She thought about lying, but couldn’t come up with a way to exploit a lie, so she decided on the truth. “He’s keeping an eye on the Hounds,” she said. “You know about the Hounds, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I know about the Hounds. But where is he?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “He drives around a little. Checks the perimeter.”

He aimed for her head. “Where is he?”

Amber swallowed. “Over that way.” She jerked her head to show him.

“Then we’re going in the opposite direction,” the man said. He motioned to the car. “In you get. Go on. No, the driver’s side.”

“What?”

“You’re gonna drive us right up to those Hounds, and I’m gonna sit beside you and keep this gun pointed straight at your gut.”

“I can’t drive.” She held up her hands. “I can’t grip the wheel.”

“What?” He shook his head. He looked furious. “What the hell did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything,” Amber replied. “It was a guy like you, someone who wanted to take me back to the Shining Demon. He did this.”

“Shit.” The man stared at her. He started chewing his lip. “Shit. Well, I can’t drive. I gotta keep the gun on you.”

“Don’t know what you want me to do about it.”

“Shut up,” he said. “Shut up and let me … Okay, right, Plan B. We walk outta here.”

“Walk out of town? That’s miles.”

“You think I’m happy about it? Walk ahead of me. We stay away from anyone we see, you understand? If you try to be sneaky and alert someone to what’s going on, I kill them, you dig? Get going.”

They got to the park and cut across it, staying out of sight of the kids and their parents. Every minute or so the man would issue another instruction to steer clear of houses or roads or people walking their dogs. They got to an old walking track and stayed on it for a while.

“So who are you?” Amber asked.

“I don’t recall saying anything about small talk.”

“This isn’t small talk,” she said. “I think I deserve to know the name of the man who’s going to deliver me to the Hounds.”

She heard the smirk in his voice. “Yeah, maybe. Name’s Phil Daggett – though most people know me as the Yukon Strangler.”

“Serial killer?”

“There is not a name for what I am.”

“You a friend of Elias Mauk, then?”

“He’s never had the privilege of meeting me. But he will. When this is over and I get the power I want, they’ll all wanna meet me.”