Page 94 of Master of Lies

“I have to wait. I’m letting him take me. If I don’t, he starts to hurt Jed.”

“No, you are not!” Ethan yelled. “Big fucking shame about Jed, but too bad!”

“I just sent you data for the transmitter I put on my tooth,” I said. “When I bite down, it sends a signal. Also, get in touch with the Drake brothers. They were coming to Portland to help Jed, and they were supposed to get here early this morning, so they’ll be the closest ones who can start following me. Have you got all that?”

“No fucking way! I can’t let you—”

“Now give me the code,” I said. “I have to be able to open the dummy version of SmokeScreen, and you need to be ready to dive in through the that hole I open up, right? And you’ll help me any way you can. Right? Isn’t that how it works?”

“Frey, no! That’s insane! I never meant to actually use it, and certainly not with you! Just get in your car and get the fuck out of there! Now! Please!”

“I’m sorry, Ethan. I love you. I really do. With all my heart.”

“Goddamnit, Frey. Don’t do this to me.” His voice cracked. “Don’t let him take you too. Don’t do this.”

My eyes were streaming. I snorted back tears in my nose. “Too late, big brother,” I said, as I saw the sweep of headlights flickering through the trees at the big loop of the driveway. “I can see their headlights. Tell me quick, or it’ll be too late.”

“You can’t!”

“This is happening, right now.” I schooled my voice to steely calm. “Either I go in there with the dummy code, or I go in there naked, nothing to bargain with, and no way to establish a connection with you. I think you know exactly how that would go.”

“Goddamnit, Frey.” His voice broke.

I swallowed down my tears. “They’re getting closer. Tell me quick.”

“Fuck!” he bellowed. “It’s mom’s favorite poem. You know it. Robert Frost, Nature’s first green is gold. Except it’s backward, and between each letter you can insert as many random numbers and symbols as you want, for as long as you want, if you need to play for time. Just don’t put in more letters. Do you know the poem?”

“Shane used to recite it to me at bedtime,” I said. “When I was little.”

“You know the address on the darkweb. Just go to it and start entering the last line of the poem, backward, into the dialog box. Each line of the poem will get you one layer deeper. There are eight lines. You have to fill eight dialogue boxes. Start with the last line of the poem. No spaces between the words. Careful of the punctuation. And it’s case sensitive.”

The headlights were getting closer. “Do you mean the words are recited in backward order? Or the actual letters of the words?”

“The letters of the words,” he said. “Plus the punctuation. Start with the period following the last letter of the last word of the poem.”

“God, what a fucking nerd you are. I love you, big brother. Take care.”

“Freya, run! Please!”

“I’m sorry, Ethan. Call the Drakes. Have them follow me. Hurry.”

“Don’t do this to Holly.” His voice shook. “Don’t do this to me. Fuck, Frey!”

That hurt, like a knife in my guts. “Sorry. Too late now. I love you. I love Holly. Tell her. Keep telling her.”

“Frey—”

“Goodbye.” I cut him off, turned the phone off, looked around frantically, and shoved it through a ragged hole in the baseboard, just as Rachelle’s burner phone began to ring. I answered it. “Yes?”

“Take off your coat,” Boer said. “There are snipers covering the cabin from two directions. Walk out with your arms in the air, holding the phone. Turn so your back is to the car. Leave four yards between you and the vehicle. Understood?”

“Understood,” I said.

“Go now. I’m watching through a live stream, so do not fuck with me.”

I shrugged off my coat, as he had instructed, and stepped out the door into the blinding headlights. It was very cold with just the sweatshirt. I shivered violently.

I walked out to a few yards from the lights, arms up, and turned around, the phone in my hand. The car door opening made me jump. Gravel crunched under heavy boots.

---