Chapter 42 Alex
Alex
How did football players do it?
Alex was lying on the desert floor after taking down Ellis in a spectacularly clumsy headlong tackle. He’d somehow completely upended Ellis and sent him flying backwards while simultaneously flipping himself hard onto the death machine.
Everything hurt—his head, his shoulder. He was too winded to talk.
There was something wrong with his right ankle.
He glanced down and saw that it was resting at an odd angle.
He must have cracked it on the rusted tractor when he fell.
He tried to move his toes and a searing pain shot up his leg.
He gasped and winced, squeezing his eyes shut.
This was not good. But he’d done what he needed to do.
He’d taken down Ellis before he could hurt Ana.
The good thing about lamp cords—they didn’t make very tight knots. While Ellis had been killing time on the tractor going on and on about his dad, Alex had worked at the knot over and over, loosening it just enough that when Ana was still talking, he managed to wiggle one hand free. Just in time.
He looked around for Ana—she was on the ground next to Ellis, pulling herself to her knees, shaking her head and neck.
Ellis was flat on his back. He must have been winded too—he wasn’t moving, for now. They had a chance, if they were fast, Ana might be able to make a run for it before Ellis woke up.
As if to emphasize the danger, Ellis moaned and stirred slightly—one arm lifting and then dropping again to his side. There was no time to waste.
“Ana,” Alex said, rolling to his stomach. Every movement hurt; breathtaking jolts of pain shot up his leg. He didn’t want to think about it, but his ankle had to be broken. “Ana, are you okay?”
Ana looked around groggily. Her eyes focused on Alex.
“Shit, Alex. What happened? Are you hurt?” She scrambled over to him, her eyes round with concern.
Alex nodded at his leg. His shoe had come off, and the right foot was turned inwards at an unnatural angle. Ana sunk down to the ground next to him. Whatever happened now, he wasn’t going anywhere.
“You…you should go. Run. Get somewhere safe, hide somewhere where Ellis won’t find you. Quick—before he wakes up.” Sweat was breaking out on his forehead, he bit his lower lip.
On cue, Ellis groaned and shifted slightly. They didn’t have long.
They were in trouble. Alex knew it. If it came to a two-against-one fight, he was realistic enough to know that the odds would still be in Ellis’s favor, especially now with his ankle.
There had to be something he could do—anything.
He looked around desperately. There was a large rock under the death machine. Large enough.
“Go, and I’ll take care of Ellis…I’ll stop him. I’ll…I’ll…” He felt sickened at himself for even thinking it. He didn’t know if he had it in him to kill someone in cold blood, or how he would live with himself after. But he had to try. For Ana. He had to end this game.
“No, Alex!” Ana sat up. “No, you can’t hurt Ellis. I can’t explain now—there’s no time. I need you to do what I say, okay? Even if it doesn’t make sense…” She looked up at him, her eyes imploring.
Alex nodded. Whatever she needed.
Ellis groaned again. His hands were working now, flopping around. They had moments, at most.
“Quickly—I’ll help you up.” Ana’s voice was shaky but clear. “We need to get to the line.”
“The line?” Alex paused. That was the last place they should go. If they were on the line, Ellis could force them over. It didn’t make sense. They should go as far away from the line as possible.
“Alex. I need you to listen. I need you to trust me. Can you do that?”
Alex smiled for the first time in a long time and nodded. That would be the easiest thing he’d done all day. He trusted her. Always.
Bending down, she reached her arms around his waist and gently helped him up. His head fell against her shoulder. The pain was breathtaking. A wave of dizziness and nausea swept over him. He could feel her hand pressed against his chest, his heart beating hard and fast against it.
“It’s going to be okay, Alex. We can do this,” she said. Half-walking, half-carrying him, they staggered towards the line.
Just in time.
Ellis rolled onto his front. He was struggling to get his arms and knees under him, to push himself up. He was mumbling a little, unintelligible words. Slowly, he turned his head sideways. His unfocused eyes found them.
Time was up.
***
07:35
Ana was holding Alex up, his arm over her shoulder. He could feel how hard it was for her even just standing there, supporting his weight. He pulled her closer.
“Ow,” Ellis said, rubbing his neck and glaring at them both. “You should have tried out for the football team, Alex.”
“Hurts less than being strangled to death,” Ana said sharply.
“Fair point.” Ellis was looking around, his eyes scanning everything.
The loose lamp cord, Alex’s ankle, the defunct death machine.
He smiled and gave a small, sharp bark of a laugh.
“Well, here we are again. Time’s almost up and—no offense intended—I think I have the upper hand when it comes to speed. How’s this going to play out?”
“You’re going to cross the line,” Ana said calmly.
Ellis stood still, an amused half-smile on his face.
“Okay, interesting. Let’s run with this. Um, why exactly am I going to cross the line?” Ellis raised his eyebrows.
“Because your life is already over,” Ana said. She was speaking slowly, choosing her words carefully. Ellis’s smile slipped a minuscule amount.
“Explain.”
“When we were chatting earlier, I never got the chance to mention that I met Bates, or should I say Matt Hunt—Karl’s dad. He’s an interesting man—a little bitter.”
Alex glanced at her face in surprise. Bates was Karl Hunt’s dad? Why would he do this to them? Hadn’t his son done enough damage and caused enough pain?
Ellis had gone very quiet. His face shut down, a hard expression settled in.
“He had a lot to say about you and what you did a year ago.” Ana shrugged as best she could with Alex’s arm over her shoulder.
A muscle in Ellis’s jaw was twitching. His pale eyes were working, left to right, processing this new information.
“Did you think you’d get away with it, Ellis? Did you think no one would find out?” Ana laughed. “Bad news. Hunt has evidence, and when all this is over, he’s planning on releasing it to the police.”
“What evidence?” Ellis said, his voice suspicious.
“Enough to ruin you and destroy your reputation. When people find out what you really did…your life out there, as you know it, will be over. There’s nothing left for you to go back to, Ellis.
Just shame and humiliation. Think about your father, the great Grant Locke, what he’ll think of his only son when he finds out what you did. ”
“What did I do? Tell me, what is it I’m supposed to have done?” Ellis was testing her.
Alex was weakening, he could feel his strength going, his good leg was shaking. Ana propped him higher, putting more weight on her shoulders. One way or another, this would be over soon.
“You know what you did, Ellis, and the only way you can redeem yourself now is if you do something truly heroic. Something that people will choose to remember you for. Something that will make your dad proud.”
Ellis started laughing loudly.
“Something like…throw myself across the line to save the poor lovers? Is that really your final play?” Ellis snarled.
His old confidence seemed to be returning.
“Redemption? Do you think I give a fuck about redemption? I only care about surviving.” He paused almost imperceptibly.
“I’ve got to say I am disappointed in you.
I would have expected more from Danny’s sister.
There are some major flaws in your plan.
First, you’re bluffing. You clearly have no idea what I did.
Secondly, my father already knows everything, and guess what?
He already loathes me…” He opened and closed his hands, rubbing them against his pants.
“But you are right about one thing. I’ll give you that.
Hunt does know my oh-so-guilty secret. I figured that out when we arrived.
You see, he left me a little clue in the anniversary card.
A warning. I knew I was in trouble right then.
” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the twenty-dollar bill.
Alex frowned. What did twenty dollars have to do with any of this?
“Why don’t you tell us, Ellis?” Ana met his eyes squarely.
“Why don’t you tell us what the money means; tell us what you did a year ago?
You’ve already won. At least we’ll die knowing the truth.
” Ellis’s eyes narrowed. He cocked his head to one side and focused on Ana.
Alex had the feeling that there was some kind of shared understanding between them that he wasn’t a part of.
Ana shifted forward slightly. “Are you getting it now, Ellis? Do you understand the message in the card: Only the truth will set you free? It was for you, Ellis. All of this. The card, the message, the money…this whole damn place. It was all for you. Hunt’s not going to let you leave until you confess before the cameras.
Even if you’re the last one standing, even if you win the whole damn game.
It’s over, Ellis. Whatever you did a year ago, it has to come out, one way or another, or all of this—everything you’ve done today, will be for nothing. ”
Ellis shook his head and gave a short nervous laugh.
“Okay. Sure, you want to hear what I did? That’s how you want to spend your last moments alive? Fine, why the fuck not? You’ll be dead soon enough. You listening, Hunt? I’ll give you what you want, all right?” he shouted, turning around, arms raised.