Page 9 of Pay the Price

He waved us forward and slipped into the trees that lined our side of the dam.

We followed, still in our original formation, trying to stay on Wolf while he slid through the woods like a shadow.

I’d gotten a handle on the layout of the dam complex when we’d sent up the drone. Now I called it to mind, seeing it like a circuit board, everything in its place: the falls dropping into Blackwell Creek, the water rushing downstream on the outskirts of town, the river getting wider as it approached Blackwell Reservoir, a popular boating and fishing spot.

Then, the dam. Water was released during undisclosed intervals, enough to keep the dam from overflowing and sending a metric fuck-ton of water downriver to another reservoir that fed the city’s water supply.

The dam complex was two concrete buildings on the other side of the reservoir, which seemed kind of dumb since they would be washed away if the dam ever broke. Then again, if the dam broke, the control system inside the buildings would be useless anyway.

But Daisy was there. I could feel it, could feel her. She was in one of the two buildings at the foot of a steep hill leading from the woods to the base of the dam.

I wasn’t sure she’d want to see us — not after finding out we’d really killed Blake — but I didn’t even care about that. I just needed to know she was safe.

Well, not just that. I also wanted a chance to tell her some things. I’d never been good at telling people things, which was something that had never bothered me before. What was done was done. What was the point in beating yourself up over it after the fact?

But Daisy was different. I wanted her to know that she was the only person I thought about when I wasn’t with her. I wanted her to know that what had happened with Blake — what we’d done to him — had been to protect her. Most of all I wanted her to know that when I had that light feeling in my chest, that feeling I was pretty sure most people calledhappy,it was because of her.

Wolf came to a stop at the tree line above the dam complex. Directly below us, at the bottom of the sloping hill covered with trees, the two buildings sat like squat concrete gargoyles illuminated by stadium lights.

Rafe pulled out binoculars and scanned the complex. “Four guys outside. Might be more on the other side.” He’d becomemore succinct as we moved through the woods, his sentences becoming shorter and more to the point. He dropped the binoculars and looked at Jace. “You leading us in?”

Something passed between them, the kind of unspoken communication that always baffled me. Jace hesitated, then shook his head. “You lead.”

Rafe stepped forward and looked back at his men. “Watch our six.”

They nodded and dropped back, allowing the rest of us to fill in the space between them.

Rafe waved us forward and we started down the hill.

Chapter 6

Daisy

Iwas drifting off to sleep when I heard the first shout. I tried to go back to sleep, thinking it was a dream, but then I heard it again, the sound drifting in through the small openings that passed for windows in my room.

And this time I could hear the alarm in it.

I sat up fast, my heart beating wildly as I held still, listening.

A second later, the sound of firecrackers tore through the night. Except these weren’t firecrackers — they were gunshots, coming from outside.

It was happening. The Beasts were coming for me.

I jumped to my feet and looked around the room, like there might be something I could do to speed up my rescue. But there wasn’t — I already knew there wasn’t — so I crossed the room and put my ear to the door, listening for clues about what was going on.

Another round of gunfire sounded, closer this time. Not right outside the door, but definitely inside the building.

I was almost hyperventilating with fear and excitement, the prospect of finally escaping the room close enough to touch.

I tried not to think about the source of my fear. Not just that I wouldn’t get out but that something would happen to Wolf, Otis, or Jace. That they would be hurt — or worse — on the way in.

I shouldn’t have cared. Not after what they did.

But thinking about Blake’s murder was too much. I needed to get out of here. Then I would be able to think straight.

More shouting from the other side of the door, then more gunfire, right in the hall outside my room.

I banged on the door. “I’m here! I’m in here!”

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