CHAPTER 24

Ackerman laid the revolver on the table.

Alice Richards exchanged looks of terror with her two frightened children but tried to express to them without words that everything would be okay. Her own fear, however, was impossible to mask.

The weapon that she had once thought would be their savior, now appeared to be the instrument of their destruction. She wasn’t sure what scared her the most: the thought of being shot with the revolver, or the unknown game of which she was now an unwilling participant. Fighting back tears, she said, “What do you want from us?”

“I told you,” Ackerman said. “I wanna play a game. If you follow all of my rules and don’t try to cheat, I’ll let you and your children live to see the light of another sunrise. But if you break any of my rules...” Ackerman brought his other hand up to reveal a large knife. He placed the knife on the table next to the revolver. “Do you agree to my terms?”

“What choice do I have?” She wanted to spit in his face, but she knew that wouldn’t be good enough. She would have rather thrown scalding water in his face or maybe light him on fire and hit him with a truck. But she would play his game. She would do whatever she had to do to save her children.

Ackerman nodded. “You always have a choice, but I don’t think that you would find any of the alternatives satisfactory. The game is my version of Russian Roulette. I’m sure you’ve heard of it. The rules are as follows. The gun will have one bullet in it. I will place the bullet in the chamber and spin it. We will then each take a turn pulling the trigger with the gun pointed at our heads. You’ll point the gun and pull the trigger on the children’s turns. We will continue to do this until one of us is dead. The three remaining players get to live. If you or one of the children is the unfortunate loser, I will leave the other two unharmed. Either way, if you follow the rules, a minimum of two of you survive beyond this evening. Plus, you’ve got a one in four chance that I eat the bullet.”

She heard the words come from the man’s mouth, but she was in shock at what they meant. He didn’t intend to kill her or the children. He intended for them to kill themselves.

“You’re insane, and one day you’re gonna get what’s coming to you! You’re gonna burn.” This time she did spit on him, and although it was an impotent gesture, it made her feel better.

Ackerman wiped the spit from his face and said, “You’re probably right. And maybe I’ll find out soon. Either way, you are going to play my game. Do you agree to the rules?”

“Yes.”

“Very well. Let’s play.” He picked up the gun, and although he moved it below the rim of table where she couldn’t see it, she saw Ackerman remove one of the bullets from his pocket and bring it down to the weapon.

The eerie sound of the spinning chamber made her wonder if she had actually died in the hallway and was now a contestant on the most popular game show in Hell. Maybe Lucas was right when he thought that the boogeyman had crept into his room? Maybe Ackerman was more than just insane? Maybe he was evil incarnate, a real life creature of the night?

He slid the gun across the table, and it came to a perfect stop in front of her. “You go first,” he said.

She trembled all over. Now was her chance, and she knew that there would not be another. She had to act. She reached out to pick up the gun. She stared at it for a moment before grasping it. It had taken on an eerie luminescence that must have been a symptom of her head trauma.

Do it. Do it now. And she did.

She seized the gun and brought it to bear not against her own head, but at the man who had invaded her home, the man who had murdered her husband and intended to force her into an act of filicide, the man who had destroyed the sanctity of her sanctuary.

She squeezed the trigger.

She squeezed, again, and again.

She repeated the motion in rapid succession and felt a wave of hopelessness wash over her as she realized that the gun wasn’t loaded. He had known what she would do. And now, she had broken the rules.

He stood up from the table and leisurely strolled around to the other side, where she sat in shock and despair. He reached out, took the gun from her grasp, and backhanded her across the face. The blow knocked the shock out of her and replaced it with an even greater sense of fear.

What have I done? I’ve blown our one chance for survival. If I had played the game, I would have had at least a one in four chance of Ackerman taking the bullet. Now, that hope is gone.

He walked back to his seat at the other end of the table. He sighed, reached out, and picked up the knife.