No Exit by Taylor Adams 2

overnight in a snowy rest stop? It was all too fantastical to be a
part of Darby’s life.
She tried to mentally reconstruct the scene. Step by step.
The van’s rear window had been frosted with ice. The interior
had been dark. And Darby herself? She was a wreck —
anxious, sleep-deprived, her blood surging with Red Bull,
glimpsing starbursts behind her own dry eyelids. What if this
was just her vivid imagination at work, and Lars was just an
innocent traveler like the others? Attacking him would be a
battery charge.
If I’m wrong about this …
She finished her last gulp of coffee and for some reason,
her mind darted to her older sister. Twenty-three year old
Devon, who had her first tattoo etched on her right shoulder
blade. A few Chinese characters, bold and elegantly drawn.
They translated to: “Strength in Chinese.”
The lesson there? Double-check everything.
She needed to go back outside to the van. She needed to
see this child. Really see this child.
And she couldn’t rush to action. She had plenty of time;
she had six to eight hours of it, in fact. Enough time to think.
And she needed to be certain before making her move.
Right?
Right.
She rubbed the goosebumps on her arms and scanned the
room. At the table, they’d finished Go Fish — Ashley was
now trying to convince Ed to play a new card game called
War. Sandi had plucked a yellowed paperback from her purse
and raised it like a defensive wall. And Lars, the star of
tonight’s nightmare, was still guarding the front door, sipping
his Styrofoam cup of COCO. She’d been counting; this was
his third refill. He’d be hitting the restroom soon.
That’s when, she decided. That was when she’d slip
outside. Last time she’d stumbled into the scene, off-guard and