The Drifter

C H A P T E R 7 1

C H A P T E R S E V E N T Y – O N E
Three's a Crowd

"Ari?" I found myself whispering.

And there she was.

She stepped out from the shadows at the far end of the bare room. Her dress had a rip through it near the hemline by her ankles as it was a floor-length dress with a slit up the side to her knee. What should have been grey was tarnished with dirt and possibly dark blood stains, though she seemed to be unwounded. Her hair was tucked behind her ears.

She produced a strangled sob and ran forward, clutching me in a tight embrace as my arms flew out to clutch her too. She squeezed me before letting go. "You don't look too bad," she announced, her gaze flickering across my face. "What happened to you?"

I explained before asking her for her story.

She shook her head. "I don't even remember. I was in my house and I just wanted a bottle of water from the fridge. I remember getting one and then I felt..." Her voice trailed off as she absentmindedly reached a hand up to her neck. "A needle. I woke up lying on the floor in here but I was tied up." A single tear slipped out of her eye and she hastily wiped it away. "He gave me water and some food. He sat opposite me and talked to me. I – he was wearing brown contacts at first." Her voice lowered and I could sense the shame and regret creeping into her tone. "I thought it was Aidan."

"He did the same with me – with the contacts," I clarified. "I thought it was Aidan too. But Aidan will know something's wrong and he'll tell the cops. They've known it was Max since Aidan was arrested and he told them everything." As her face crumpled, I racked my brain for something I could tell her that would remove some of the fear and sadness from her. "When we were at yours, your puppy kept yapping so Detective Larkins made one of the uniformed officers walk your puppy." A small smile etched at my lips at the memory and it intensified when Arianna reciprocated it.

"We need to figure out how to get out," Arianna declared.

We were sat cross-legged against the wall, just out of the darkness so I could still view Arianna and she could see me. I inclined my head back and I closed my eyes momentarily. Was escapism possible? We were somehow locked in and though there was a bottle of water and some leftover bread next to me in the darkness that was rightfully Arianna's, her and I weren't going to last in here long-term.

"Have you noticed anything with his behaviour? I wonder where he's gone. Where do you think we are? We could see how regularly he comes to us and see when the best time would be to plan an abrupt attack and leave."

Despite Max's words to me "for the road", I was still careful to keep my voice quiet just in case he had been lying and was still roaming around somewhere and we were in earshot.

She shook her head. "I have no idea how to figure out time in here. To me it just seems like he comes and goes whenever. He's not been in to see me too much. He was here when I first came to, then he left and came back with water and some food, and the next time he was back it was to bring you."

"We need to figure out how to get out." It was the bleeding obvious, but it needed to be said.

We spent what felt like hours discussing strategies, deciding how best to strike against Max, though as neither of us were trained in self-defence, it seemed improbable that we would be able to successfully take on Max who had a pocketknife on him and possibly other weapons. And let's not forget Max was both bigger and stronger than both Arianna and I. And he would probably be waiting for Arianna and I to act out, attempt to sabotage what Max had planned for us so we could escape.

"Has he drugged you at all?" I whispered.

My gaze occasionally had dropped to her arms, but the light wasn't functioning too well in this room. Even so, I couldn't spot any small wounds on her arms to indicate that she had been drugged with the morphine that Max had stolen from his dad's shipment of it for Blake Industries to send out to hospitals and such.

So far of our plan all we had decided was that the next time Max would approach us, we'd pounce. Flying limbs seemed to be our only strategy we could adopt and improvisation would be our friend. We knew basic moves such as hitting him where it hurts: his dick. That was going to be our only form of solid defence, but it would have to do.

"No. And I have refused to sleep in case I don't hear him with the lock so I haven't slept either." She paused and I noticed her lips moving slightly, and then she spoke again. "I can't believe that everyone had to endure this before us. But Stephenson... he was never abducted or labelled as missing. He just died. He never experienced this."

I angled my body towards Arianna. "Nine people have died before us, Ari. I'm not going to let you be the tenth. Do you know why he's doing this?" She will have scanned the contents of the USB drive considering it was confirmed in the analysis the digital forensics department carried out after I had handed over the USB drive, but whether it all clicked in her mind was another story.

The USB drive was an introduction before Max would evidently recount the entire story to each of his victims. Perhaps he got a thrill out of acting as the martyr and feeling like the hero he believed he deserved to be by extracting his revenge.

She nodded, glancing at her lap. "He told me everything when I first came to. He let me ask questions... but..." She squashed her lips to the side. "I'm so sorry, Addy. He's the reason why your parents are dead. He's Aidan's twin. And he tried to kill Aidan." She gazed up at me. "I knew I had my qualms with Aidan at first, but he was only ever protecting you, even if he did hide everything from you."

"I know. He'll find us, though. Him... the police... they'll find us and get us. This must be where Delia's laptop is." I explained briefly, as well as I could, about the ever-changing IP address and where it was registered to in terms of an actual location.

Her eyes lit up at the technology jargon. "I wonder where he learnt how to do that." Her shoulders slumped. "He probably just looked it up online."

To distract ourselves from the truth, I asked Arianna where her parents had gone for date night. She told me a fancy restaurant downtown, and then silence lapsed. She rested her head back onto the wall and I leaned onto her shoulder. She didn't move so I closed my eyes. We stayed like that.

She might have denied it in future, but I could have sworn I heard her breathing become soft and steady, like she had managed to drift off. I stayed awake. She was vulnerable right now and I wasn't going to let her down. If something were to happen, I could just simply nudge her awake and she'd be alert.

I don't know how long it was until I perceived noise, but I did. Arianna was still sleeping next to me, but my head flew up at the sound of footsteps approaching. And not just one set. It sounded like two, but I couldn't be sure. There was too much scuffling. Either way, I shook Arianna gently, holding my finger up to my lips. She mumbled almost inaudibly initially before she spotted my silencing gesture.

With a glance at either side of us, I made sure Arianna and I were fully submerged into the shadows. We exchanged a curious glance moments before the door burst open, having heard the click from the lock. I reached out to clutch her hand. Mine was abruptly clammy in hers as she straightened her back.

Max – Aidan – someone was thrown to the ground. He scrambled to his feet but the door swung shut and the other person fiddled with the lock. I presume Aidan was the one now in the room with us and Max had trapped him with us because I could see the sweeping hair but not distinguishable features. He kicked at the door, hollering at his brother as Arianna and I clutched hands and watched ardently.

Then I realised it was Max who held the bars from the outside and leaned in close to Aidan. Even from here I could perceive the smirk that toyed at his lips. He flickered his glance over Aidan's shoulder to where Arianna and I were, but Aidan didn't turn around. They focused on one another, glaring daggers. Then Max bone-chillingly threatened Aidan, his voice low.

"I should have finished what I started a long time ago."

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Author's Note:

NBJVSNKVNKDS AND NOW AIDAN!!!! :((((( You guys think they'll all make it out alive??? Only three more chapters and an epilogue remaining!!!!! :(((((

PS I've published a new story called BREAKING POINT so make sure you guys check it out please! It's on my profile and and I think you guys would really enjoy it! I'd greatly appreciate it if you checked it out!!

Thank you :) x