The Countdown (The Taking #3)(71)

“Kyra, how long do you think you were gone?” Tyler asked.

“I don’t know . . .” My eyes shifted to the clock on the wall and I did the math in my head. It had been about 2:45, last I’d checked, right before I’d boarded the spaceship. Now it was right at 4:37. “Even with decontamination, it’s only been a couple hours . . .”

But I stopped talking. From the reactions on their faces, I already knew I’d figured wrong. Like . . . way wrong.

My heart thumped once, really hard. And then about a thousand times more. “Not even close . . . ?” It came out as a question, but I already had my answer. Before anyone could respond, I managed a tight, “How long?”

Tyler grimaced. “Since yesterday.” He took a step closer, his forehead creasing. “You really didn’t know? No one told you?”

I shook my head because that couldn’t be right. “I was only gone”—I looked to where Molly’s eyes were fastened to me, and I amended what I almost said—“a few minutes. I only flew that thing a few minutes . . . maybe half an hour.”

This time it was Simon who was shaking his head. “No. We waited for you to come back.” Still shaking his head, more slowly now. “You fell off the radar, for like, thirty seconds. Then, when they turned your tracking device on . . . they saw you . . .”

“Tracking device?” So even after I’d turned off the ship’s radar, they’d still been able to see me?

Molly waved it off. “It was harmless. A fail-safe in case anything happened. We put it in your headset.”

My stomach sank. How was I going to explain this—where I’d been and who I’d been with, especially since now I realized I had no idea how long I’d even been gone?

“We saw you up on that screen . . . in space,” Jett finished, and I wondered how much more they knew. “Then Dr. Clarke said they took you.”

“They?” I asked numbly.

Simon looked to Molly. “She and Dr. Clarke wouldn’t let us stay. Said they’d keep us posted,” he added bitterly. “That was last night. We’ve been locked in here ever since.”

Tyler stood in front of me. “Where were you all this time? Do you remember what happened out there? Anything?”

An entire day . . .

Had I really been up there that long? I searched my memory for the missing piece of time, trying to fill it in with tangible things that made sense—sounds, tastes, colors, anything to plug the gaps.

But they weren’t there.

There was just a missing chunk where the time should be.

Except that wasn’t exactly right, because in its place there were new things. Information. Crucial facts the ISA had been withholding. Things they all needed to know.

The missing time was worth the trade.

I hesitated for only a second, and then went for it, clinging to the lie my friends had just offered me. I tried to imagine just how I should behave—I mean, what was the protocol for amnesia?

And then told myself I had this . . . I’d done this before.

“I don’t . . .” I let myself grieve for the parts of my life I was already missing . . . not just in the past twenty-four hours, but those days Natty and Eddie Ray had taken away from me.

And the years I’d lost . . . those five long years.

Tears burned my eyes, and instead of being ashamed, I let them come. “I can’t remember any of it.” I didn’t have to lie.

Molly watched me for only a second longer, while my dad held me and patted my back. Tyler and Simon and everyone else huddled around me, doing their best to comfort me. To assure me I was safe now.

It was laughable—safe. That was the last thing we were, yet somehow I kept up the fa?ade.

At least until Molly decided there was nothing to be gained from eavesdropping on our reunion and she sneaked out, letting the door lock in place behind her.

“All right, young lady,” my dad reprimanded as he set me away from him. He tilted his chin down and crossed his arms as he zeroed in on me. “Mind explaining what all that was about?”

I turned to Jett, and then moved my eyes knowingly around the room as I lowered my voice. “Is this place secure? Can we talk?” I raised my eyebrows, to make sure he understood exactly what I was implying.

I knew Jett well enough to guess he’d already done a security sweep, checking for bugs—cameras and listening devices. Anything they could use to spy on us.

“Secure enough,” he answered uncertainly. “From what I can tell there are cameras in most corridors, but only one on this level—out by the elevator.”

Jett’s assurance was good enough for me.

Jett looked from me to my dad. “Um, does someone wanna clue me in?”

“Yeah, I think I might’a missed something,” Willow added, glancing around at Simon and then Griffin.

My dad shook his head. “You didn’t miss anything. In fact, you were front and center. Meryl Streep here just put on the performance of a lifetime.” He slow clapped theatrically as if they were all part of my audience. “If I wasn’t so afraid you might use your skills against me one day, I’d be impressed. Now spill. And don’t leave anything out.”

“Fine,” I said, wiping my crocodile tears and sniffing in a less dramatic way. “It wasn’t like I didn’t plan on telling you anyway. I just couldn’t risk letting Molly”—I nodded toward the closed door—“in on what we’re up to.”