Epilogue
“How are you doing?” Ana dropped her head onto Alex’s shoulder.
“Been better,” Alex said, smiling.
The two of them were sitting side by side on the concrete forecourt, foil blankets wrapped around their shoulders, keeping out the last of the chill night air.
The gas station had become a staging area for the rescue operation. Lights flashed, radios crackled, uniformed figures scurried here and there. Ambulances were lined up in a row in front of them, backs open, contents spilling out. A whirr of news helicopters flying overhead created a constant background hum, like angry mosquitos swooping over again and again. There was a buzz of nervous energy. Everyone was trying to help. Everyone wanted a part to play.
It was overwhelming. Ever since the police had received an anonymous tip-off, it was all systems go. The local town was on standby. An emergency response area had been set up outside the hospital. Parents and school administrators had been flown in on a donated privatejet (apparently Mr. Dankman’s kind offer to join them was politely declined). They were all in town now, just waiting forthe motel sevento arrive.
Without a shadow of doubt, Ana knew her mom would be there; probably front and center, anxiously checking each ambulance as it arrived, bothering everyone in uniform for news of her daughter. It didn’t matter that they had barely spoken in weeks; when Carmen Reyes heard that Ana was in trouble, she would come. Ana held this thought close as she contemplated what she had to do—it was time for the truth, no more secrets. It was time to tell her mom what she had done a year ago, in the fire—about Danny’s death. Whatever came of it, she was finally ready.
Turning away from the chaos, Ana looked out across the all-too-familiar desert. Dawn light was creeping over the distant mountain range. A new day.
Three hundred and sixty-six.
Next to her, Alex shifted, groaning as he adjusted his ankle. The EMT hadn’t taken any chances, and his entire lower leg was wrapped and bundled into an immense plastic splint.
“Does it hurt much?” Ana nodded at his leg.
“I’m good,” Alex said. “It looks worse than it is, and the pain meds are pretty awesome.” His voice sounded tired. She took his hand, their fingers entwining. It felt natural, being here with him. After everything, it felt right.
“Hey, lovers.” Raya walked up and scooched onto the ground next to them. “Did you hear they found the motel? It was burned to the ground.”
Ana wasn’t surprised. “Probably Hunt trying to cover his tracks and destroy any evidence of the Balloon Game, in case he’s caught.” Itwouldn’t work. When the police had first arrived, Ana handed them a small package: a photo of Karl folded around a gray pen with the HT logo, covered in Matt Hunt’s fingerprints. Between that and Alex’s phone, containing copies of a dozen photos Ana had taken inside the now destroyed bunker, they had all the proof they needed of what Hunt had done to them at the Motel Loba—evidence he couldn’t burn.Checkmate.
“What if they don’t catch him?” Alex’s voice had an edge to it.
They all felt it. The man who had kidnapped and tortured them was still out there somewhere—still free. The thought was terrifying. At the end of the day, thanks to Ana destroying his laptop, Hunt had failed to save the confessions he had gone to such cruel lengths to obtain. What would stop him from coming after them again?
“They’ll catch him,” Raya said, projecting a confidence they all needed to hear. “One of the cops told me there’s a huge manhunt underway. They’ve got the whole area on lockdown. No one’s getting away.”
“Wouldn’t want to be driving a red truck today,” Ana added, wondering what else the police might catch in their net. Two cowboys and a lost basketball player, maybe? She briefly pictured Ellis, wandering alone down some long desert road, desperately trying to get cell reception so he could call his father.
Raya snorted. “Personally, I’m not staying in another motel anytime soon.” Her voice sounded different—worn down, as though some of the fight had gone out of her. Ana looked at her friend. Her face was streaked with dirt, her hair sticking out in clumps. She was clearly trying to be okay, pushing through, but she wasn’t fooling anyone.
“Raya, I’m so sorry I wasn’t there when Ellis…” Ana didn’t know how to finish the sentence:When Ellis killed you? When he tied you up and dragged you to your death?
Raya shook her head dismissively.
“No. Don’t go there. It was a freaking mess. We all had to face shit today. There’ll be plenty of time to cry about it later.” Raya forced a short smile, changing the subject. “Besides, you’re the dark horse, aren’t you? The only one to make it into Hunt’s lair. What was he like? Did he have creepy beer-bottle glasses and a comb-over?”
“No,” Ana said thoughtfully. “He was kind of ordinary, a basic, boring dad type. Even when he talked. I mean, he was obviously ridiculously smart and all, but he almost seemed…nice. Like he’d be selling cookies at a bake sale or something.”
“Yikes. Somehow that seems worse. If you can’t tell a psycho from their looks, they could be any one of us.” As Raya said it, Caden walked out from behind a police car and lumbered across in front of them, heading for a nurse handing out free Gatorade.
Ana and Alex laughed.
“Stop it!” Raya remonstrated gently. “Caden’s all right. I mean, his heart’s in the right place, even if his head’s not always.”
“You know, gotta give him credit,” Alex said. “Caden was the only one who figured out that we weren’t really being shot at. He knew there was something fake about the way Benny died. I totally missed that. I was sure Benny was dead—there was all that blood, and his eyes were wide open. I still don’t get it.”
“I can help with that,” Ana said quickly. In the time she’d spent hanging out in the diner, waiting for Ellis to arrive, she’d managed to put together some of the missing pieces of Hunt’s puzzle. “Benny was a ringer. It was a setup. They faked his death so convincingly that none of us would question if we were actually being shot or not.”
“Benny?Our Bennywas in on it? Dang,” Raya said. “I liked Benny. What gave him away?”
“A few things. Benny’s keychain had the letters HT in orange on it. I thought it was for the ‘Happy Travels Bus Co.’ But when I was in the bunker, I saw the exact same logo—HT forHunt Tech.Why would Benny have a company keychain unless he was working for Hunt? Also, when we were on the line and Benny was about to go, he promised that we would be all right,all of us.I swear he was trying to let us know it wasn’t real, to warn us.”
