Chapter 3

On the road, the airless heat of the hold made my head swim.

All I could do was press my face to the gap and gulp down the outside air. The route I had built stayed clear the whole way, with no inspections anywhere.

When I planned it I had already mapped every road condition, including the schedules of every inspection crew along the way.

I had hired professional investigators for all of it.

We drove for three hours.

We reached a wide stretch of open country where a few deer sat under a big tree.

The truck stopped to rest.

Sweat rolled down my forehead in fat drops.

Lawson and Beth jumped down and drank water beside the truck. Beth pulled out a camera and pointed at the deer. "Take a picture of me with them."

Through the gap, I watched them talking and laughing.

They seemed to have forgotten I was still in the hold.

They set up a table for a quick meal. My stomach was growling so hard I had to swallow.

I pounded on the hold door, and only then did Lawson notice me.

He saw that my clothes were soaked through with sweat and frowned. "Why didn't you wear something lighter? How could you not sweat in something that thick? Take the body armor off."

Beth looked startled for a second too, and handed me a bottle of water. "Also, don't change yet, or you'll just sweat through it again before we hit the transfer station. We'll all change then."

I pressed my lips together and drank half the bottle.

They put up a simple tent for lunch.

I sat down and found that the food wasn't the pasta in tomato sauce I had packed. It was something loaded with chili.

Beth said, "Runs like this are rough enough. If the food is bad on top of it, that's real misery. Annie, sit down."

"This is Lawson's favorite thing I make. You should try it."

I frowned and looked at Lawson. "Where's what I packed?"

Lawson said, "I didn't bring it down. Go on, try what Beth made."

I held my fork without moving and said quietly, "Neither of us can eat spicy food."

Something darkened in Lawson's eyes. "What's the harm in trying it? And out here there's nothing good to eat anyway."

Lawson and I had the same taste in food. That was why we could always eat together.

We used to run into each other at the same restaurant, and that was how we met, got to know each other, and ended up together.

Neither of us could handle chili.

Lawson took a big bite first and praised it, smiling. Then he picked up a piece and put it in my mouth while I wasn't looking.

"Happy now? I fed it to you. Doesn't it taste good?"

My tongue lit up with a burning pain. My eyes watered so badly I saw spots, and I had to drink the rest of the water to push the food down.

Beth's smile got even brighter.

After the meal we rested under the tent.

I walked off a distance to use the bathroom.

When I came back, this was what I found.

Lawson's face was going pale. He was clenching his teeth and clutching his stomach.

I saw the cold sweat on his forehead and took the painkillers I always carried out of my bag.

I was about to hand them to Lawson.

But Beth got to him first with a bottle of water, and looked up at me. "Annie, next time don't take more than two minutes in the bathroom. Come back faster, so we can reach somewhere with a store sooner."

"Then we could buy painkillers."

Lawson said through his teeth, "I'm fine."

"I'll drive." Beth glanced at me. "Get in."

I held the painkillers without offering them, and put them back in my bag.

The hold sat high off the ground, and without a step it was hard to climb up.

I nearly fell getting over the edge, and my backpack dropped off my shoulder.

I reached down for it, and Beth shut the door.

I said, "My bag fell."

Beth made a noise. "Got it."

Through the gap I saw that she didn't pick it up.

The truck was already moving. As I watched my bag shrink into the distance, my fingertips trembled.

Somewhere on the road, my stomach started hurting.

Sweat kept breaking out on my forehead, and my whole body went cold.

With my medication gone I had no options left. All I could do was keep drinking water and hope it eased.

Half an hour passed and nothing helped.

The truck sped up. I was thrown around badly in the back, and cargo came loose and slammed into me.

I took out my phone and called Lawson.

Nobody picked up.

I called Beth several times in a row, and the last time she hung up on me.

I curled into a ball and used a crate to shield myself.

But the jolting kept throwing me around the hold, and my forehead hit the corner of a wooden crate. Pain shot through my skull.

My palm came away wet and sticky.

My forehead had split open.

I tried Beth again. This time her phone was off.