The Speed of Light: A Novel(62)

In front of us, Hayley’s hand goes up, and Officer Jackson nods for her to speak. “Yeah, you said we’re supposed to get out if at all possible, right? But, I mean, what if there’s, like, a shooter out in the Student Union and I’m fleeing, but I come upon someone who’s been shot?” She elbows Raj next to her, who rolls his eyes. “Do I just leave him there?”

“Yes.” Hayley flinches and so do I, but Officer Jackson remains stoic in her response. “Your number one priority is getting out so you can call 911, and letting campus security and law enforcement do our jobs.”

Raj leans forward. “But what if I die before you can get there?”

“The faster we can get there, the more people we can save.” Officer Jackson hadn’t exactly answered the question, but I’m not about to call her on it. “Response time is only minutes—after we’ve been alerted. Response times slow drastically when people don’t call 911 right away. That’s why getting out and calling for help immediately is so crucial.”

“But not all shooters have the same motive, right?” Raj’s eyes are on Officer Jackson, intense. “I mean, there’s a difference between a shooter who’s looking to take hostages and one who’s just looking to kill as many people as possible. Some of those guys are going in there planning to die, with nothing to lose, but some actually have demands they hope will be met.”

Hayley turns to Raj with a glaring WTF look, but Officer Jackson nods solemnly. “Yes, that’s true. But my advice to you is the same.”

“Really?”

“Really. If you have a chance to get out, take it—regardless of what you believe the shooter’s motive to be.”

“But—” Hayley elbows Raj to cut him off, but he asks, “What? I just want to prove there’s a scenario where you shouldn’t leave me bleeding to death on the floor.”

I shake my head, laughing at his macabre humor. From the back of the room, Chet clears his throat loudly. “Can we get to the scenarios soon, please? We’re on a tight schedule, and I know all of these valuable employees have work they need to get back to.”

Next to me, Nikki mouths, “Jackass,” and I roll my eyes. But we get up and follow the crowd into the Admissions Office.

“Okay, if you work here, go to your normal work station,” Officer Jackson commands. “If this isn’t your department, pretend you’re visiting.”

Hayley loops her arms through mine and Nikki’s. “Come on, losers. We can all visit in Raj’s office.”

We follow her in. Raj is already sitting with his feet up on his desk, and we plop into chairs around the small office. Nikki grins. “Did you get all your burning questions answered?”

“Hey, it’s important to be an engaged participant in these types of sessions.” He smirks. “Plus, I could see it was pissing Chet off, so I was planning on asking any and every question I could think of.”

They laugh, but I’m busy scanning the room. “Okay, there isn’t a secondary exit here. So when they yell ‘Gun,’ we’re going to have to lock and barricade the door, and I suppose hide behind the desk?”

No one answers, so I turn, and they’re all looking at me in surprise. “Listen to you, Miss Commander.” Raj runs a hand through his floppy black hair. “I hope you’re around in a real crisis. Otherwise we’re stuck with the leadership of Mr. Arrogant Asshole.”

Nikki smirks. “Yeah, and he and Stan will probably be so busy arguing over who’s in charge of leading us to safety that we’ll all be dead.”

Hayley laughs and flips her blonde hair while reaching for a handful of M&M’s out of a dish on Raj’s desk, popping them into her mouth. “By the way, I caught Stan yelling at the president’s sweet old secretary the other day.”

I recoil. “Stan yelled at Charlene? I just saw her, and she didn’t say anything—she just got back from vacation, for crying out loud.”

“This was before she left, I think,” Hayley says. “I could hear it from the hallway passing by—he claimed he had a meeting with the president, but apparently it wasn’t on the calendar and he flipped.”

“God, I can’t believe him,” Nikki says.

I nod but look down, my chest burning with a weird sense of loyalty—and yet of conflict—as I picture Charlene’s kind face from earlier as well as Louise’s sad face in my doorway.

“Right?” Hayley shakes her head. Then she shoots a look at Raj, who raises his eyebrows. She turns back to us. “Hey, has Stan said anything weird about budget stuff?”

I frown. “No. Why?”

“We think Chet’s in trouble.” Raj blurts it out like he couldn’t wait to tell us. “He’s charged way too many questionable trips to the university—conferences that he really didn’t need to be at.”

“Or that didn’t even exist,” Hayley adds.

“You’re sure?” I ask.

“Eh, it’s a rumor floating around, anyway.” Raj shrugs. “But knowing Chet, it’s probably true. And considering budgets are already tight—he’s gotta be in some serious shit.”

Nikki’s eyes narrow. “Stan went to some of the same conferences, I think.”