Page 16 of Run for Her Life
Adam’s smile was forced. “It’s nice to see you too, Dawn.”
“Well, why did you want to meet me?” She huffed. “I’m very busy. It’s not a good time.”
“A source told me you might have to delay your pivotal announcement. A data company deciding to venture into a new market,” he prodded. “Any truth in that?”
She ground her teeth. “Who have you been talking to?”
This time his smile was genuine. “Sources are my bread and butter. Surely you know that? Any idea how much of a hit yourstock price is going to take after your shareholders’ false hope that change was coming?”
Dawn had a fair idea. The data storage company she had started from scratch had been fighting to survive for years. It hadn’t diversified enough early on and now the world was changing at the speed of light. The ability to write code was at everyone’s fingertips and Dawn’s company found itself marching toward irrelevancy. It was then that David had had the bold idea to launch into a new space. Gaming. His voice had wavered when he’d first suggested it and his words had eaten into her heart.
“Why don’t you get to the point?” Dawn snapped. “Why did you want to meet?”
“To discuss the same. I have it on good intel that there was a company theft.”
Dawn stifled a gasp, her throat tightening. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Adam chuckled and drummed his fingers on his lap. “What I’m curious about is what are you doing about it? You can’t go to the authorities and have your shareholders get wind of this or you’ll go bankrupt. But you can’t afford to keep delaying this announcement either as you’ll lose money there too.”
The vultures were circling, their sharp teeth ready and snapping to pick away at Dawn and her years of hard work. No one wanted to support her when she was starting out. But now that she had built something, everyone wanted a slice of the pie. But she wasn’t ready to feed the leeches. Not even her own son.
“Aren’t there bigger things happening in this town? I don’t know about you but a murder sells more than writing about earnings reports.” She flashed him a cruel smile and leaned forward, as she lowered her voice. “Don’t make an enemy out of me. You have no idea what I’m willing to do to save what’s mine. Now get out of my car.”
Adam swallowed hard. “I’ll see you around.” With that, he opened the door and almost fell out of it.
She watched his toad-like frame grow smaller in the side mirror as he walked away. That was one bug she had squashed—for now. A plan formulated in her mind on how to control the situation before it escalated. The engine revved as she turned the corner and glided the car through the empty streets of Pineview Falls. Overhead the sky was overcast with clouds that hung low and swollen, ready to pop. Her mind was buzzing when she found herself in front of Fun House.
The house that had been decomposing for the last two decades had a sagging roof and was sinking in a thick mass of overgrown grass and weed. Vines crept up the walls and threaded through the cracks. It reeked of must and death and there was only a warped, wooden fence separating it from the outside world. A flimsy barrier that was easy to breach, and some twisted people did every now and then.
She felt salty tears in the back of her throat as her nose turned red. She drove away, willing herself not to cry, but Fun House stood there hulking and casting a looming shadow on her life.
TEN
1995
Sweat made the woman’s hands clammy. She rubbed them together. Her breaths fell over each other as if she’d just run a marathon. She eyed the rotary phone next to her. A gust of wind blew, making the open curtains swish.
The woman was never nervous like this. Some would say she was cold-blooded like a reptile. Nothing fazed her—not what was demanded of her, not what she was expected to do. No amount of blood and gore and screams and tears rattled her. She worked like a machine.
Efficient and icy.
But this job was different. There were some lines she didn’t cross. Tonight, she did. Tonight, she feltsomething.Raw emotion whipping inside her and twisting her insides. She gazed out the window into the starless night sky. Thunder cracked but rain was still to come. A storm brewed as the wind picked up, sending chills up her arms.
And then the phone rang. Right on time.
She stared at it.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
“It’s me.” She answered the phone like this whenever it was time for this call.
The familiar voice filtered through—throaty with a tinge of eastern European accent. “Is it done?”
“Yes. The target was delivered to the destination.” Her finger clutched the fabric of her sweater.
