Page 74 of The Weekend Getaway

“Last night, Alex came to my room to talk to me,” Jason said. “He told me he’d just come from talking to you.”

Phil stared at the ground, tracking the path of a line of ants crawling along a thin jungle vine. He hadn’t known Alex had left his room and then gone to talk to Jason.

I guess I’ll see you in the morning then.

Phil had thought Alex was going back to bed.

“Alex wanted to get me on board with his new plan.”

“His new plan?”

“He wanted to kill you,” Jason said, his tone dispassionate, lifeless. “He said he needed me to help him make that happen. I refused. Of course, Alex was shocked because he’s used to me doing what he tells me to do. But I couldn’t help him kill you … because I was planning to kill him.”

Phil wasn’t sure if he believed Jason, or not. The guy wasweak, emotional, and afraid of his own shadow. The idea of him killing Alex was implausible. Unbelievable.

“Shocking, right?” Jason chuckled, a sound devoid of mirth. “Alex is my best friend. My business partner. But, you know what else he is? Or, was, I should say. Alex was a sadistic, malignant narcissist who got what he wanted through manipulation, deception, and intimidation. He didn’t care about anyone except himself. He had no friends. He had people like me, Chris, and Mia, who did his bidding. He used us. We were sheep. Cattle.”

Twisting his wrists, ignoring the pain, Phil tried to loosen the rope.

“But, what’s that saying?” Jason asked. “You can’t be fooled without your participation. I knew I was just a pawn to Alex, and he was the king, and Mia was the queen. Everyone knows that the pawn is expendable and must be willing to sacrifice himself. The queen must protect the king and keep him out of danger so the king can stay behind the scenes, controlling the game.”

As Jason rambled about chess, Phil continued struggling to free himself.

“But, the pawn can also ascend to the rank of a queen,” Jason said, his smile grim. “And at that point, can influence the outcome of the game. And that’s what I’m doing. I’m influencing the outcome of the game.”

Reaching his hand toward Phil, Jason ripped the gray electrical duct tape from Phil’s mouth. Crying out from the sudden, raw, stinging pain around his lips, Phil coughed as he scrambled to position himself upright.

“A pawn doesn’t become a queen in order to get rid of the king,” Phil said, his voice low and hoarse, almost unrecognizable from lack of use.

Jason frowned. “Alex was an unworthy king. He was brutal and ruthless and deserved to be stripped of his power and executed.”

Phil scoffed. “You’re a disloyal pawn.”

Jason backhanded him across the face.

Dizzy from the blow, which caused him to bite his tongue, drawing blood, Phil shook his head.

“You don’t know a thing about me,” Jason said. “You don’t know what Alex put me through. The things he made me do. The things I had to do. The lying to our clients. Stealing from them. I became a lawyer to help people, but I ended up hurting them. Because Alex would come up with these grand plans. And I had to go along with them, or he would expose me. He would tell everyone what I’d done …”

“What are you talking about?”

Jason looked away. “Doesn’t matter. I was telling you how you ended up in this cave. Well, last night, Alex and I argued about killing you. He wanted me to do it. No blood on his hands, of course.”

“Protect the king,” Phil said. “That’s what queens do.”

Scowling, Jason said, “I told him I wasn’t going to do it. We argued some more. And then, after he left my room, I followed him … and then I stabbed him.”

“And you cut his head off,” Phil said.

Jason said, “I had to make sure he was dead.”

Phil snorted. “And then what did you do?”

Exhaling, Jason said, “I didn’t do anything. I panicked. Couldn’t believe I’d killed Alex. And at first, I was terrified. And sad. But, the more I looked at him, lying there, bleeding on the rug, the more I felt … “

“Relieved?” Phil supplied, wincing as pain shot through his wrists. He hadn’t given up trying to loosen the restraints, despite the pain. Keeping Jason talking, ranting, and rambling about chess and his hatred of Alex, might give him the time he needed to free himself.

“I felt in control of my life for the first time,” Jason said. “And that’s when I realized what I had to do.”

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