The Odds - Jeff Strand Page 0,66

his handcuffs. Ethan’s arms flopped to his sides. Yes, the blood had come from them digging into his wrists, so right now he was thankful that there was no feeling in them.

“Good thing the cuffs weren’t locked,” she said. “I’d have had to shoot your hands off.”

Ethan wasn’t sure if she was joking or not. He didn’t care.

“Is everybody dead?” he asked.

“The drivers are still inside. Everybody else is dead or dying, as far as I know. Look, I need to get going. My fiancé could be in serious danger, and I can’t drag you around, so good luck to you.”

She hurried off.

Ethan inspected his wrists more closely. They were in bad shape but he didn’t need to rush off to the emergency room. If he wrapped them up he’d be fine for a while.

For now, all he could do is sit here helplessly until the feeling came back into his limbs.

The pins and needles feeling started soon. He wondered why it was called “pins and needles,” when either pins or needles alone would describe the sensation. Then he wondered why he was thinking about something so trivial. Was he losing more blood than he thought? He needed to stay laser-focused on the problem at hand.

Now the pins and needles were absolute agony, closer to the sensation of a homicidal maniac stabbing his arms and legs with a knife over and over and over. The pain was unreal. At least it would be over soon, as long as his ordeal hadn’t caused permanent damage.

The torture began to relent.

Finally he was able to crawl. He couldn’t tell if the man Lisa had shot was still alive—he wasn’t moving—but The Claw Man was still alive and conscious, though he wouldn’t be putting up much of a fight.

Ethan went over to Rick’s body, reached into his pocket, and took out his cell phone. He tapped at the screen. The phone was locked with face ID, but hopefully his face wasn’t mangled enough to stop it from working. Ethan held the phone up to his dead face, and the phone unlocked.

He called Jenny.

She answered immediately. “Hello?”

“It’s me.”

“Oh, thank God.”

“I know we’ve already been through this, but get out of the house. Get the kids in the car and just drive. Don’t call the police unless I tell you to. Just go.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“What’s happening?”

Ethan thought about his answer for a moment. “I think I’m about to hijack a plane.”

23

Ethan kind of wished he hadn’t shared that information with Jenny. It would generate a lot of very reasonable questions that he didn’t have time to answer right now.

“I’ll get the kids out of the house,” said Jenny, apparently deciding that ignorance was bliss for now.

“I’ll call you as soon as I can. I love you.”

“I love you.”

Ethan hung up. He either needed to cut off Rick’s head and bring it along, or disable the face ID on the phone, so he went with the latter.

He managed to stand up. He picked up The Claw Man’s and Christine’s guns. He assumed the van drivers had heard all of the shots, but he didn’t know if they were the kind of guys to flee, call for help, or prepare an ambush. He wished he could worry about them now, but he had a more pressing concern.

He crouched down next to The Claw Man, then pushed the barrel of one of the guns against his chin. “Take out your phone,” Ethan told him.

“You’re a dead man.”

“I said, take out your phone.”

“The boiling oil is nothing compared to what’s going to happen to you.”

“I need you alive,” said Ethan. “So if you don’t want me to shoot you in the ankle, take out your phone.”

The Claw Man shoved his bloody hand into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone.

“Call your partners. Tell them to end the game.”

“They won’t.”

“Then that will be really bad for you. I’d try to make a good case for it. Tell them to put everything on hold—and I mean everything, especially going after family members—and that you’ll be there to discuss it in person.”

The Claw Man tapped at his screen. “It’s not working,” he said.

“Wipe the blood off your fingers.”

The Claw Man wiped his fingers off on his pants, then tapped at the screen again.

“Put it on speaker,” Ethan told him.

“What the hell is going on?” asked a man on the other end.

“We’ve got a little bit of a situation here. I’m going to need you to put the game on pause. Everything,