Time Bomb(29)

The screen had been cracked before. This fall to the floor had shattered it.

“Who did you call?” Tad asked again.

“What does it matter?” Rashid replied. “You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”

Rashid picked up a T-shirt, and Tad spotted a book on the ground. Tad reached for it.

“Give me that,” Rashid said, snatching the Koran from Tad’s hands.

Tad let the book go. “You always carry that around?”

Rashid looked at him long. Hard. As if someone had hit the PAUSE button on a video. Smoke was still snaking down the hallway. Things snapped and popped and groaned around them. Tad flinched as, under it all, he could suddenly hear someone—a girl—scream. Rashid’s eyes widened. He heard it too.

Still they stood there, looking at each other. Tad waiting for Rashid to explain the call or explain away the book. But Rashid just shook his head, shoved the book into the bag, and grabbed the rest of his stuff. “Someone might need our help,” Rashid said, heading in the direction of the girl’s voice. “Hello?” he called. “Where are you?”

No one called back. There was just the dripping and the sound of Rashid kicking bits of debris as he made his way down the hall.

Tad knew he should be trying to find a way out, but there was someone in trouble, so he followed Rashid. “Hey. If you aren’t involved in any of this, why aren’t you denying it?”

“Because someone needs my help, but even if there wasn’t someone else here, there wouldn’t be any point.” Rashid stopped and called again. “Hello? Are you there?”

“You can’t ignore me. I know what you’re doing,” Tad insisted. “If you were innocent, you’d be pissed as hell. You’d be taking a swing at me, instead of pretending I’m not here. You’d—”

Rashid spun, and Tad could see the guy was well and truly angry as he yelled, “You should know better! You of all people.”

“Me of all people. What does that mean?”

“You know what it’s like to be different, but instead of thinking about that, you stand there while your friends hurl insults and believe everything they hear on television. You should know better, but you don’t, so do you actually think my telling you that you’re wrong would change any of that?”

When Tad didn’t answer right away, Rashid nodded. “That’s exactly what I thought.” He turned again and jogged toward the other collapsed stairwell that Tad already knew was a no-go as far as an escape route. If the guy was really looking for a way out, he wasn’t going to find one there. But if he was looking to set off a bomb he’d already planted . . .

You of all people.

Tad looked at Rashid, then back at the blocked stairs and the hallway near it, which was hazier than it had been before. That couldn’t be a good sign. Rashid moved toward an unopened classroom and pressed his ear to the door. Then he tried the handle. When the door didn’t open, Rashid went to the door next to it and listened.

“What are you doing?” Tad asked. He needed to be searching for an exit. Instead, he yelled, “I asked you a question! What are you—”

“Quiet.” Rashid pressed his ear against the door and frowned.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Shut up.” Rashid help up a hand and waited. “I thought I heard something.”

Tad went still. “Something? What kind of something?” Ticking? The cracking of fire?

“I think the scream came from here.” Rashid turned the handle. This door opened. Rashid pushed it open as far as it would go and peered inside. “Hello?” Rashid shoved harder, shifting a bunch of boards and debris that were in the way. “Hello? Is anyone in there?”

Leave, Tad told himself. But what if it was Frankie trapped in there?

“What do you see?” he asked.

“Hello?” Rashid asked again as he shoved the door all the way open. “Is anyone there?”





Diana





— Chapter 27 —


DIANA KNELT UNDER the tall chemistry tables and tried to get her bearings. Fear. She could still taste it. Still feel it pulsing inside her.

Don’t panic. As long as she didn’t panic, everything would turn out okay. Her father always said that true leaders kept their cool in situations in which everyone else would lose their heads. She and Tim had talked about that a lot during the last few months. Success required the ability to do what had to be done without letting anything—like fear—get in the way. Her father and Tim never panicked. She wouldn’t do it now.

She took out her phone and dialed Tim, while everything around her creaked and wires hung from the ceiling like a scene out of a bad movie.

No answer.

She frowned and crawled out from under the table with her cell phone in hand, then surveyed everything around her. Where was the backpack? She’d had it when she’d been dangling from the desk leg, hanging on for dear life. Then she’d let go, with nothing beneath her, and had hit the floor below feet first, sending a jolt of pain up her legs and spine. More pain when she’d crashed forward to her knees, almost smashing her face into one of the desks.

She had to find that bag.

She had to get out of this room.