Doranna Durgin - Survival Instinct

2006

Dear Reader,

I was one of those good little girls. Really. I thought if I told a lie, my young world would end, and that my existence depended on the Everlasting Goodness of Me. (It made sense at the time.) But the heroine of this book, Karin Sommers? Her growing-up years depended on just how well she could lie, deceive, playact and lead adults around by the nose.

You get the idea. If there were ever two people with more disparate personal foundations

Okay, part of me is hoping that you wont notice that Karin is so real to me that I just referred to her as an actual person. But the rest of me hopes that in reading this book, youll experience the same sense of discovery I did as I wrote it. The Oh, wow, this is what it would be like experience. As well as the profound sense of pride in Karin as she discovers who she really is. And those con game details that I so gleefully worked up? Just dont tell my mom, okay?

Doranna

I made up some of the tech in this novel, but from the looks of things itll be real by the time the book reaches the shelves But yes, there is a water tower on North Payne Street!

Thanks to:

The Things That Go Bang regulars The Alexandria & Scotch Connection Greg Davis, Associate Chief Medical Examiner, Commonwealth of Kentucky

Karin Sommerss Journal, March 12

Dear Ellen-

Happy birthday. I miss you terribly, and Im sorry youre dead.

I wish it werent my fault.

February 17, previous year

Karin Sommers twisted in the front seat of the Subaru Outback, reaching for the bag of pretzels perched precariously on the clothes crammed behind her. Every nook of the car held the carefully chosen belongings she and her older sister, Ellen, had extracted from Karins small California apartment. Extracted, piled on and driven casually away as if it werent the biggest breakout since the Birdman of Alcatraz.

But she wasnt looking at her things, and she wasnt really looking for the pretzels. She looked back at the dizzying curve of road disappearing into the darkness behind them. The sign for the Kentucky state line was already hidden behind a jut of construction-cut mountainside. The coal truck riding their bumper quickly lost ground as they hit this latest series of severe asphalt curlicues.

Have we made it yet?

Youll get carsick if you keep that up. Ellen plied the wheel expertly, familiar with the abrupt and narrow Appalachian roads. Besides, were two-thirds of the way across the country. If dear old stepdad had a clue where you were, hed have been breathing down our necks a long time ago.

Karin settled back into place, smoothing the seat-belt strap as she reached for the warm pop in the cup holder. Sleet rattled against the windshield, then eased into spattering rain. Were not safe yet. If it occurs to him that you and I have been faking estrangement, hes going to come looking.

He doesnt care about me, Ellen said calmly. Hed never even consider I could have the nerve to help you break away.

Have we made it yet? Am I almost there?

But Karin had to grin at her sister-so alike in looks and close in age that they were often taken for twins, so dissimilar in temperament. They were still sisters at the core. They watched out for each other as they could, right up until the point Ellen had declared herself outta there and their stepfather Gregg Rumsey had declared himself glad to see her go.

And Karin had stayed behind with Rumsey, trapped by years of control and entanglement in scams and petty schemes and thievery-starting in her childhood, taking advantage of her steady nerve, cultivating and training her natural ability to lie, cry on cue and play her mark. Shed had no way to understand the unusual nature of her life. By the time she had understood the true consequences of her actions, by the time shed realized she hadnt merely been playing games and skirting legalities at no real cost to anyone else, she had been irreparably tangled in her stepfathers activities. And when shed wanted to quit anyway, hed had plenty to hold over her head. Quit, hed told her, and you go straight to jail.

And I can return the favor, shed retorted-but had pretended to settle back into their routine. Unlike Rumsey, she hadnt been gathering incriminating evidence. She had no doubt hed play the legal system as easily as he played his marks, and that shed end up in jail while he went free.

Still, shed always intended to leave. Shed contacted Ellen on the sly, made plans, skimmed Rumseys takes and bided her time. Shed limited her involvement to the Robin Hood scams-steal from the rich, pay the bills, squirrel away some of the take. And that had been enough. It had worked. Until now, when Rumsey had finally crossed her admittedly flexible line by killing an elderly couple whod caught on to his latest investment scam. Until shed suddenly wondered if this was the first time.

Until she had wondered if she might one day be just as disposable.

And then she and shy, nervous Ellen had finally colluded on her departure. Her breakout.

The car swooped around another curve. On the other side of the guardrail, Pine Mountain plunged down to the Russell Fork in a drop steep enough to earn the area its nickname-the Grand Canyon of the South. Under any other circumstances, it would be a place at which to stop and marvel and snap endless touristy photos.

But thered be no stopping just now. She and Ellen wouldnt slow down until they reached the Blue Ridge area just west of Roanoke. Ellens new home after years in Alexandria.

Almost there.

Actually, another six or seven hours of driving to go. And then shed hide at Ellens little farmhouse until she could make her new life, using the money shed taken from Rumsey. Money shed earned. Shed leave Karin Sommers behind and become someone else. But stillshe was so close. Seven hours. Compared to the years it had taken to make the break, compared to these past few weeks of heart-thumping stress

Yeah. Almost there.

Karin laughed out loud, drawing Ellens bemused gaze-just for an instant, because in the darkness on these roads, no one could dare more. Just thinking about the look on his face if he knew youd helped me.

Probably similar to the look he had when he first plugged me into a scam and I threw up all over him, Ellen said drily.

Karin crunched into a pretzel bow. I only wish Id thought of that. But no, I had to make it fun. A great big game.

It wasnt your fault, Ellen said, unexpected fierceness in her voice. Youre the one who got us through those years, by playing his games. She slowed the car, flicking off the brights as the sleet came down heavy in a sudden gust.

Hey, Karin said, deliberately light in tone. We should thank the old bastard. If he hadnt taught me so well, I wouldnt have been able to play him these past weeks.

Ellen snorted. Dont give him any credit. If he hadnt been jerking us around, youd not only have finished high school, youd have been grabbing all the drama clubs juiciest parts. Youre a natural.

Tsk. Karin waved a pretzel in false admonition. He saved my ass from jail too many times to count. He told me so, after all, so it must be true-look out!

Ellen spit a panicked expletive as a deer exploded into motion from the darkness. She hit the brakes, cranking the steering wheel as they spun over the narrow, slushy asphalt. The car slid sideways, its four-wheel drive futilely hunting a grip-and then gently bumped to a stop against the guardrail.

Karin glanced warily out her side window. A pitch black night couldnt stop her imagination from filling in the details of the steep drop to the river below. Damn good thing she was already sitting down; her knees were weak as water. She found Ellen sitting frozen, her hands clenched around the steering wheel so tightly they trembled. The windshield wipers slid across glass in a precise dance; the deer was long gone.