Infinite lives
Chapter Fifteen
Scarlett
Kennedy nodded. “Clever fucker.”
“What did I miss?” I stared at the screen.
“Infinite lives from the game BloodSand, remember?”
“The game you were playing at the office?” My memory fired, cutting through the haze of fear and anxiety that had covered me since his house.
“Exactly. He’s giving us directions to him. This is the starting point.” Kennedy scanned the area.
Wait. How does a game play into directions to his place?” I rubbed my temples, trying to get my brain back in action.
“The code for the game is based on a four-way directional pad—left, right, up, down. We can adapt it for the streets and go from there. But I don’t know which direction we should start out facing is the only problem.”
“North is probably the most logical. Though, if we get it wrong, I supposed we could just start over again until we got it right.”
“North. Good thinking.” Kennedy pulled into the parking area next to the burned-out warehouse and repositioned the car. “I’m going to assume each button press equates to a block.”
“I think that’s a good assumption.” A car passed through the intersection and my heart sped up. Was it thugs from the house? Were they going to try to kill us again?
“Hey, hey, Scarlett.” Kennedy put his palm on my cheek. “Everything’s okay. We’re okay.”
I leaned into his touch and tried to shake myself free of the fear. “Yes.”
“We’ll be at Carey’s in a minute. Then we can decompress.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not. But you will be.” He leaned back into the driver’s seat. “Okay, let’s get infinite.” Closing his eyes, he held his hands up as if he had a game controller in them. “Up, right, right, down, right, up, left, up, left, up.”
“So, up is north, down is south, and the others are self-explanatory.” I took a deep breath and couldn’t stop myself from looking over my shoulder one more time. Nothing there.
“Here we go.” He accelerated through the intersection, went one block, and then turned right. He continued following the instructions, repeating each direction as he came to a cross street. After what felt like five minutes of driving in circles, we stopped in front of another set of warehouses.
“Which one?” I studied each of the buildings. Two were lit; the other two dark.
“I don’t know. I’m guessing we followed the instructions correctly.”
“Does this mean we have infinite lives now?” Was that my voice? So weak and afraid?
“You’re safe, Scarlett. I promise.” Kennedy rested his hand on my thigh, the gentle pressure grounding me a bit.
We sat at the corner for a few moments, trying to guess which building was correct, when a metal garage door opened across the street. It was automatic, rolling up at a steady pace to a mechanical hum. As it ticked upward, the square of light pooling into the street grew larger.
My fingers went numb. “What if it’s a trap?”
“I don’t think that’s possible. No one knew about the video game.”
“What if those men are waiting in there? What if they already got Carey?” My fingers wrestled with each other, unsure of what to do.
“Scarlett, we have to take this chance, okay? I think it’s the right move. I think once we get inside, you’ll see that. Do you trust me?” His voice was calm, even, more authoritative than I’d ever heard it before.
I met his eyes. Something in them gave me more courage. “Yes.”
“I’ve got you. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“Okay.”
He squeezed my leg and left his hand there. Then he eased forward toward the open door.
I tensed, but he didn’t stop until we were inside and the door began its mechanical hum, rolling back down into place. We were in a garage, a car parked ahead of us and two motorcycles lined up next to it. The room took up only a small part of the warehouse, which seemed to be situated on at least half the block. A freight elevator with a naked bulb inside it was to the right, and a set of double doors were to the left.
“That’s Carey’s car.” Kennedy pulled his gun from beside his seat and clicked the safety off. “Let me check it out first.”
“Don’t leave me here.” I reached for the door handle.
“Wait. It’ll be safer. Here.” He handed me the keys. “If you hear or see anything suspicious, just back right the fuck out through the door.”
“No.” My fear turned into the indignation I’d used like armor my entire life. “You’re not leaving me here. I’m going with you. We do this together.”