Page 116 of Coerced

“Well, one girl, Amelia, died when she was small. She would have been about 16 now. Grandma usually posts a memorial picture or poem. From what I can gather, she had a sarcoma that metastasized rapidly—”

“Dragon, I’m about two seconds from—”

“She had cancer,” I told Kerry, then motioned at Travis to continue.

“The other kid, Drew, is thirteen. Grandma posts normal things about him. Soccer games, band concerts, stuff like that.”

“So Reginald Hubler and his wife had two children after they were married. Reilly’s half-siblings.” Gigi shrugged. “What does this matter to us?”

“I don’t know if it does. I’m only telling you everything I found out. What I thinkmightbe of importance to us is that Grandma hasn’t posted anything, not one thing, about Lee-Lee or Drew for nearly six months now. No soccer games. No band concerts. Just memorial things for the dead little girl.”

“Thatiscurious,” John agreed.

While the others chatted, I exchanged a look with Kerry and saw he was thinking the same thing I was.

If Hubler needed a leash for his wife, a child was a good one.

#

We walked back to the motel in silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts. I headed toward Travis and John’s room, but found myself being directed toward my own.

“Can you and Boots take care of planning our trip to the Box?” Kerry thrust a black Council credit card in my face. “It’s somewhere in the Barents Sea.”

Boots? Is he really going to saddle her with that?

But Mira was grinning, so I let it go.

“I know where the Box is.” I pushed the card away. “And I have one of those, too, thanks.”

“Good. You two get to work. I wanna leave as soon as possible.”

Then he was gone.

A little taken aback, I turned to Mira.

“Gigi said he can’t read.” She shrugged. “Or at least not well. I suppose his knowledge of geography is pretty limited, too. I don’t think he’d get far in planning an international trip on his own.”

“He’s notdumb,” I defended him. “He’s uneducated, is all.”

“I didn’t say he was dumb.” Her tone was mild. “I’m explaining why he delegated this task to you. To us. You looked puzzled, Sir Serious.”

“Would you stop that?”

“What?” Her face scrunched up. “I like it. It’s so fitting.”

“Whatever.”

She raised an eyebrow, but didn’t respond as she sat on my bed. Leaning back on her hands, she looked up at me.

“What do you know about this place we’re going to?” she asked. “I assume it’s a prison.”

I was having a hard time concentrating. She rolled her neck and her hair streamed down her back to brush the comforter.Mycomforter. Then she arched her spine, humming happily when it popped. The movement also stretched her shirt tightly across her chest.

What are you doing?I hissed to myself.Stop staring.

But they are perfect!

I flicked my eyes away and fastened them on the wall behind her, forcing myself to picture the Box in minute detail.

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