by Kathy Reichs
My eyes searched the corners. Nothing. We were alone inside four bare, blank steel walls.
“What in the world?” Hi said aloud.
Ben walked over and shut the music off. Silence descended like a blanket.
Alarm bells clanged in my brain. My gut screamed a warning.
Then it hit me.
The smell from the stairwell. Salt and grease, just like—
I whirled, knowing it was too late.
The bulkhead door slammed shut with a thunderous clank. A rasping sound filled the room as someone spun the wheel, then metal struck metal as the lock engaged, sealing us inside.
Ben raced for the door, but it was pointless. “Damn it!” He pounded the steel barrier with inarticulate fury, cursing himself in his mind. “Let us out!”
“Again.” Hi covered his face with both hands. “Twice we’ve been duped like idiots.”
Shelton spun a 360, searching frantically for another way out. “How could they know we were coming tonight!?”
Ben grabbed Chance by the front of his tracksuit. “You said they were in this room!”
“He was right,” a voice boomed down from above. “But only because I let him listen in.”
My eyes rose to the catwalk.
Will Speckman leaned against the railing, his scarlet eyes brimming with laughter. “You guys charge around like bulls in the arena. That never works out for the bulls.”
“You’re locked in with us, Will.” Chance nodded to the ladder accessing the catwalk. “Think you can keep us down here, all by yourself?”
Speckman gave a lazy smile. He wore a dark blue waffle-knit shirt, gray utility pants, and heavy black boots, like a hipster aiming for a soldier-of-fortune look. “There’s another door on this level. And I’m not alone, either.”
The portal at our backs. Speckman obviously hadn’t sealed it himself.
The Trinity had trapped us again.
I thought of the salty odor from the stairwell.
The answer came to me just as another shadow joined Speckman on the walkway.
Cole Gordon bro-hugged Speckman, smirking down at us from the catwalk.
A greasy carpet of potato-chip crumbs covered his brown T-shirt and wrinkled khaki cargo shorts.
“’Sup, dudes.” Cole winked a blazing red eye, his former glassy, vacant look long gone. “Missed you at the dorm today. How come you don’t visit anymore?”
Hi squeezed his lids shut. “We are the dumbest people alive.”
I couldn’t disagree.
Twice this punk had stood right in front of me, and played me like a violin. Belatedly, I remembered the tribal prints dotting Cole’s dorm room. His sculpture class. How Chance said Speckman didn’t possess the skill to create the wolf-head carvings at Fort Sumter. I cursed the tunnel vision that made me overlook the Trinity’s resident artist.
Cole leaned his elbows on the railing with evident satisfaction. “Willie told me folks would come by looking for him. I didn’t think so, but he was right. Like always.”
“Where’s Jordan?” I couldn’t keep the sulk from my voice. “Off tonight?”
Speckman and Cole looked at each other, then burst out laughing. “Probably sleeping at his mom’s house, dreaming of baseball stats or something.”
I hesitated, thrown. “He’s not Viral.”
Speckman shook his head, addressed me like a particularly slow child. “No, Tory, he is not. Our other packmate prefers to remain anonymous for now.”
My mind raced. Who was the third? At this point, I no longer trusted my instincts.
I’d been so wrong about everything thus far. So dangerously foolish.
An image strobed in my brain—the memory I’d stolen from Jordan’s mind.
The girl in a Bolton Prep uniform. With Speckman, the day he borrowed camping gear.
Equipment used for the trap out on Loggerhead. She was there.
I took a shot. “I already know who she is.”
Speckman chuckled. “I really doubt it, Tory.”
Cole shook his head, scarlet eyes glittering. “She does not like you, though! Whoa boy! That’d be a catfight I’d pay—”
Speckman elbowed Cole in the ribs. “Nice going, dope. You just confirmed she’s a girl.”
A guilty look flashed across Cole’s face, but it faded quickly. “Oh well. Still fifty percent of the population to guess from!”
So it’s not Jason either. That’s something, at least.
Which left Ashley or Madison. Suddenly, all the evidence tilted one way.
“Tell Ashley she can come out. It’s time for this BS to end.”
“Ah-ah-ah!” Cole waggled his finger theatrically. “No more hints.”
I’ve had enough of this. Ben strode for the ladder, rage billowing from him in waves.
Shelton pumped a fist. Get ’em, Ben.
I wouldn’t wanna be those guys right now, Hi sent. They’re toast.
“Damn straight.” Chance followed Ben to the ladder.
“That’s close enough,” Speckman barked, as Ben placed a foot on the bottom riser. “Another step, and we’ll walk out and seal this door. How long would you like to stay in here?”
Ben’s jaw clenched, but he took a step back. “Cowards.”
Speckman shrugged. “Be a tough guy all you want. You’re still dancing to my tune.”
“We figured y’all out,” Shelton yelled up at the insufferable pair. “Found this hidey-hole. You’re not as smart as you think.”
Speckman chuckled again. “Sure took your time. We left enough clues.”
“How’s your hideout doing?” Cole taunted. “Pretty toasty these days, eh?”
I had to choke back my anger. Ben felt close to losing control.
Hi spoke suddenly. “How’d you find our bunker? No one knew it was there.”
Speckman clicked his tongue. “Same way we learned where you live. Where your parents work. Chance gave us all the answers.”
“That’s a lie!” Chance shouted, his finger jabbing upward. “I never told you a thing.”
“Oh, not directly.” Speckman drummed his hands on the rail. “But you’re a little too casual with passwords around the lab. I hacked you, Claybourne. Not just the Brimstone documents you tried to hide. I saw that cute little file you keep on your crush.”
Speckman leered down at me. “Chance has gigs of info on you. Some from spies, but much more from touching personal observations. All of it very, very . . . intimate. He even wrote about your bunker. I’d be impressed, if he wasn’t such a stalker.”
I stared at Chance, reddening from head to toe. Spies? Personal notes?
What was he keeping in this file?
Ben snapped a dark look at Chance. “When this is done, I’m kicking your ass, rich boy.”
Chance ignored him, glaring up at Speckman with undisguised hatred.
Then he turned and met my eye. “I started that file a long time ago, when I was still trying to figure out your secret. It contains information about all of you.” His voice grew pleading. “You can’t blame me—you guys spent a full year screwing with my head. I did what I had to do.”
“I don’t have a file on you,” Hi muttered, crossing his arms. “Bad form, brah.”
“Not cool,” Shelton echoed.
“Well!” Speckman straightened, stretching his arms wide. “I’m guessing you guys have a lot to talk about. We’ll leave you to it.”
“So this was another stupid trap?” I shouted, stalling for time.
Cole nodded, tossing Speckman a languid high-five. “Thought you’d get here sooner. Honestly, I think my packmates overestimate your brainpower.”
“Why, Will?” Chance peered up in honest bafflement. “What’s the point of this? We’re all Viral. We should be working together.”
&
nbsp; “Shut your mouth, traitor!” Speckman’s cool slipped for the first time. “You turned your back on me. Fired me. Then you threw in with these Morris Island puppies. An inferior breed!”
“I didn’t know you were infected!” Chance pointed to Cole. “I don’t know him at all, or your mystery partner. How could I abandon you? And we both know why I couldn’t keep you at Candela. You repeatedly broke company rules. It’s not my own private kingdom.”
Speckman pointed an accusatory finger. “You made the call. No one else.”
“At first I was just mad,” Cole added suddenly, scratching his patchy beard. “You and these island morons started the whole damn thing. Crazy viruses. Being sick for days. Thanks to y’all I turned into a freak.” Then he grinned wickedly. “Of course, I’ve come around now. Turns out, being Viral is the jam! But y’all need to pay the price, not my crew.”
Price? What price?
Speckman nodded. “You brought the heat down on all of us, Chance. You were sloppy. So we’re making sure that you take the fall.”
A chill ran through my body.
What did Speckman mean?
My eyes flew to Chance. He wouldn’t meet them.
Ben stuck his nose in Chance’s face. “What’s he talking about, Claybourne?”
“Get away from me.” Chance shoved Ben in the chest.
Things teetered on the brink. Then three loud bangs echoed in the chamber.
Someone was pounding on the upper level door.
Speckman glanced at his watch, motioned for Cole to follow. “If it makes you feel better,” he said, striding across the catwalk, “I think this whole thing is a waste. But better you than us. Cheers.”
“Will, wait!” I tried to follow along beneath them. “Let’s just talk, okay?”
“Sorry, no more time. Good luck!”
There was a loud clang, followed by the scrape of a hatch sealing shut. With mounting horror, I heard the lock thump into place. We were trapped.
Better you than us.
Suddenly, I guessed what Speckman planned.
Black helicopters at night.
Fort Sumter. Loggerhead. Places the Trinity had lured us.
Oh my God.
“Guys!” Hi’s frantic tone grabbed my attention. “Take it easy!”
I spun to find Chance and Ben squaring off like prizefighters. Hi and Shelton were trying to calm them down, but the older boys were an instant from exchanging blows.
“Stop it already!” I screamed, startling everyone.
“We have to get out of here.” In my strongest no-nonsense tone. “Speckman is expecting something to happen. I think I know what.”
Shelton paled. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”
“No.” Swallowing a lump in my throat. “I think the Trinity have been alerting those government bastards following us. Luring us places, and then tipping them to our location. They want us to get caught!”
“Somewhere dark and quiet,” Hi breathed. “Off the grid. Oh God!”
“But why?” Shelton moaned. “That’s just evil, man!”
I noticed Chance shift in the corner of my eye.
He knew something. I could sense it.
Another secret, unshared. I wanted to scream.
Interrogate him now, and Ben will lose it. You’ll never get out of here.
So I pushed it aside for later. “We need out of this room, and off the ship. Suggestions?”
Everyone grew quiet, thinking furiously. Ben climbed to the catwalk and circled the room, then slapped the railing in frustration. “No way out. Not with the hatch sealed from the outside.”
Abruptly, Chance’s eyes bugged. He awkwardly waved his arms, as if trying to tune an antenna. “They forgot to shut me out. I can hear Speckman!” Chance closed his eyes, lips moving silently. When they reopened, a smile spread across his face.
Chance strode to the center of the room and kicked the chair aside, sending the stereo flying. Kneeling, he worked his fingers into a yard-square metal grate in the floor beneath it. Chance yanked the grillwork out and tossed it across the room.
Then he laughed in triumph. “Shouldn’t have dwelled on your plan’s weak spot, Willie!”
His red eyes locked on to my golden ones.
“Let’s get them.”
I dropped through the opening.
Landed on a steel platform bisecting two giant turbines. Ahead of me, Ben and Chance were racing in the direction of the stairwell. A flashlight beam danced madly as they sped out of sight.
Hi crashed behind me in a heap, followed by Shelton a second later. I dragged both to their feet.
Free! Shelton’s sending thrummed with relief. Let’s bounce. I hate this boat.
More interested in revenge, I fired a message to Ben. Cut them off at the stairwell.
On it. He and Chance disappeared through a hatch up ahead.
They don’t know we escaped. Hi handed me his flashlight. Maybe we can turn the tables.
We have to hurry. I was already moving. The bastards might come right down to us. By descending through the floor, we were only one level above the entrance ramp. Move quick enough and we could block their escape route.
The girl. Shelton’s yellow eyes glinted in the darkness. She’s probably with the other two now.
So come on already! I raced for the hatch, forcing them to sprint to keep up. I won’t let the Trinity slip away again. This ends tonight.
In the next chamber, another murky passage stretched deep into the warship’s interior. I ran as fast as I dared, flare senses probing the darkness. A single question repeated in my mind.
Ashley or Madison?
The last of the Trinity was female—Cole had confirmed it. I trusted Jordan’s memory now, though I still couldn’t make out a face.
With Jason no longer a suspect, Ashley made the most sense. I’d never trusted her, and she’d been Speckman’s girlfriend. I had zero problem seeing her in the role.
But Madison had been tight with Chance at the time of his infection. She’d told me about the black-suited agents, but could’ve been lying, or setting me up for something else.
Ashley or Madison. Madison or Ashley.
In the end, it didn’t matter. I was going to catch whichever bitch was hiding on this giant floating tub, and wring her damn neck.
Suddenly, I was nearly knocked off stride by a powerful sending.
Alert. Danger.
Coop!
I’d nearly forgotten he was guarding the pier below.
I slowed, concentrating on my connection to the wolfdog. What is it, boy?
The message was hazy and incomplete—canines don’t focus on the same things people do—but the gist was clear: Another vessel was approaching the dock.
Who could it be at that hour? Drunken fisherman? The police? Park rangers?
Or was it much worse?
Speckman’s words echoed in my mind: better you than us.
Shelton and Hi waited by my side, chests heaving, puzzled expressions on their faces. They hadn’t heard Coop’s message.
A crash up ahead. Shouts. Thundering feet.
Not a time for distractions.
Stay hidden, I told Coop. Don’t approach or interfere. Understood?
I caught a surge of lupine frustration. Hide. Watch.
Shelton stared down the corridor. What was that noise?
Ben’s voice exploded inside our heads. They’re in the stairwell! Speckman and Cole. We cut them off, but they tossed some junk down at us and fled up the steps.
We’re right behind you. Any sign of the girl?
No.
What kind of stuff are they throwing? Shelton. Nervous.
Come on. Hi pushed him down the passage.
Reaching the stairwell, I heard feet rattli
ng the risers above me. I took the steps two at a time, frowning as we passed the room in which we’d been trapped.
We had to be smarter. Infighting was killing our effectiveness.
I halted on the catwalk level. The Trinity girl had been here, knocking on the portal.
Where was she now?
Shelton fidgeted, his eyes never resting in one place. Hi was breathing hard even with his powers unleashed.
I’m not built for climbs, Hi moaned in my head. Let’s find an escalator.
Keep moving. I didn’t know where the girl was, but Ben and Chance were racing into danger. We had to have their backs.
Three more levels passed in blur. Above us, something clanked.
New scents hit my nose. Tree flowers. Rain. Crisp night air.
A way outside.
The stairs ended with a short hallway leading to a narrow ladder. I saw a pair of immaculate tennis shoes disappear through the ceiling. “Chance!” I shouted.
His face popped back through the hatch. “What!?”
“Can you hear them?”
Chance shook his head impatiently. “No! They shut me out again. I have to help Ben!”
He vanished from the opening.
Hi was gripping his knees. Oh good, a ladder. I was hoping our ascent would continue.
We climbed quickly. Me. Shelton. Hi. Reaching the top, I blinked away bright moonlight, taking stock of our surroundings.
We’d reached the flight deck. Weak yellow floodlights burned at intervals, creating pools of light and dark. Open runway stretched before me, so different from the claustrophobic passages below. Vintage aircraft dotted the tarmac. Fighter jets. Helicopters. Even some sort of drone. I crouched in the shadow of the control tower, scanning the darkness, trying to locate my friends.
Ben?
Over here, by the Huey.
What’s a Huey? But Shelton and Hi took the lead, hurrying across the tarmac.
On impulse I stopped short, grabbed the hatch, and flipped it closed, then spun the locking wheel. Metal screeched against metal as it sealed.
Then I raced after the boys, splitting a pair of nasty-looking fighters and circling a buglike helicopter. Beyond it was a bulkier version. Four silhouettes were dancing in its shadow.
