The alarm had been the Pruitts' idea. On top of the tracker, they'd fitted one to the car Aria and I shared, a second safeguard to keep us inside the safe distance.
The next second Ernest yanked the wire loose and hurled the whole thing out the window.
It hit a boulder and shattered.
"Piece of junk. Hurting my ears."
The driver's eyes went wide, but he didn't dare say a word, his face tight with panic.
I looked at Ernest, cold.
"I'm telling you for the last time. Turn around now, or you won't be able to carry the blame for this."
Ernest sneered back at me.
"Keep up the act. I spent years abroad. There's no con, no swindle I haven't seen."
"Running into me, that's your bad luck. Today I'm exposing what you really are. Call it a homecoming gift for my Aria."
"You'd better come clean. Otherwise, once we get where we're going, I'll let you sample the methods I picked up overseas."
I held his gaze, cold.
"You'll regret this."
Ernest's lip curled.
"I've lived my whole life without regretting a single thing."
Just then the satellite phone built into the car rang.
The driver glanced at Ernest, then carefully eased it to his ear. Aria's personal doctor came through, voice frantic.
"Joseph, where are you? Bring Zachery back, now!"
"Ms. Pruitt's condition is very bad!"
The driver's face went taut. "We—"
Before he could finish, Ernest snatched the phone and cut the call.
It rang again. He hung up again.
"Once I've shown everyone what this parasite really is, there's still time to call back."
The driver owed the Pruitts more than a little, and now he forgot his own fear, pressing the point. "Mr. Henson, if the satellite line is ringing like this, something's gone seriously wrong on Ms. Pruitt's end. Please, turn around, or you really will cause a disaster!"
The words were barely out when the dagger drew a line across his cheek.
Blood dripped onto the steering wheel, and the driver broke into a cold sweat.
"When this young master acts, he doesn't need your mouth running."
"And I'm doing this for the Pruitts. Not doing it is what I'd regret."
"Keep driving."
By now we'd pushed into the deserted wilderness outside the city, more than eight thousand meters from the conference site.
The expert had said it plainly once: the safe distance maxed out at a hundred meters. Right now we were eighty times past it.
Ten more minutes, and the car finally rolled to a stop.
A bodyguard hauled me out and dumped me on the ground.
Ernest stood over me, studying me, amused.
"You won the Pruitts' trust. You must've gotten a lot out of it."
"Besides my studies abroad, I picked up a few ways of making a man suffer."
"Don't rush. I'll get you to spill the whole swindle, piece by piece."
But my mind was somewhere else.
We were at least ten thousand meters from Aria now.
I could feel it clearly, the soul and spirit that completed her life-soul, already returned to my body.
Aria's life had entered its countdown.
Still, after clinging to her so long, I could tell the returned soul and spirit weren't whole yet.
The moment all of it left her, she would die on the spot.
As long as I came to no harm and got back at once, she could still be saved.
I looked at Ernest and warned him again.
"Take me back. Or your Pruitts are finished."
"Begging didn't work, so now you're threatening me?"
Ernest sneered and waved a hand.
A fist slammed into my stomach.
Then another. And another.
Ernest stood to the side, jeering.
"You dog, you're nothing, and you've got the nerve to threaten me."
