Prologue

Sand. Miles of brown sand.

This was the Sonoran Desert in Arizona…or maybe this was Mexico by now. Nathan didn’t know, and he didn’t care either.

Jamie Adams, his best friend for as long as he could remember, walked next to him, her hand shielding her eyes from the sun. Not that there was much to see here anyway.

Just sand interrupted by the occasional rock face that jutted up from the landscape like brown warts and winding canyons that cut through the terrain. They offered some protection from the occasional sandstorm and the scorching heat, and that was pretty much all they were good for. If it wasn’t for the fact that they had to hike miles more than they would have like just to get around a canyon, he would have been grateful for them.

It wasn’t like it mattered.

This was a suicide.

Or a more optimistic way of putting it, a dream. A longshot dream that would kill them. They’d been hiking around this wasteland for two weeks. Food had run out two days ago. The canteens were drying up much faster than they had expected.

Once that was gone, Nathan figured that they had about two days.

It wasn’t exactly the way he’d figured that he’d die. Searching for water in a desert and shriveling up like a dead plant. What about Jamie?

He didn’t want to watch her die.

But he didn’t want her to have to watch him die either.

Neither option was a good one. Why did they have to do this? Two foolish teenagers on a search for a man who the government couldn’t even find if they wanted to. Two outcasts who took an old man’s word. And it was going to kill them.

The old man’s words haunted him still. You live for something, or you die for nothing. Those are your options.

This was a pathetic waste. Looking for someone who didn’t want to be found. Not only did Nathan sign his own death warrant, he signed Jamie’s. For a pathetic hunt for one man.

She’d been so amazing.

Nathan stole a glance at her. Her hair was black and wind-blown, she’d stopped caring about it a long time ago. Her brown eyes showed the fierce independence and resilience that had been forged by years of living with and abusive father. She’d shot and killed him with his own gun when she was fifteen and run away. That was three years ago.

Nathan had had grown up on the street. Never met his dad. His mom was an alcoholic, and died in front of his eyes when she was poisoned by the beer she loved more than him. He’d been in and out of foster homes before finally running at the age of thirteen.

They’d run into each other on the streets of Denver, Colorado survived together for years.

And there short legacy was going to end slowly and stupidly in the middle of the Arizona desert. Why?

Because we’re looking for a guy who doesn’t want to be found.

Nathan felt like hitting something. Pound a fist through one of these canyon walls. Anything to vent.

He felt a tug on his shirt. Jamie. She always did that to get his attention. She hated talking to people, from what he could gather, her dad would slap her across the mouth whenever she made a noise. So she almost never talked, and when she did, you always listen.

He looked over at her. She just pointed.

Nathan followed her finger, it was aimed at the top of the canyon. A man stood there.

He wore a pair of aged jeans, a black sleeveless shirt, and a pair of aviator sunglasses that hid his eyes. Dark brown hair swayed slightly in the wind.

The man raised his right hand and motioned for them to follow him.

This was the man they’d come to see.

This was Justin Davis.

Reviews

[Kalen Luciano]

I loved this and I'm excited to read more. Keep up the great work.

[John Ryan]

this is very deep and i love it

i cant wait to read what happens next

good job!