Runner's Moon: Yarrolam Read Online Free Page B

took the cell from the bag, activated it, and placed a call.
                “Aaron? It’s Liam. Call me at this number.”
                Hanging up, he dialed a second number.
                “Aaron? It’s Liam. Call me at this number,” he repeated and hung up again.
                She gave him a questioning look.
                “I called his personal cell and the office,” Yarrolam answered. “You probably noticed he didn’t answer either one.”
                She gave a loud sigh. “What do we do now?”
                “Well, we can’t go back to Aaron’s place. Or mine. They’re probably under surveillance.”
                “By whom? Who’s watching them?” Cherron drew a hand through her hair. “This is unreal. Who were those men? What did they mean, thirty-five thousand? That man said Aaron owed him thirty-five thousand dollars.”
                “And they said it’s his first payment,” Yarrolam reminded her. He looked at his hand resting on the steering wheel, the other holding the disposable phone in his lap. In the semi-darkness, they were human hands again. Although he couldn’t see any blood on them, he could smell it. The human-like skin was covering the worst of it.
                “Liam?”
                “What?”
                “Let’s find some place to spend the night. Hopefully we’ll be able to think more clearly come morning.”
                He nodded. She was right. They could keep running, but it wouldn’t solve their problem.
                “Liam, we need to tell the police what happened.”
                “That…may be a problem.”
                “Why? How?”
                “I attacked those men. For that alone, they could arrest me.”
                “They attacked us first!” she countered.
                “The police may not see it that way. Besides, if they find any of those men, it’ll be my word against theirs. Cherron, if they arrest me, it could leave you vulnerable for someone else to come after you. Plus, we have no idea what kind of trouble Aaron is in.” Yarrolam gripped the phone so tightly, he almost crumpled it. Looking her full in the face, he dropped his voice. “You have to trust me when I tell you, going to the police isn’t going to help Aaron. Or us.”
                “Oh, and you think just the two of us are going to be able to do what the cops can’t? What do you suggest we do, then? Keep running?”
                Rubbing a hand over his face, he glanced out the front windshield. “For now, let’s go with your idea. Let’s get a room somewhere and let clearer heads prevail in the morning.”
                “I’d rather go to the police station now,” she insisted. “Aaron could be dead in the morning!”
                “I don’t think so. Cherron, the more I think on it, the more I believe he deliberately sent me to pick you up at the airport to keep us out of harm’s way.”
                She scowled at him. “Are you saying he knew those men were coming after him?” She reached for the door handle to exit the car. He reached out and grabbed her by the upper arm. Not hard, but enough to detain her momentarily.
                “Cherron, wait.”
                “We have to help him! We have to tell the police!”
                “Tell them what? ” Yarrolam almost yelled. “That three men accosted us in a restaurant parking lot with a cryptic message?”
                “They were going to kidnap me!”
                “Yes, and I crippled one of them and nearly killed the other one! Who do you think the police are going to make their number one person of interest when they can’t find Aaron? Say Aaron’s already dead. No, no, listen to