Run - Blake Crouch [124]
“No talking. Unless you have to urinate.”
“I just—”
“You want your mouth taped? You have a cold. That would make breathing difficult.”
Devlin was the only thing she’d ever prayed for and that was years ago, but as she watched the passing sagebrush and cactus through the deeply tinted windows, she pleaded with God again.
Now the Escalade was slowing. It came to a stop. He turned off the engine and stepped outside and shut the door. Her door opened. He stood watching her. He was very handsome, with flawless, brown skin (save for an indentation in the bridge of his nose), liquid blue eyes, and black hair greased back from his face. His pretty teeth seemed to gleam in the night. Rachael’s chest heaved against the strap of webbing.
He said, “Calm down, Rachael.” Her name sounded like a foreign word on his lips. He took out a syringe from his black leather jacket and uncapped the needle.
“What is that?” she asked.
“You have nice veins.” He ducked into the Escalade and turned her arm over. When the needle entered, she gasped.
“Please listen. If this is some kind of ransom thing—”
“No, no. You’ve already been purchased. In fact, right now, there isn’t a safer place in the world for you to be than in my possession.”
A gang of coyotes erupted in demonic howls somewhere out in that empty dark and Rachael thought they sounded like a woman burning alive, and she began to scream until the drug took her.
BLAKE CROUCH is the author of DESERT PLACES, LOCKED DOORS, and ABANDON, which was an IndieBound Notable Selection last summer, all published by St. Martin’s Press. His newest thriller, SNOWBOUND, also from St. Martin’s, was released in 2010. His short fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, THRILLER 2, and other anthologies, including the new SHIVERS VI anthology from Cemetery Dance. In 2009, he co-wrote “Serial” with J.A. Konrath, which has been downloaded over 350,000 times and topped the Kindle bestseller list for 4 weeks. That story and ABANDON have also been optioned for film. Blake lives in Durango, Colorado. His website is www.blakecrouch.com.
Blake Crouch’s Works Available on Nook
Andrew Z. Thomas thrillers
Desert Places
Locked Doors
Break You
Other works
Abandon
Snowbound
Draculas with J.A. Konrath, Jeff Strand and F. Paul Wilson
Famous
Serial with Jack Kilborn
Unconditional (short story)
Fully Loaded (complete collected stories)
Perfect Little Town (horror novella)
Serial Uncut with J.A. Konrath and Jack Kilborn
Bad Girl (short story)
Killers (with J.A. Konrath)
Four Live Rounds (collected stories)
Shining Rock (short story)
*69 (short story)
On the Good, Red Road (short story)
Remaking (short story)
The Meteorologist (short story)
The Pain of Others (novella)
Six in the Cylinder (collected stories)
Killers Uncut (with J.A. Konrath)
Serial Killers Uncut (with J.A. Konrath)
Stirred (with J.A. Konrath)
Visit Blake at www.BlakeCrouch.com
Copyright © 2011 by Blake Crouch
Cover art copyright © 2011 by Jeroen ten Berge
All rights reserved.
RUN is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
For more information about the author, please visit www.BlakeCrouch.com.
For more information about the artist, please visit www.jeroentenberge.com.