Page 64 of Into The Rabbit Hole

Shit, where could they have gone? Wade turned to rush into the house so he could retrieve Chloe’s address book. He was thinking he would call a few of her other friends and see if they’d seenthem.

But the white envelope on his doorstep stopped him in his tracks. Wes was behind him and he nearly collided intoWade.

Wade bent down and picked up the envelope. Hoping. He hoped against hope that the sick feeling that gurgled within him wasn’t right. He prayed this wouldn’t be anotherdrawing.

However, it was. And it was exactly what he feared. It was a drawing of Chloe and Taylor lying on the floor. Their bodies lifeless as it was surrounded by a pool of blood. That part had been colored in red. He dropped it andshrieked.

“No, please. Not them,” he cried, feeling like his world was about to rip inhalf.

Wes came up to him and picked up the paper. The blood drained from his face, literally drained from hisface.

“Look, Wade, there’s a number on the back. A phone number, and it says call me if you want to see themagain.”

Wade took the paper from him and read it, but he saw something else. After the phone number was the letterZ.

Zeek.

This was Zeek. Wade could have kicked himself. Zeek had been here. Right here in the last two hours and Wade hadn’t seenhim.

He took out his phone and dialed the number. Zeek answered after a fewrings.

“Jesus, Wade.” Zeek’s voice came alive into the phone with a sickening excitement that made Wade cringe. “I was wondering what could be taking you so damn long. I was beginning to think you didn’tcare.”

“Bastard, don’t fuck with me. Where arethey?”

“Feisty, feisty. That’s not how this works, my friend. You don’tdemand.”

“Zeek, I don’t care who you are. You’re dead when I see you,” Wadesnarled.

Wes had to grip his arm to calm him down. “Don’t make himangry.”

“Listen to your friend, Wade; this guy is the most sensible of all of you. Even I have to give him credit for helping you get out of prison; not even I thought of that bike ofyours.”

“Get to the fucking point, man. Where’s Taylor and Chloe? Where arethey?”

“With me, living their last few hours. But if you can get to them they may live. Depends on how I’mfeeling.”

“Where arethey?”

“Here’s how this works. Since you love games so much, let’s play a little one. We’ll call it Adrenaline.” What a joke. He was teasing him with his own ideas. Wade had christened Adrenaline. “Come and find me. Your first task when you get here is to transfer one billion dollars to me, and then…” Zeek started laughing like a maniac, as if he’d just heard something that was so funny he couldn’t stop laughing. “You may attempt to disable the bombs Taylor or Chloe have attached to them, set to go off in twohours.”

Wade gasped, covering his mouth. “You sick bastard. Why? Why have you taken them? Where do I know you from, Zeek? It’s not high school so don’t bullshitme.”

“Summer camp. I was the fat kid. The fat kid you made consistent fun of. The fat kid you humiliated to no end with your goony rich friends. You teased me for my weight and because I was poor. You caused me to spend most of my sophomore year having therapy because I was so depressed,” Zeek said in a cool, collectivevoice.

From the minute he’d said summer camp, Wade remembered him, he remembered everything. That was why he hadn’t recognized Zeek. It was because he’d lost a substantial amount of weight. Practically to the point where he wasunrecognizable.

Wade was terrible when he was younger. Summer camp days definitely saw the height of himself, where he was downright mean, callous, and had a nastystreak.

When Wade thought of himself back then, he was compelled to apologize, but then he thought of all Zeek had done. He killedMerissa.

Could some terrible teasing as teenagers be comparable to that?Hardly.

“You’re dead, Zeek. When I see you, you’re dead, and you’re going to wish this was fucking summercamp.”

Wes grasped onto his arm and shook his head, his eyes pleading with him to calm down, but he couldn’t. How could he? The man who killed Merissa had his sister and hisfiancée.

Zeek could kill them if he wanted. Just the thought weakened him, and he had that soul-crushing feelingagain.