Children of Paranoia by Trevor Shane Page B

thing. Catherine, or whatever her name was, came looking for me. I was the primary target.
    â€œWe can’t fight them, Michael,” Jared responded. “There are three of them that we know about. There may be more. There are definitely only three of us. Plus, they came here looking for us, so we know that they’re going to be armed. Are you armed, Michael?” Jared was just stating the facts.
    â€œI’ve got my scuba knife,” Michael said, resignation creeping into his voice. One knife between us with a two-inch blade, it wasn’t enough.
    Jared shook his head. “Well, I guarantee you that they’ve got more than a scuba knife. They’re on a hunting expedition. You go looking for elephants, you bring an elephant gun.”
    â€œJared’s right,” I finally chimed in. It’s not what I wanted to say. If I was going to go down, I didn’t want to have to do it alone, but Jared was right. The smart move here was to split up and run. Get out of the restaurant, off the island, and as far away as we possibly could. It was becoming clear to me that vacationing so close to our last hits was a mistake. There was no reason to make another one.
    â€œFine. Let’s pick a meeting point, though,” Michael conceded. “We need to check in with each other once we’ve all escaped.”
    â€œWe’ll meet at the Borgata in Atlantic City,” Jared said. “If we can get off the island, we can get to AC. Meet at the hundred-dollar blackjack tables at three A.M. Anybody doesn’t make it by then, we leave without them. There’s only one way off this island. If we’re not off by then, it probably means we’re not getting off.”
    â€œOkay,” I said. “Jared leaves first. You get up go to the bathroom and keep going. They’re unlikely to get suspicious until the second person leaves. That’ll buy you time to figure out how to get us out of Jersey and as far away from here as possible.” Jared nodded. It was almost imperceptible.
    â€œSee you guys at three A.M.,” he said. With that, without another word, Jared got up, looked me in the eyes for a second, and walked toward the men’s room. His eyes were steel. There was no doubt in them. After about two minutes a young guy with dark hair got up from the bar to go to the bathroom.
    â€œThere it is,” Michael said. “The dark-haired guy there is the fourth. He’s going to check on Jared. I think that’s all of them.” Michael looked at me. “What now?” I knew what he meant. He meant, now that Jared is gone, what’s the plan? Running just wasn’t Michael’s style. He wasn’t going to do it unless I told him to.
    â€œI don’t know,” I said, trying to devise a plan in my head. Jared was the planner. Jared was gone. “We’ve got to move before the dark-haired guy gets back from the john and lets the rest of them know that Jared isn’t in there. We’ve got to go together or the second person to leave is a sitting duck. And we can’t just walk out of this place.”
    â€œIt’s like the end of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. ” Michael smiled. I don’t know how he did it. Michael had something I never had. “I know what to do. Once we get outside, I’m going left and you go right. But until we get out the front door, follow my lead.” I nodded, relieved that Michael was taking the reins. Michael stood up and started walking toward Catherine. I had no idea what he had planned, but I followed him.
    â€œHey,” Michael called out to Catherine before he even reached the bar. “Aren’t you the woman who walked out on my friend last night?” He walked right up to her and put his left arm around her waist. “My buddy here’s been busted up about it all day.” They weren’t expecting this. Catherine shot a frightened glance at the gray-haired guy