It starts to make sense—Carrie’s mapped out the perfect timing for the escape, down to the guard shift and when the hallway’s clear.
My chest tightens. It’s real. She’s really trying to get us out.
I look up at my brother and then at Jace. “If we do this, there’s no turning back.”
But I already know we’re all thinking the same thing. We’re not just planning—we’re actually going to try.
“But the last word doesn’t fit. Is Coleson someone here in the prison with us?” I say.
“I don’t know,” Jace says, rubbing his chin. “But I swear I’ve heard that name before.”
Nico frowns at something before turning over the leaf. “There’s more here.
There, written in even tighter print, is another series of odd symbols and slashes—some kind of second code. This one looks a hell of a lot more complicated.
Nico leans in, brow furrowed. “You ever see anything like that?”
I shake my head, feeling the frustration build. “No. Not like this. It looks almost like a cipher.”
Jace stands up abruptly, heading toward the bookshelf at the end of the ward. “Keep looking at it. I’ll be right back.”
He comes back with a battered paperback—The Maltese Falconby Dashiell Hammett. The cover is worn, pages yellowed from too many hands.
Jace drops it onto the bunk. “I checked this out the last time I was in the library. The last time I spoke to Carrie. Look at the last word on her code. It’s Coleson.”
He flips open the book, runs his finger along the first page, then points to the copyright and author bio. “I think she’s telling us to use this book to break the code.”
Nico stares at the title, then back at the coded note. “Seriously? This is some spy shit.”
Jace grins, a flicker of hope in his eyes. “No—this is Carrie. She always loved puzzles.”
The words jolt something in me. I remember the night a few of us were holed up in the Reaper clubhouse, half-drunk and bored out of our minds. Someone handed Carrie an old coded message from a rival crew—just a dumb prank, something they thought would stump her for fun. She cracked the thing in under fifteen minutes, laughing as she spelled out the answer on a napkin. Jinn looked annoyed. I just remember thinking she was smarter than any of us.
I blink, coming back to the present, feeling more certain. “If she left us a puzzle, we better take it seriously.”
Nico glances between us, a new edge of excitement in his voice. “Let’s see what she’s got for us, then.”
We crowd close over the bunk, the note, and the battered book, hunched low so no one can see. Jace flips throughThe Maltese Falconwhile Nico keeps an eye on the cell bars. I keep my ear tuned to the hallway, my pulse jumping every time voices echo closer.
Carrie’s system is clever—symbols point to page numbers, then lines, then words. Each time we get a phrase, we jot it down and cover everything with a deck of cards when anyone passesby. At one point, an older inmate gives us a look, but Nico just deals him into a fake game, smooth as ever.
Little by little, the message comes together. As I read the words out loud, my hands go clammy.
Get sent to solitary. East end, cell 3. Floor vent. Pry it up after lights out. Under vent: tunnel access, leads outside fence. Maintenance schedule: power out for repairs. Escape during blackout.
Nico leans over the map, voice just a whisper. “Jace, you ever hear about some tunnel in solitary? You’re the only one who’s spent a night in that hellhole.”
Jace shakes his head, eyes narrowed. “Never. Just the usual vents and the slab. If there’s a hatch, it’s hidden as hell. Or welded down.”
Nico shakes his head, incredulous. “How the heck did she even find out this stuff?”
I think about the way Carrie laughed with the staff at the event, her smiles and her quick questions that never seemed suspicious—just friendly, like she was trying to get along. That was the game.
We decode the rest of it piece by piece. It takes a fair bit of time. None of us are as smart as Carrie, and as I memorize the pattern, I can’t help but think how cool she is.
She deserves better than us.
The thought comes to me, leaving me almost breathless. I want to be worthy of her.
