I put the accelerator down as hard as I could, wishing I was driving something with balls, not this sensible sedan. Still, the empty desert highway flew under my wheels as I put distance between me and Claire.

How could she have overreacted like that? It isn’t like she didn’t know what I did. We had spent the whole ride over to the park talking about it. She had been supportive, trying to make me feel better about my choices and the things that I had done. Then all of a sudden, when confronted with the reality of what had only been words, she completely flipped. It was infuriating.

I drove with no destination in mind, just to drive. I didn’t want to head back to Vegas, so I turned west and drove toward Palm Springs. I could hole up in a little hotel there for a few days while I got things figured out. Claire was back with her father, maybe the two of them could get somewhere safe together. It was unlikely that anyone would find them there. And besides, how far would Kovalev go just to get some girl and a degenerate gambler? He was a vengeful guy, but at some point the cost wouldn’t be worth it. And he had already paid a fair bit. I had made sure of that.

Claire would be okay. They wouldn’t keep coming after her. She was smart enough to leave town for good, find somewhere safe, and make a new life. She deserved that. She probably deserved better than me, too. As I drove, the deep black of night gave way to a slate gray, the first signs of morning. Soon it would be purples and pinks and then the harsh, bright desert sun.

Something wasn’t sitting right with me, and it wasn’t just that the girl I thought I had connected with was sitting back in the park, angry with me. I went back to the night I had met her father. Something about it didn’t make sense.

It was early in my employment with Kovalev. I had been on the job a week or so. Jax took me out on a few assignments. He said it was to show me the ropes, but I knew it was to get the measure of me, to figure out how far I was willing to go and whether I could be trusted. We had gone on a few of these little outings and I could tell that Jax was starting to question my level of commitment, whether I had the stomach for the job. I knew I needed to show him something if I was going to get taken on. It also occurred to me that the termination policy in an outfit like Kovalev’s might be something more unpleasant than two weeks with pay. So I resolved myself to go above and beyond that night.

What was strange was the way Jax acted. Whenever we had been to visit a debtor, he had let me take the lead, looming in the background and giving me feedback when we were done. But when we went out that night, Jax was on the front foot.

“Good evening, David,” he said as he approached Claire’s father. I had never heard him address any target by their first name. It was like he knew this guy personally. He motioned me to hang back. He leaned in close to David, almost whispering in his ear. The guy’s face was ashen, filled with a terrible fear. Then Jax motioned me to come closer. The guy looked at me, but I could tell it wasn’t me he was afraid of, or himself he was afraid for. Jax must have been threatening Claire. Then Jax handed me a knife.

“Cut his hand. Give him a reminder he won’t be able to ignore.”

I swallowed hard, trying not to betray any hint of hesitation. I grabbed the hand, not looking at his face. He offered no resistance. It was like whatever Jax had told him had sapped his will entirely. I cut, drawing the blade across his palm in a smooth stroke. A line of red followed the glinting steel. When I let his hand go, he clasped his palm tight and then ran off.

“Don’t you forget what I told you!” Jax shouted after him.

Jax clapped me on the shoulder and told me I had done a good job. I had been so wrapped up in making sure I did what was expected that I hadn’t noticed how strange the encounter was. But now it was clear.

Claire’s father wasn’t just some deadbeat who owed Kovalev money. There was something else going on. Could he have something on him? Some information that could take him down? That could be a reason to keep Claire hostage, her life the price of his silence.

If that was the case, Kovalev would be freaking out that both Claire and her dad were missing. He wouldn’t stop at anything to find them. But how would he find them?

I stepped on the brake and made a hard u-turn across the double yellow lines, turning toward the brightening eastern horizon, and racing back to the park.

They would be tracking his car. They knew where he was.

And where Claire was.

They would be coming soon, if they weren’t there already.

I hoped I got there in time.