Suspicious Minds (Stranger Things Novels #1)(34)

“I know.” For Terry, it was that simple. She understood.

“I thought about you and the lab…how brave you are.” He shook his head. “This won’t be the end of it.”

He’d thought of her. And she knew this wouldn’t have a simple end. “Let’s go home. For tonight, that’s the end of it.”

It wasn’t, though. The possible consequences clung to them like shadows. They were quiet in her crappy hand-me-down car as they drove back to Andrew and Dave’s apartment. Dave and his other friend had decided to stay overnight in jail. Terry wasn’t sure if it was a decision so much as their parents’ refusing to come bail them out.

She pulled into a parking spot, and left the car running. Andrew turned and lifted a hand to her cheek. “Hey, my rescuer, can I convince you to come in? Stay tonight?”

The question lay heavy between them. She could see the need in his eyes.

Hers matched it. “I thought you’d never ask.”

The silence from the car followed them into the apartment, into Andrew’s bedroom, their lips already touching. They said everything to each other that words couldn’t. The threat was anyplace where their skin didn’t touch. The outside world would want to separate them, disrupt what they had together. The threat was in what the school would do to punish Andrew, and in Brenner and the lab’s power if Terry had to challenge them.

So they fought against the outside the only way they could: by pretending it didn’t exist.

And, for that night, it might as well not have.





2.


Terry cut a generous wedge of sugary, custardy Hoosier Pie and delivered the round dessert plate to her last active lunch table. She breezed back by the counter and exchanged a nod with Laurie, the other waitress on the day shift, who also made all the pies.

“I’m on my break for ten,” Terry said.

“You got it, sweetie,” the older woman said. “Go hang out with your friends.”

Terry picked up a chair and moved it to the end of the booth where Ken, Gloria, Alice, and Andrew waited after having finished their lunches. BLTs and Cokes all ’round. They’d been easier to take care of this time. Not least because she’d been expecting them.

“Why did you want to see us?” Alice asked with zero preliminaries. “Did you come up with an idea?”

Andrew nudged her. “Kid sister, you know she did.”

“Maybe, but only if you agree.” Terry kept her voice low. “I’m wondering…Assuming I can find some way to get in the wing where I saw Kali—”

“I think I can help with that part,” Alice said. “I watch when Brenner enters his code. Nine-five-six-three-nine-six. It’s the same every time. It probably works on all the keypads in the place, and so it should get you in.”

A moment of silence. “Alice,” Terry said, “you will never stop surprising me. I’ll need you to write that down so I can memorize it.”

“Sure.” Alice gave a slightly embarrassed shrug. “I just notice things is all.”

“What’s next in your plan?” Gloria asked.

“With that taken care of…If one of you could create a diversion I might be able to find the girl again and talk to her, assuming she’s there. If she’s not, maybe I can look for Brenner’s office and do some snooping. We know we can’t just stop going…”

“Are you sure about that?” Andrew asked.

Terry felt like an exposed nerve. “One, there’s a small child taking part in something and we don’t know if she’s safe.”

“And two,” Gloria said, “it won’t be that easy. The three of us would flunk out of school, and that’s if they let us leave.”

“What do you mean, let you leave?” Andrew asked, outraged. Terry reached a hand over to remind him to keep his voice down. He lowered it. “You have rights. You’re Americans.”

Gloria smiled wryly. “When it’s our government involved, I think you’ll find our rights are often to be determined.”

Andrew absorbed that. “I don’t like this.”

“Welcome to my club,” Gloria said. “I’m the chairperson.”

“Look, I’ll do whatever you need,” Alice interrupted. “I’ve been dying to take apart that elevator. I could probably convince them to let me.”

“Alice isn’t even in school, she probably could leave.” Andrew again.

Gloria cleared her throat. “You can’t know that. These are people with resources.”

Alice sat up straighter. “Don’t debate like I don’t have a choice. I’m not leaving until everyone does. And I can be the distraction.”

Ken finally spoke up. “No. You have enough to worry about. I’ll do it.”

“You?” Alice’s tone was skeptical.

“I rock at distractions, man.” He shrugged. “And the acid doesn’t do anything to me. I just feel like I need a nap. They just leave some junior guy with me. I’m not even sure why I’m there, except that I’m supposed to be.”

Alice sighed.

“Well, if you’re the distraction, just don’t fall asleep,” Terry said, feeling this meeting about to slip out of her control. “We can figure out timing. I can ask Kali about ‘Papa’ and what happens to her at the lab. But…what if I find Brenner’s office instead? I wish I knew what would help us the most in terms of information.”