Page 50 of Five Survive

“Only if yours is Edgar.”

“Secret frog-racing champion?”

“You got me,” she said.

“Nice.” He smiled too, but he didn’t grin like an idiot. He wore it better. “I won’t tell anyone, promise.”

“Won’t tell anyone what?” Simon said, walking down the corridor,knocking into the wall on one side and the bunks on the other. How did he seem more drunk again?

“Red’s big secret,” Arthur replied.

“Right, move, move, move,” Oliver raised his voice as he walked backward, carrying one end of the mirror, Reyna on the other side. They scattered, out of the way, Red moving over to the sofa and dropping down. It was nice to sit, her legs bone-tired. But she knew it wouldn’t last long. The purple plastic mop was lying in front of her, already snapped in half, the mopping end removed.

Oliver and Reyna gently lowered the mirror down, close to the front door, Oliver wrapping one arm around it to take its weight.

“Let’s think this through,” he said, motioning with his head for them all to gather around.

See, not long at all. Red stood up, Simon on one side, Maddy on the other, the three of them repeated again in the mirror.

“Right, so if someone is standing there”—Oliver motioned to the gap in front of the closet, now missing its door—“they aren’t in the line of fire, they’re protected by the wall of the RV. And if the mirror is in front of the door, angled that way, the sniper will see their reflection, right?”

“Science, bitch!” Simon erupted then.

“Simon,” Maddy warned.

“Sorry,” he sniffed. “But we’re in an RV. I was going to have to say it one time. Think I’d rather be cooking meth, though. Less risky.”

Oliver shot him a look, hardening his eyes.

“Sorry.”

“Yes, that works,” Reyna said, walking around to the front side of the mirror. “But only if the sniper is somewhere in this direction.” She held out both arms in a wedge, a quarter circle, one arm facingstraight out through the door, the other toward the back of the RV. “If he’s this way”—she gestured out through the front right of the RV—“he won’t see the reflection. And that’s if he’s even on this side atall.”

“Well, of course this only works if he’s on this side,” Oliver said. “We’ll have to repeat it in one of the windows on the other side if it doesn’t work.”

Reyna didn’t listen to him, continuing with her own thought trail. “If there was a way to pivot the mirror quickly, and someone else could be standing here”—she gestured to the small gap between the sofa and the front door—“then their reflection could be seen this way.” She held out her arms again, another quarter circle. “And we’d cover this whole side.”

Oliver nodded. “Right, okay. How do we pivot the mirror? And, saying that, how do we hold the mirror up? No one can be standing behind or beside it; they’d get hit.”

Simon darted forward, scooping up the broken mop from the floor, holding up Larry’s arms. “Could we attach these, as handles? Got a whole roll of duct tape.”

Oliver snapped his fingers at him. “Yes. You get started on that. I want one on either side, at the top corners. Wrap the tape all the way around multiple times so it’s really secure. And use some extra tape to lengthen the handles; we want them as long as possible so no one has to stand in the line of fire. Reyna, maybe you should help,” he added, watching Simon struggle to find the end of the duct tape.

Reyna slid the broken mop handles out from under Simon’s arm, and Maddy stepped forward to relieve him of the tape. They got to work, the duct tape droning like an angry wasp as Maddy pulled lengths and lengths from the roll.

“Wouldn’t we need to slide the mirror over too, Reyna?” Oliver said. “Like a foot or so, to get the correct angle.”

Reyna looked down, studying the floor for a moment as she held up one handle for Maddy to tape.

“Yeah,” she said. “Because in its first position, the mirror needs to be slightly off-center, to the left to catch the person standing there.”

“Thought so.” Oliver nodded to himself. “We need to put the mirror on something then, something that slides easily. Oh.” He gestured for Arthur to step forward and hold the mirror, moving away to the front of the RV and the abandoned closet door still resting against the dashboard. “This,” he hissed, bringing it over.

That won’t slide easily, Red thought.

“That won’t slide easily,” Arthur said.

“Easier than the mirror against the ground,” Oliver countered.

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