Page 99 of Captured Immune

We exit the ticket booth as Trey slips the tickets into his sweatpants pocket. Then he smiles down at me. “You still hungry?”

I hike our backpack higher up my shoulders. “Starving.”

“Me too. Our bus won’t leave for another twenty minutes. Let’s get something to eat.”

The building next to the ticket office is a mini food court. Square tables are scattered around the center area and blissful-looking food stands are lined up around the exterior. The options range from burgers to pizza to Chinese and more. At the end sits a little shop filled with candies, bottled drinks, and souvenirs.

It doesn’t take us long to decide on something. We’re so hungry, everything sounds good. Together, we join the short line for Panda Express. Not long later, we have two Styrofoam containers of Chinese takeout in hand. We pick the closest table and sit on opposite ends to devour our meal.

“Mmm,” I moan as I have my first bite. “This is the most amazing Chinese food in the world.”

Trey stuffs his face as he nods. “Heaven is what this is.”

I’m halfway done with my lo mein when I ask, “Did you buy all those tickets to throw them off our trail, or are we going somewhere other than Vegas?”

“Still Vegas.”

“How did you know which cities to buy tickets for?”

Trey scoops up a spoonful of his fried rice. “I picked cities that have Chinatowns, because every Chinatown has a Healer. Hopefully, if they’re tracking us, and I’ll bet they are, they’ll have a good time trying to figure out which Chinatown we?—”

Something behind me catches Trey’s attention. His eyes go wide as he drops his plastic fork. Under his breath, he mutters, “Fuck.”

I freeze and resist the urge to glance behind me. “Are they here?”

“No,” he whispers. “Look.”

My chair squeaks against the floor as I spin around. I follow Trey’s gaze to a small TV hanging from the wall. I gasp as a female news anchor stares into the camera, saying words I can’t hear, while a picture of me is shown beside her head.

The closed captions read, “...twenty-two-year-old, Arella ‘Ari’ Rance, who was reported missing by a friend yesterday. The friend says Rance hasn’t answered her phone for a few days, which is unlike the missing woman. When the friend stopped by Rance’s apartment, the place had been broken into and Rance was nowhere to be found.”

The captions continue as a photo of Trey replaces mine. “Police say their number-one suspect is Rance’s most recent ex-boyfriend, Trey Grant. Grant has not been seen or heard from since around the same time Rance went missing. Grant has a violent criminal record, including two counts of disorderly conduct and one misdemeanor.”

The news anchor continues as Trey’s photo slides off screen. “This morning, we had the opportunity to interview one of Grant’s ex-girlfriends. This is what she had to say.”

My already racing heart thumps faster as the screen changes to video footage of a blonde woman being interviewed outside a red house. I recognize her right away.

Someone holds a microphone up to Jess’s moving lips as the captions read, “Trey and I have been on and off for the past few years. Whenever he gets too angry, he pops me in the face, and I leave. Weeks later, he’ll beg for me to come back with promises that he’ll change. But you know men like him; they never do.”

The screen returns to the news anchor with another picture of Trey. “We’ve asked close friends of Grant for comments. None have agreed. If you have any information that can help the police locate twenty-two–year-old Ari Rance, please call this tip line.”

I turn back to Trey, who drops his head into his hands. I reach over the table to rub his shoulder. “It’s okay. When this is all over, I’ll clear your name.”

“I hate her,” he says under his breath. “I fucking hate her. I’ve never laid a goddamn hand on her like that, and she’s gonna go tell a news station that I abused her for years? Is she fucking serious?”

I draw my hand back and rest it over the table. “Are you really more mad about that than the world thinking you’ve kidnapped me?”

“Kind of.” He huffs out a frustrated breath. “I have it in me to kidnap you, but I wouldneverabuse a woman like that.”

“Okay,Iunderstand what you mean when you say you’ve got it in you to kidnap me. I know you’d do it if it meant protecting me, but please, if anyone else asks, especially the police, don’t say that out loud.”

Trey offers me a tender smile as he puts his hand over mine on the table and squeezes it. “Thank you for understanding me. That isexactlywhat I mean. Now let’s finish eating. Once we’re done, we’re going shopping.”

24

ARELLA

“You look good in a hat,”I say as we claim the farthest seat in the back of the bus. We’re some of the first people to board. I slide in next to the window, then set our backpack at my feet.

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