Dark City

67.

The highway felt like an infinite thread leading them to Hell. Nathan asked Lacey for the third time where they were going.

"Pine Barrens."

He'd really lost it. She thought maybe she could make him forget what he'd seen. "Listen. I have a hundred thousand dollars in the trunk of my car. If we go now, we can make a clean break. You and me."

"You stole the dragon's horde."

"We'll drive south. There's nothing for us here."

"I have to save Alex," he said. Lacey looked at the gun he was holding. She wished she hadn't loaded it. She'd have never shot him anyway. The gun shimmered like wet glass in the low light coming off the dash.
"I killed Hypatia. Jacob too."

"I know. Don't blame yourself. I triggered you. I wanted you to kill them—"

"Why?"

"Because they deserved it."

Nathan pulled a switchblade out of his pocket and held it to her throat.

"You're not really Lacey," he cried. "Lacey isn't evil. Lacey wouldn't trick me."

"Nathan. Put that down. I'm taking you to Tom and Alex."

"Pull over. Now."

Nathan pressed the sharp edge harder against her throat. As a trickle of blood rolled down from a cut, Lacey pulled off, parking and gripping the wheel to stop her hands from shaking.

"I could have left on my own, Nathan. I didn't have to come back for you," she cried. "Dammit, Nathan. Trust me when I tell you they deserved it. And now we got Liam's go-money."

"You did it for money?"

"It's more complicated than that."

"Why did you need them dead to get his money?"

"I had to get close to Liam and I couldn't do it with Savannah pulling his strings. Look. This is our only chance. If you don't leave with me, you'll be charged with murder. It's only a matter of time."

"Is he going to hurt Alex and Tom?"

Lacey knew better than to affirm what was obvious. Clutching the little blade like a dagger, Nathan aimed the point at her aorta.

"They were junkies, Nathan! They'd have been dead in a year anyway. I just sped things along. We gotta go, baby. Put all this behind us."

Nathan pulled her earlobe taut. The blade slipped right her cartilage and sent a stream of blood flowing.

She screamed. Nathan grabbed Lacey by her hair, his knife never leaving the side of her face as she started driving again. "Take me to them. Unless you're just driving in the dark to stall. Unless you don't even know where they are. In which case, you should just tell me so I can slay you here and now."

Nathan kept seeing the Lacey he remembered from before, the red-haired angel who teased him, seduced him with her songs and smiles.

"I know the way. It's the place Liam's been hiding out from the cops. We're almost there."

She pulled onto the dirt roads of a forest. The vehicle bounced on the uneven terrain and his headlights lit up the trees. In these last few minutes, Lacey tried to explain everything to Nathan. It was her final, fleeting plea for forgiveness.