Page 63 of Gabe

Ozias stood from the couch so quickly he woke up Milo, but the boy quickly settled back to sleep.

“I didn’t go through all of this trauma and risk going to prison for killing a Senator just to let the rest of these monsters get away. You go search over there. I’ll start with these filing cabinets.”

We each took a section of the room. Newt searched the desk, and Ozias took the cabinets, while I turned my attention to the bookcase.

At first, I thought my part of the effort was useless. There was nothing helpful about the bookcase. Even the books themselves seemed like an odd collection of topics that had been thrown together for the sake of aesthetic rather than useful information.

But then, as I was tracing my fingers along the leather bound spines, I noticed something odd.

“Hey, none of these spines are cracked. They’re all brand new.”

I didn’t look over at the others, but I heard them stop whatever they were doing behind me.

“So what?” Newt asked. “It’s not illegal to own new books.”

“No.” I pulled out one of the books. It crackled when I opened it, meaning it had literally never been opened before. “But a collection of books is never entirely new. It’s like they were bought all at once and then just placed here for the sake of decoration.”

I pulled out a few more books, all equally unopened, and knocked my knuckles against the back of the bookcase.

A hollow echo rattled the wood.

“Bingo. It’s a false wall.”

Once I knew what I was looking at, it wasn’t hard to figure out how to open the bookcase. All I had to do was find the hinges hidden along one side and swing the whole thing open like a door.

On the other side was a small room, just large enough for a desk and an impressively sleek-looking computer.

“Not just bingo. It’s a jackpot,” I called to the others. “That computer has got to have some important information on it. Newt, you know more about this stuff than I do. Can you take a look?”

“I’ll try,” Newt said as he stepped through the hidden doorway into the little room. “But playing video games doesn’t make me a hacker. If the computer is password protected, we’re screwed.”

“Just do what you can?”

I watched him for a moment as he booted up the computer, careful about what buttons he hit in case he accidentally triggered some sort of security system.

“Hey, guys,” Ozias called from where he stood near the main doorway. “Do you hear that?”

Leaving Newt to figure things out on his own, I stepped over to the main door. “Hear what?”

Ozias pressed his ear against the door. “That. I think someone’s coming up the stairs.”

I also pressed my ear to the door. Sure enough, I could hear the faint sound of footsteps. It was surprisingly loud, like the person was trying to make as much noise as possible.

Or maybe they just didn’t see any reason to be quiet.

“If they come in here and see all this…” Ozias gestured to the three bodies still lying on the ground. “We’re dead.”

“Maybe,” I agreed. “But if that’s the case I’m not going down easily.”

Searching the rapidly cooling bodies, I found a gun that was small enough for me to handle and grip it tightly in both hands.

Ozias stepped out of the way as I took a position at the center of the room and pointed the gun at the door. I had no idea what I was doing, but if anyone tried to attack us, I was determined not to hesitate.

CHAPTER 23

Gabe

The cool metal of the gun warmed slowly as it pressed against the back of my head. Raising my hands, I cautiously turned around.

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