“God, what am I even doing here?” she said, throwing her arms wide and stepping away from him. “This is a waste of time.”
“Whyareyou here?” he asked quietly. “For real.”
She had her hand on the door, poised to leave. She didn’t have to talk to him. She didn’t have to tell him anything. She might have considered him her friend once, but that had been based on a lie. She didn’t want to fall into his trap again, but she still hoped. Hoped he could be rehabilitated. That they could get his brother out, like they were working to find June. That all would be right with the world.
“My brothers have gone to check out the camps,” she said to the door. “I guess I wanted to think about anything but my fear for them.”
“Wait…what?”
She glanced over her shoulder to find that he had surged to his feet. This entire time, he’d remained seated, but now he looked frantic.
“They went to the feeding camp?” Everett demanded.
“Yeah. We had to corroborate your story.”
“When did they go?”
“I don’t know. A couple of hours ago. Why?”
The look on his face—like there was a Rubik’s Cube before him and he only had a matter of minutes to get all the colors on the right sides—made her body turn to stone. When he looked at her again, her blood ran cold.
“What?” she demanded.
“It’s a trap.”
“What’s a trap?” she whispered, though she already knew.
“They set me up. They know you’re coming.” He held his hands out. “Tell them all to come back. Get them home.”
“They have precautions against it being a trap,” she told him.
“Not enough. They must have let me find the information on purpose. Shit, shit, shit!” His fear permeated the room. “Reyna, go. Go now!”
She saw the truth in his eyes and slammed her hand on the door. It opened slowly. She slipped out and was running down the hallway before either of the guards could ask what was wrong. Her heart was slamming in her chest.
She needed to get to Sydney. She needed to hear from her that all was going to according to plan. That she was freaking out over nothing. Everett had planted the idea in her head, but his fear was what had triggered this reaction. She was sprinting, running at top speed, grateful for all those hours on the treadmill pushing herself to her limits. She skipped the elevator entirely and took the stairs three steps at a time.
She was panting by the time she burst into the conference room.
“It’s a trap,” she gasped. Her hands were on her knees. “Everett thinks…it’s a trap.”
Sydney had her hands braced on the table at the head of the conference table. Only Gabe and Washington stood at her sides. She knew Beckham had to be visible anytime a mission was going on, so he always had an alibi.
“We know,” was all Sydney got out.
“You…you know?” she said in shock. Her voice rose as her anger did.
“We mapped all the contingencies. We didn’t know ahead of time,” Sydney told her. “But they were ambushed once they got to the facilities.”
“What happened? Is anyone hurt?” Reyna demanded.
“We don’t know.”
“How could you not know?” she asked, panic rising.
Gabe crossed to her. “We should talk about this somewhere else.”
“Don’t you dare fucking placate me.”
