CHAPTER 1 – The Passenger Nobody Wanted
Rain hammered against the windshield as Ethan Carter gripped the steering wheel of his yellow taxi. New York looked different on nights like this—cold, lonely, and dangerous.
Business had been slow. He had a wife waiting at home, a daughter who needed surgery, and bills piling higher than hope itself.
Just before ending his shift, a young man in a dark hoodie stepped into the street.
He never waved.
He simply stood there.
Something about him felt... wrong.
His face was hidden beneath the hood, his clothes were soaked, and he carried no luggage.
Ethan almost drove away.
But then he noticed something.
The young man's hands were shaking.
Not from fear.
From exhaustion.
Against his better judgment, Ethan unlocked the door.
"Where to?" he asked.
The stranger quietly replied, "Just drive."
No address.
No explanation.
Only those two words.
Silence filled the cab.
The only sounds were the rain and the windshield wipers scraping back and forth.
Ethan glanced into the rearview mirror.
The passenger wasn't looking outside.
He wasn't checking his phone.
He was staring directly at Ethan.
Every few seconds.
Without blinking.
An uneasy feeling crawled up Ethan's spine.
Trying to break the silence, he asked, "Long night?"
The stranger smiled.
A slow...
unnatural...
almost painful smile.
"You could say that."
Minutes later, police sirens screamed through the streets behind them.
Blue and red lights reflected across the rain-covered windows.
Ethan instinctively pulled to the side.
But before he could stop—
The stranger leaned forward.
"Don't."
His voice was calm.
Cold.
"If you stop... they'll kill us both."
Ethan's heart nearly stopped.
"What are you talking about?"
The young man slowly pulled something from inside his hoodie.
It wasn't a gun.
It was an old photograph.
The picture showed Ethan...
standing beside a woman he'd loved twenty years ago.
A woman who had disappeared without a trace.
Only one sentence was written on the back.
"She didn't die... and tonight you'll finally learn why."
Ethan's hands began to tremble as the police cars sped past without noticing them.
He suddenly realized...
Picking up this passenger had never been an accident.
May you like
Someone had planned it.
And his nightmare had only just begun.
