The Executioner

Eighty-One

They drove down Yukon Avenue and turned left into Artesia Boulevard. Darnell Douglas was at the wheel. Ryan Turner sat comfortably in the passenger’s seat, his eyes studying the car’s interior.

‘It feels like a very smooth ride,’ Ryan said casually.

‘Oh, it is. This is a V8, 6.2-liter engine as smooth as aged whiskey.’ Darnell’s eyes stole a peek at Ryan. ‘Do you drink, Ryan?’

‘I occasionally enjoy a good whiskey, yeah.’

‘Oh, you’ll enjoy this more, believe me.’

‘I’m sure.’

Darnell knew it was time to play the cool salesman. ‘I’ll tell you what, Ryan.’ He pulled over to the side of the road. ‘I’m not supposed to do this, because we haven’t properly filled in a form back at the office, but you need to drive this puppy to really get a feel for it.’

Ryan’s eyebrows lifted in surprise.

The ‘nice salesman who breaks the rules’ routine always worked for Darnell. It was a buddy-bonding thing. Give and take trust.

‘We can hook onto San Diego Freeway and you can let it rip for a while.’

‘You sure?’ Ryan looked uncertain.

‘Yeah, why not? You look like a pretty decent and responsible guy. I think I can trust you.’

Ryan held Darnell’s gaze for a few seconds.

‘Seriously, if this car doesn’t blow your mind, no car will.’

‘OK.’ Ryan nodded before unlocking the passenger’s door and walking the longest way around, buying himself a few seconds.

‘This one’s in the bag,’ Darnell thought.

‘So what do you do, Ryan?’ he asked as Ryan took his seat behind the wheel.

‘I’m a doctor.’ He buckled up.

‘Wow.’

‘I’m an anesthetist.’

‘Ooh.’ Darnell shook his whole body in a shiver.

‘Something wrong?’

Darnell made a bitter face. ‘I really don’t like needles, you know? They freak the fuck out of me.’

Ryan’s hand wrapped around the syringe in his pocket and he smiled.

‘Yeah…’ He stared into Darnell’s eyes. His voice guttural. ‘I already knew that.’

They say that when it comes to danger and fear, human beings are just like any other animal. We can sense it. Some primitive instinct inside alerts us. And something inside Darnell was screaming for him to get the hell out of that car.

Ryan pressed the central locking button and smiled. ‘Guess what?’ he whispered. ‘I know what scares you to death.’