The Masked Truth(34)

He manages a smile. “I hope no one would dare say that to you.”

“Actually, yes, my last therapist did. He said he had some idea of what I’d gone through, because he’d seen his dog get hit by a car.”

Max’s brows arch.

“I’m serious. I walked out and told my mother. She fired his ass on the spot. Mom’s not the type to cause a scene, but she still knows how.”

“Sounds like my mother,” he says, and we both smile and then fall to silence as we make our way to the steps. There’s little danger of our whispers being overheard. We can hear Gray and Predator, and they’re heading the other way. Toward Aimee. Toward Lorenzo too? It’ll be easy enough to find him, with the blood in the hall. And when they do, if he’s still alive …

Put down like a dog.

I tell myself they won’t waste the ammo, because their supply is limited and he’ll be smart enough to fake dead.

If he isn’t already.

I don’t think about that either. We reach the stairwell and slip through the door, shutting it behind us. Then we climb to the second floor. We’re still in stockinged feet. We’ve abandoned our footwear—too much to haul around. So we move silently, and when we come out into the hall, it is not silent.

There’s someone in Lorenzo’s bedroom.

His is the first past the stairway door. Aimee had pointed it out as we’d passed.

You and Sandra share a room. So do Brienne and Maria. The guys are on the other side of my room, Max in one and the two other boys in the second room. And Terry—that’s the other counselor—is at the end.

She’d stopped and shaken her head.

No, not Terry. It’s Lorenzo. They swapped at the last minute. Not that you know either. But they’re both good guys.

Max hears the noise from Lorenzo’s room as soon as I do, and he performs his usual shoulder-check, to be sure we both caught it. I nod almost before he looks over, my gaze fixed on the closed door. Then I do a check of my own, moving closer to whisper, “I’m sure I heard two sets of footsteps downstairs. You?”

His turn to nod now. We both ease forward. Max covers me. I turn the knob. It clicks louder than I expect, and I wince as noise erupts from inside, a scampering and scuffling. I open the door a crack, just as Aaron dives behind the twin bed.

“It’s us,” I whisper as I open it, and Brienne pops up from the bed, her eyes bright with terror. She blinks it back and then exhales and whispers, “We were sure they both went downstairs.”

“They did,” I say as I slide into the room, Max following.

Aaron’s up now. He sees Max, and his eyes narrow. “Didn’t get far, did you, *? Took off and left the rest of us to fend for ourselves.”

“Actually, he took me with him,” I say. “But there wasn’t any other choice or I would have—”

“We know,” Brienne says. “Aaron’s just being cranky.” She lowers her voice to a mock whisper. “Being shot at does that to him.”

Aaron rolls his eyes, and she shoots him a smile, and I know that we aren’t the only ones getting along better. Fighting for survival together shows you what counts and what doesn’t, and all that counts, really, is Do you have my back?

“We’re looking for a cell phone,” Brienne says. She turns on a penlight. “Aaron remembered this was on his key chain. Luckily, it was still in his room. Now we just need a phone.”

“Lorenzo confiscated Maria’s,” Aaron said. “So we were hoping he left it here.”

“Aimee took it from him,” I say, “and she said she put it in the therapy room or up here. But we couldn’t find it downstairs.”

I’m searching as I talk. Even if the phone isn’t here, we should look for anything useful before we check Aimee’s room. Max and Brienne join in, as Brienne says, “Aimee’s still alive too? Good. I thought she’d come with us, but she must have stayed behind with Gideon. Where is she now?”

Brains splattered on the wall.

I don’t answer. I can’t. Max says, “No,” and that’s all he says, and Brienne says, “What?” Then, “Oh.” And, “Are you sure?”

I squeeze my eyes shut and try not to remember how sure we are, but of course I do. I see Aimee there and open my eyes fast, dispelling the memory. I take Lorenzo’s knapsack and dump it onto the floor as Max says, “We’re sure.”

“And Lorenzo?”

“He … was holding on,” I manage. “I … I don’t know if he’s still …”

“Gideon?”

“No.”

“Th-they’re both dead? Plus Maria? I thought you said even injuries in hostage situations are rare.”

“Hey,” Aaron says.

Brienne presses her palms to her eyes. “Sorry, sorry. I just … I don’t understand how it went so wrong.”

“Ask Gideon,” Aaron says. “Oh, wait, you can’t. And, yeah, that’s a shitty thing to say about a dead guy, but I’ll say it anyway. He set them off, and once Maria was dead, everything changed. They can’t walk away after that.”

Brienne shakes her head vehemently. “I know guys like them. Well, not exactly like that. But guys who’ve been in jail or should be. My brother—” She swallows hard. “I know people who’ve made mistakes, and that’s what this is.”