What Have We Done (77)

Then, she spies something that may give her a way out: a man with scraggly hair hiding behind one of the trees.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT

DONNIE

The air is ripped from Donnie’s lungs when he sees them. The two identical women. He now understands how Ben was killed while Donnie was attacked on the ship: It wasn’t the same killer.

There are two of them. And they’re marching Jenna and Nico out of Savior House and down the street. He sees Arty as well, but no Derek Brood.

It was reckless to come back. But he couldn’t let Jenna, or even Nico, walk into a trap with Arty, the person who betrayed them all. And though his heart feels like it will explode out of his chest, his mind filled with doubts that he can save them, he owes it to Benny to try.

He follows in the shadows as they go to a house he remembers from when they were kids, their neighbor’s place. What was it that they called the owner? Some character from The Simpsons? His house bordered the woods and had an expansive meadow in the back that led into the bramble where their beloved tree fort hung in the canopy.

Donnie follows at a safe distance as the group moves to the back of the house. When he catches up, he takes in a breath but just as quickly loses it when he sees the holes in the field. He’d glimpsed the hidden graveyard in Benny’s video, but it’s even more chilling live.

Who killed them? Mr. Brood? Donnie now doubts that. It was a fiction created by Artemis to make them think Brood was selling the girls to a mysterious woman for sex slavery or whatever. But they’d been only two blocks away the whole time, buried less than six feet under. Was Artemis the killer? It didn’t make sense. He’d never shown interest in girls, in anyone sexually, for that matter. It was one of the reasons they called him The Robot. So, who?

Right now, it doesn’t matter. He has the gun from the Boo Radley hole. Ben led him there. And now he’s going to stop the people who killed his best friend.

He ducks low in the shadows. He sees Jenna. Her eyes are darting around. He can almost see the calculations going on in her head, figuring out how she’ll break free.

He can’t let the others spot him. But if he can show himself just enough to catch her eye …

He sees Artemis directing Nico, who’s pulling a duffel bag out of a freshly dug hole.

Donnie stares at Jenna and she locks eyes with him.

All attention is on the duffel as Artemis unzips the top and peers inside.

This is their chance.

Jenna nods at Donnie, who fires the gun in the air and charges the knoll.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE

JENNA

The gunshot echoes in the night. The next seconds are a whirlwind.

Jenna simultaneously arches her back and thrusts her head into a reverse head-butt. Her skull connects hard and she hears the crunch of cartilage at the same time as the deadly whoosh of the cattle gun. The steel rod connects with her back, but she’s managed to put enough distance from the device that it sends a shock wave of pain through her without piercing flesh or bone.

At the same time, Nico swings the shovel, connecting with the other twin, who fires off a shot that doesn’t seem to hit anyone. Nico scrambles out of the hole and onto the twin who’s still got the gun. She’s bleeding from the head, stunned, and he claws at her hand for the pistol, prying it loose.

For his part, Donnie is pointing the gun at Artemis, whose hands are raised.

Back to the other twin, her nose gushing. She’s staggering toward Jenna with the tube weapon.

Nico shouts, “Drop it!” and fires in her direction.

She stops, catches her sister’s gaze, then drops the strange weapon. Nico and Donnie corral the twins and Artemis next to the hole where Mr. Brood was buried. Jenna tells them to shoot if anyone so much as moves an inch. She makes her way over to the shovel, crouches low, and saws the zip ties on her wrists off on its sharp blade. The plasticuffs pop off.

She walks over to Donnie and gently takes the gun from his hand.

“This isn’t about Mr. Brood,” Donnie tells her, his breaths coming in rasps. “It’s about Annie.

And the others.”

“We know, Donnie.”

CHAPTER EIGHTY

DONNIE

After Donnie tells them about Ben’s video, about the skeletal remains, about Ben taking Annie’s necklace from one of the bodies, Nico steps toward Artemis and puts the gun to his head.

Artemis stands there unemotional, not even bracing himself for the head shot.

Donnie watches as Nico’s face reddens as he tightens his hand on the pistol, but he pulls away.

Donnie looks at Jenna, asking with his eyes, What are we going to do?

They can’t go to the police, Donnie knows. They can’t execute them. But they can’t just let them go.

From the woods, a figure emerges.

“Oh shit,” Donnie says.

Jenna already has her gun on the man.

“Hold up, hold up,” Donnie says, both to stop any of them from any sudden moves and to prevent Reeves Rothschild from seeing what’s happening.

“Hemingway, what are you—”

“I was curious why you stayed, so I followed you. What’s going on?”

“It’s not what it looks like. Those two.” He points to the twins. “They killed Benny, tried to kill all of us.”

Reeves is processing the new information. He looks to Artemis, perhaps recognizing the famous tech billionaire.