Three, Two, One (321)

I look around. I have no idea where I’m at, but we are a little ways out of the city. It’s a big strip mall with tons of cars. We are parked right in front of the store, but honestly, how fast can Ark get to me if someone came up?

Who would try to get me? And just as I’m thinking that, I realize who we’re running from.

Not JD.

The people I escaped from.

My heart starts to beat faster. Because even though I might’ve been holding myself prisoner in the loft with Ark and JD, I always knew I was free to go. I just didn’t have the courage to walk out the door.

But if those people get me again, I’m done. They’ll beat me. Rape me. And then sell me or kill me or God only knows what. I twist around in my seat, trying to see all sides of the parking lot at once, but it’s too big. Several minutes go by, and I’m just about to reach for the door handle and go join Ark inside before I die of paranoia when he comes back. He throws a bag on my lap. “Open it up, Blue. Stick the SIM card in it and activate it for me as I drive.”

“What’s going on?”

“Just do what I say.”

Inside the bag is a prepaid cell phone. Ark reaches into his pocket and hands me a knife so I can tear open the sealed plastic. I press the power button and follow the onscreen instructions for activation.

We stop in a restaurant parking lot before I can finish, but this time, Ark turns the Jeep off. “We gotta go inside.”

“Seriously? We’re eating? Can’t you tell me what’s going on first?”

But he just gets out of the Jeep and walks around to my side and opens the door. He holds out his palm, and I let him help me out, handing the phone over in the process. He stuffs it in his jacket, keeps a hold of my hand, and we trudge through the slushy parking lot to the front doors.

Once inside, he starts looking all around. “Fuck,” he utters under his breath.

The hostess comes up and starts grabbing menus. “Two?” she asks.

And that word, I swear to God, gives me a little pain in my chest. It shouldn’t be two, I want to say. JD can get help. I can get help. We can work this stuff out. But Ark is not even thinking about JD right now.

“I’m looking for a waitress named Lanie. She works breakfast and dinner.”

“Lanie?” the hostess says as she tsks her tongue and huffs out a breath. “She quit ages ago. In fact, she walked one afternoon mid-shift and never came back. No one’s heard from her since.”

“What?” Ark asks. “When? How long ago?”

“Oh, pfffft. I have no clue. Hey, Ritchie?” she yells across the restaurant. “When did Lanie disappear?”

Ark squeezes my hand when he hears the word disappear.

“’Bout six, seven weeks ago?” the cook behind the counter calls back. “She pissed me off too. I was short that night.”

We are out of the restaurant before the cook even finishes his sentence. And when we reach the Jeep, Ark has the gun in his hand.

“What the fuck is going on?”

But he just blows out a breath and starts the engine. We pull back out onto the street and I know we are far from downtown, because the mountains over here are very close. “Goddamnit!” I yell when we starts weaving through side streets. “Talk to me!”

Instead, he throws the phone back at me. “Finish the activation. I need to text someone right the fuck now.”

“What did JD say? Why are we running?”

But Ark ignores all my questions so I just finish the activation process and hand him the phone. He tucks it under his leg, and then reaches for the gun as he pulls up to a little house in a very nondescript suburban neighborhood.

I grab him by the coat. “Where the fuck are we?”

“Lanie’s house,” he says, ducking a little so he can look up at the roof.

“Who is Lanie? And what are you doing?”

“Goddammit, Blue! Shut up. I’m looking for snipers.”

“Oh, my God. I’m getting out of this car—”

He grabs me by the arm and pulls me towards him. “No. You’re not. I’m not fucking around right now, Blue. We are in a lot of trouble, OK? This girl, the waitress who’s missing? I saw her the day JD and I met you. That’s where I went that day. I needed to get two more videos for Ray to complete that week’s contract, and when I’m short, I use Lanie. So I used her that day, and now I find out she’s been missing all this time. Do you really think it’s a coincidence?”

“I don’t get it.”

“Well, here’s the thing, baby.” He smiles at me and pulls me in for a quick kiss. “You don’t need to get it. You just need to trust me.”

“What about JD?”

“We’re done with him, OK?”

“No! He’s part of us, Ark. We can’t just throw him away. We need to get him help. We need to make sure he’s all right. We need—”

“He sold you out, Blue.”

“What?”

“You heard me. All those films he made with you? The violent ones? He sold them today when he left. And do you know who he sold them to?”

I have to swallow very hard as I shake my head.

“The people who were keeping you prisoner, Blue. He sold. You. OK? We’re fucking done with him.”

“But why?”

Ark takes a long breath. “We don’t have time right now. I need to go inside and see if she’s in there. Maybe I’m overreacting. Maybe she’s just quit her job. Maybe she’s fine and this shit isn’t about to blow up in my face. I don’t think that’s the case, but I need to go check. So we don’t have time right now. You need to come with me in case people are watching her house.”