Chapter 1Adam Roper wiped the sweat out of his eyes and then fiddled with the car’s rattling air conditioner, trying to tease a cold gust of air from it. The yellow lines on the road were starting to blur into one long, faded path, and the only thing that kept his heavy eyelids from falling was the sharp pang of hunger in his gut. Billboards dotted the horizon with promise of food, of gas, of cheap hotel rooms. Each and every one looked completely appealing. Their promises seemed meant for him, personally, as though they were addressed to Mr. Adam Roper, formerly of New York City.
His watch told him he had only been on the road for eleven hours. Eleven hours was nothing. When he was a kid and had accompanied his dad in the summer on his business trips, an eleven hour drive would have been
