMES by Michael Hamblinghttp
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No Exit by Taylor Adams 2

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