Code(86)

“The pipes, Jason!” I pointed at the ceiling. “This device is hooked into the air-conditioning system.”

“The HVACs will pump the gas into the ballroom.” Ben shook the chain-link barrier in frustration. “The debs are still being introduced. Everyone up there is a sitting duck!”

“Poison gas?” Jason took a few steps backward. “That’s crazy!”

Hi grabbed Jason by his lapels. “Exactly! We’re dealing with a lunatic. Got it?”

I thought of the people above us. Kit. Whitney. My classmates. A large swath of Charleston’s wealthiest one percent. All crammed into that ballroom.

With so many bodies in such close quarters, the temperature would’ve risen.

The tightly packed crowd, decked out in stifling formal wear, would welcome the influx of cool air.

Until it started killing them.

“We have to shut this thing down!” Jason shoved Hi aside and started banging the metal box with both hands. “There must be a way to kill the power.”

I caught one of his sleeves. “Let me look.”

The others crowded behind me while I studied the mechanism.

“The outer shell consists of five metal plates bolted at the seams.” Thinking analytically calmed me down. “Each side is riveted to the floor. I see no way to access the canisters inside.”

Shelton smacked a side panel. “Building this took mad effort. The Gamemaster must’ve spent hours holed up in this dungeon.”

“Agreed,” I said. “The exterior must’ve been assembled on-site.”

“We rip it open.” Ben gestured with his hands. “Get inside before the canisters discharge. Simple.”

“How?” Hi ran his fingers along one edge. “This box is fastened tight. We’d need power tools to get under its skirt.”

“There must be a way.” But I couldn’t see it. My panic meter was rising again.

“The Plexiglas.” Shelton smacked his hand on the little window. “Bash it open.”

“No good.” My gut warned against tampering with the box’s construction. “The plastic won’t break easily, and the opening’s too small anyway.”

Shelton reached for his earlobe. “We have to do something!”

I waved a hand in annoyance. “Let me think.”

There must be a way to gain entry. A way to win The Game.

Beneath its plastic cover, the touchscreen suddenly flared to life. Cartoon clowns danced and rolled as a familiar script flashed on-screen, red words burning against a black background.


Ready to play?

“This is it.” Trying to still my shaking hands. “We have no choice.”

Hi nodded. Shelton groaned. Jason had locked up, eyes wide, unable to speak.

“There’s no other way?” Ben glared at the screen in anger.

I shook my head. “We play or they die.”

A look of despair twisted Ben’s features, then vanished so swiftly I questioned having seen it. “Do it,” was all he said.

“Here we go.”

Bracing myself, I tapped the Plexiglas with my index finger. The shield didn’t move or open.

“How do I accept? I can’t reach the screen.”

Before anyone could answer, I heard the scrape of a footfall.

All heads whipped to the door at our backs.

Hi ran to investigate. Froze at the threshold. “What are you doing here?”

“Hi?” I couldn’t see past him into the corridor. “Is someone there?”

“Yes.”

His tone chilled my spine. I sprang to Hiram’s side and peered into the passage.

Locked eyes with the last person I expected to see.





CHAPTER 46





Chance smiled coldly from the other side of the grate.

“Trapped in a cage, are we? Seems to be a specialty of yours.”

Ice ran through my veins as I hurried through the passage. The others followed at my back.

Chance Claybourne.

Down here in the bowels of the building, where he had no business being.

Where only the Gamemaster knew we’d be.

How could I have been so dense?

“You!” Shelton shouted. “You’re a monster. Let us out!”

Hi covered his face with his hands. “Man, I did not see that coming.”

“What’s going on?” Jason called from behind me. “Claybourne, bust us loose!”

“Chance, why?” I could barely form the words. “All those people!”

His face pinched. “What people?”

I pressed close to grate. “You have to disarm the device!”

“Device?” Chance squinted. “Victoria, I have no idea what you’re talking about. How’d you lock yourself in there?”

“Stop lying, you turd!” Shelton’s voice crackled with fury and fear. “Murderer! Lunatic!”

“A former mental patient, too,” Hi said bitterly. “God, why didn’t I see it? We knew the Gamemaster was no-joke crazy. Plus Chance hates us, and has all that money.” He smacked his forehead. “I’m such an idiot!”

“That’s the last time I’ll be called a ‘murderer’ by you freaks,” Chance snapped. “Or ‘crazy.’ Now what the hell is this? What’s a Gamemaster? Why are you down here?”