Under Illusion: Day 16

Word Count: 96,018

Summary of Events:

Dallis was woken in the night by some men from Bentley's gang who needed her to help them disable the GPS tracker on Trace's truck. The following morning, as a result, the black car duels behind them came to an end, as Dallis suspected Trace's employers no longer knew where Trace was once their car had been forced off the road. She and Trace travelled through New Mexico into Arizona, where Dallis was instructed that they were to leave the I-10 and head south on Arizona State Route 80, toward Tombstone, with signage of a monastery approaching causing Trace to suggest that maybe they should get some prayers said for their souls before they died, which Dallis didn't think was necessary — mostly because she didn't want to die…

Excerpt of the Day:

She watched silently as the signage telling them where the monastery was — hidden behind trees that Dallis supposed subsisted off the precious water they got when the San Pedro River ran, as if there was any groundwater it was probably far too deep for their roots to reach — passed without Trace decelerating and pulling in to get the monks to offer prayers for him.

If she was honest, Dallis wasn’t really sure what good it would’ve done. She didn’t know all that much about most religions, but she did know that most religions inspired a significant amount of devotion from their followers, if they didn’t outright demand the devotion, which meant that it probably wasn’t likely that any deity would really appreciate people trying to get the perks offered to the religiously devoted only at the last minute.

Part of her wondered if Trace had come to the same conclusion, and thus had elected to carry on past the monastery. Either that or he’d probably thought of the car that was still following them, and probably wouldn’t have been too pleased if they’d turned into the monastery.

“I would’ve preferred my sister killing me than this,” Trace said, his voice sounding a little emotion-choked.

Dallis looked at him, his eyes looked glassy. “Why?”

“She would’ve killed me in my sleep,” Trace replied. “I would’ve had no chance to suspect it. This… knowing is killing me.”

“I don’t want to give up hope that it won’t happen,” Dallis said.

“Why?” Trace asked, sounding somewhat upset.

“Because,” Dallis replied, tears coming to her own eyes. “Because I couldn’t bear it. I would feel like a failure. I would’ve done what I was told, but not what I wanted.”

“You really care that much?” Trace asked.

Dallis looked at him to see he was looking at her with almost desperate tear-filled eyes.

“Yes,” Dallis replied. “I’m not supposed to care for you, I know, but I can’t help it. I don’t even care if my brothers think me crazy, but I’d get them to come help me to get you out of there alive if I can’t do it on my own.”

“What good is that going to do?” Trace asked.

“They’re in Tucson,” Dallis replied. “They’re probably not really all that far away.”

“Do you think they’d come?” Trace asked.

“My older brother’s been fussing over me worse than my father ever did,” Dallis replied. “He’d come in a heartbeat. Then he’d call me crazy when he gets here and finds out why I want him.”

“He’s scared you’re going to get hurt?” Trace asked.

“Very,” Dallis replied. “But considering that this is the first time I’ve done something like this at all — forget alone — I’m not really surprised.”

“And you think they’d do what it takes to keep me alive for your sake?” Trace asked.

“Yes,” Dallis replied.

“Do you think they’d succeed?” Trace asked.

“Yes,” Dallis replied.

“I hope you’re right,” Trace swore.

Dallis nodded. She hoped she was right too, but she didn’t honestly know how much resistance she and her brothers might find themselves up against.