Page 114 of Five Survive

“Maddy, can you drink for me?” Reyna said. “Can you open your mouth?”

“I’m cold,” Maddy said.

It was hot in here, stifling. Red wiped a line of sweat from her temple against the back of her hand as she concentrated, smudging theCall AT&T.

She reconnected the circuit board to the antenna, resting it back inside the black casing.

Simon and Arthur were standing over her, watching. What was Oliver doing? Red couldn’t see him and that scared her.

“Will you leave Red alone after this?” Simon turned to Arthur, his eyes darkening as he looked at his friend. But they weren’t friends, were they? Simon had just been Arthur’s way in, to get closer to Red. “You and your brother won’t still come for her?”

“You have my word,” Arthur said, holding his gaze, refusing to let go. “I never wanted any harm to come to her, to anyone. I tried, I swear, I tried to avoid all this. I don’t believe in that, in killing people. I won’t do it. Not for anything. That’s why my dad says I’ll be in charge of the numbers, of the legitimate businesses, because he can’t trust me out on the streets, to be a soldier for him. Not like my brother.” He paused. “But they will listen to me, both of them, I will make them. No harm will come to Red, ever. I promise.”

“Okay.”

“I’m sorry, Simon. I’m sorry I had to lie to you.”

Simon shrugged. “Always thought you kind of sucked at basketball,” he said, with the tiniest hint of a smile in his voice. “And hey, at least I’ll never be scared of anything else again after tonight. Makes telling my parents about drama school seem not so scary anymore. But there’s something I don’t get,” and the smile was gone now. “Why didn’t you say it was Red with the secret hours ago? Why didn’t your brother just come out and ask her who was paying her to be the witness right at the start, when we first found the walkie-talkie?”

Red couldn’t see either of their faces, she was concentrating, looping a wire through, reconnecting it to the batteries.

“My dad’s idea,” Arthur said. “If we didn’t say whose secret it was, then maybe we’d learn more than just the information we neededfrom Red. Find out things they don’t want you to know, there’s power in that. That’s how my dad operates. And we could use those secrets to blackmail you into silence, if my cover ever got blown. Which…” He trailed off. “Well, too late now, you know who I am. That’s over.”

Red glanced up, at Arthur’s downcast face, eyes on the floor. His life would never be the same after tonight either, would it? All of them changed, by this RV, by each other. He’d lied to her, he was a liar, but so was Red. And the terrible thing was, she didn’t want to hate him. She maybe even wanted to take his hand, the one that matched hers. Her head told her she was a fucking idiot, but sometimes you didn’t go with your head, sometimes you trusted your gut. Red had learned that from Reyna.

“How’s it going, Red?” Simon asked her.

“Working on it,” she said, turning to the speaker, fiddling with the magnet and the coil.

“Stay awake, Maddy.” Reyna’s voice was higher now, scared.

Maddy mumbled, a croak that didn’t make it past her throat.

“Oliver, come on, please,” Simon said, running his hands through his hair, pulling at his scalp. “She’s not going to make it. Let Arthur go outside and speak to his brother. He says he will let us go. I trust him.”

“I don’t,” Oliver growled. “For all we know, he’ll go join his brother, try to kill us all, now that we know who they are.”

“What about Red?” Simon pointed at her. “She can go outside, can’t she, Arthur? Your brother doesn’t know you have the name from her yet, which means he can’t shoot Red.”

Arthur nodded. “Until I tell him we have the name, Red is untouchable. He wouldn’t shoot her.”

“Will you let Red go, Oliver?” Simon pleaded. “Will you let Red leave the RV and go speak to him? To ask him to let us go?”

“No.” Oliver bared his teeth, brandishing the knife. “Red doesn’t leave either! She’s a liar. She’s trying to get my mom killed!”

“Lights,” Maddy rasped, and Red ripped her eyes away from the walkie-talkie, over to her friend. Her eyes were cracked open, barely. One arm was raised, bent at the elbow, index finger shaking as she pointed it. “Lights.” The word scratched out of her again.

“What, Maddy?” Reyna said, leaning in closer.

“Lights,” Simon said, turning toward the windshield. Red’s eyes followed him.

Lights.

Blue and red lights, flickering in the darkness of the dying night. Flashing through the glass, inside the RV.

“Cops are here,” Simon said incredulously, like he didn’t dare believe it yet. “The cops are here! Red, they must have heard you on the walkie-talkie. They called the cops. They’re here!”

Red scrabbled up from the booth, the unfinished walkie-talkie gripped in her hand.

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