Page 41 of Body Tox

His surfer-boy appearance did not match Alaska at all. Was he from the lower forty-eight or something?

“You from around here?” I couldn’t help but ask. Mindless chatter was better than silence.

“Nah. my pops is, but I’m visiting from the one and only Sun City.”

I wracked my brain for any information on the states below me. I really only knew Alaska. I was born here, raised by a multitude of nannies and paid-off teachers, and had workedhere since then and that shit with…him. Fuck, I would probably die here.

I thought about my past. The painful scars that covered my mind…I usually kept hidden so well, almost as much as the scars on my body.

At this point, I’d lost count of how many were from him or my own hands. He was the first man I’d allowed into my heart and the last.

Cali was always there for me, holding me close when the tears would cease to stop flowing. That monster hadn’t deserved my tears. He didn’t deserve to break me. And yet, even to this day, the thought of being alone with him made my palms sweaty and my heart race.

Echo, You thought you ran from me, but just remember I am letting you go. When I want to have you back, I will. I own you.

His words echoed in my head, his threat always hanging over my soul like a gauntlet. It had been three years—three years of running, three years of surviving, three years of getting stronger.

When he found me again, I would be ready, and I would kill him. I was weak back then, and that cost me my freedom.

Blood for blood.

“Florida, dude. You don’t have to think that hard. You need a drink or something?”

I shook my head from my thoughts. Catching my reflection in the rearview mirror, I realized why Florida said what he had. My breathing was unsteady, and my face was as pale as a ghost.

“Yeah…” I said, trying to laugh it off. “AK could use some of that sunshine.”

The man chortled the kind of laugh you’d expect from a moron who says dog like ‘dawwhhhg’ and blasted Bon Jovi on the radio the rest of the trip.

He didn’t speak after that, and I looked out the window, trapped in the past of my mind.

When we arrived at the park, I threw some cash in the passenger seat and jumped out. There was no need for a goodbye.

A cell phone was sitting on the park bench, the light on the screen glowing green. The phones were burner phones and only ever served the purpose of one conversation. I picked it up and dialed the only number listed. The warped vocals that switched from feminine to masculine AI were always eerie and staticky.

“Code name?” the voices said.

I sighed, annoyed. “Codename, Wraith.”

“Hello, Echo. What information do you seek?”

I cleared my throat. “Information on Asher Ballard.”

“Asher Ballard…” The voices filtered through the databases, the whirring warped tones glitching as the systems searched. “Target marked for execution. Executor assigned…Codename Wraith.”

I rolled my eyes, wishing for once that this computer response bullshit would be human. If it was human, they certainly knew how to be annoying as shit.

“Information on Asher Ballard’s life.” I corrected. “Reason for execution order.” There was silence, static, and more flipping through vocal tones.

“Asher Ballard…Gravestone number two-three-seven, Plot-B, location…St. Margarette.”

I cursed. Why was this man considered dead? Was the man I had the real Asher Ballard? Was it a twin? A fake?

I thought about his story with the foster sibling having committed suicide.

“Give me information on orphanages listed within one hundred miles.”

Static…pause…

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