Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 70628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
I nod back to her, and then I walk outside the house to take the call.
“Moreno,” I say.
“It’s me. I have news. We found Chris Pollack.”
“Good. I have news too. Apparently he’s the one who killed Gloria Delgado and Brian Hansen.”
“Yeah, I was about to tell you the same thing. We found him, and he’s talking.”
“Why is he talking?”
“Let’s just say he was convinced.”
“Jesus Christ, Raven.”
“Luke.”
“No, Raven. If you’re resorting to what I think you are, then you’re still Raven.”
“No, I’m Luke. It wasn’t me who convinced him to talk. It was Katelyn.”
22
ASPEN
Something rustles.
I’m not alone here.
I’m never alone here.
Then it’s more than rustling.
Footsteps. Running footsteps.
Coming closer, coming—
I run. Thank God I’m fully hydrated because I need to run fast.
Whoever it is, he’s gaining on me, and I understand now why Diamond gave me the shoes.
At least I can run, at least I can—
“I’ve got you, bitch. I see you!”
The voice is low, but the person is panting. Breathing hard.
I’m giving him a good chase.
Which is exactly what he wants.
What would happen if I stopped?
Stopped in my tracks and refused to run?
I won’t.
I never do, but what if I did?
Would the thrill of the hunt be dead in him?
It’s tempting, but it’s not who I am.
I go. I move. I push myself to the limit, and then I find more within me, and I push harder.
That’s what you do as an athlete.
That’s what you do as an—
“Got you!”
I’m forced to the ground, and something snags my back as I fall.
“Ouch!” I cry out.
“It’s true what they say about you.” The voice comes from above me. “You’re hard to catch. But I knew I could do it. I knew you couldn’t outrun me.”
I force my eyes to open. Above me stands a man, a huge man, wearing a white cotton mask over his entire face.
White, of course, because it reflects heat on this tropical island. Some of them wear black masks, and they must be hotter than hell.
His eyes are light blue. His body a pasty white. Almost too white.
Pasty white but ripped.
He wears only athletic shorts and a tank top, also white.
And running shoes of course. I can’t see his feet from this angle, but I know he’s wearing running shoes.
The only reason Diamond would’ve given me running shoes was because he asked her to.
He wanted me to be able to run.
He wanted me to be able to run so he could catch me.
“Let me go,” I say through clenched teeth.
“Now why would I do that?”
“I made it too easy for you,” I say. “I can run faster. Harder. And I bet you can’t catch me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, bitch. I will always catch you.”
“Will you?”
“I got you this time, didn’t I?”
“You did, but now I know who you are. I’ve been able to assess you, and I can adapt.”
He laughs then. A satanic guttural laugh. If I didn’t know better, I’d think I were staring at the devil himself.
The devil in a white mask.
Is the devil a red-eyed demon? A serpent?
Not here. Not on this island.
The devil takes many forms here.
“Fine, you little bitch. Run. I’ll even give you a five minute start. And I will fucking catch you. And when I do? I’m going to fuck you. I’m going to fuck you hard.”
Does he think that’s supposed to scare me? I’ve been raped more times than I can count. I’ve been bitten, beaten, stabbed. Sent to the infirmary even.
This tyrant doesn’t scare me.
This tyrant is a fucking challenge.
“Is that what you want? To fuck me? Then why not do it right now?”
His guttural satanic laugh again.
This time it reverberates through my body and into the ground beneath me. I can almost feel the earth shake.
“It’s all the sweeter when I catch you.”
“But you’ve already caught me…sir.”
Yes, I give a snide emphasis to “sir” because it will piss him off. And that’s what I’m counting on.
“I could, you know,” he says. “I could slide my hard dick into that cunt right now. I could fuck you so hard you’d bleed.”
“Then what’s stopping you?”
He growls then. He sounds like a fucking lion standing over its prey.
But then he moves off of me. He stands.
“Get up,” he says, his voice a rasp.
I don’t.
I lie there.
And I know I’m in for something that will change my life.
I’m still holding the gun on Nancy.
I don’t know how long Buck will be gone talking to Luke. In the meantime, it takes every ounce of strength I possess not to pistol-whip this bitch.
“Talk,” I say.
“Don’t you want to wait until he gets back?”
“I’ve waited long enough, don’t you think?”
“You’ve only been here a—”
“That’s not what I’m talking about, you maniac. I’m talking about the five years I spent on that damned island being hunted. Tortured. Raped. So yeah, I’ve waited long enough.”
She sighs. “We didn’t realize—”