There was a pause. A shadow appeared under the doorway. Ellis was right outside the door.
“Need help?” Ellis called out. “You’ve been in there a while, so I’m guessing you found the hatch.”
“Lucky guess.”
“So, what’s up? Is it locked? Can’t get inside? I’m pretty good at puzzles. Let me in and I’ll give you a hand. You know what they say, teamwork makes the dream work.”
“Thanks for the offer, but as we’re not playing for the same team, I think we’ll pass.”
She could see glimpses of Ellis through the cracks. Up and down, examining everything—the door, the hinges, looking for a chink in their armor.
“Okay. Well, have it your way.” Ellis’s voice sounded distracted. She wasn’t the only one killing time. “You know we have less than twenty minutes left?”
Twenty minutes?How had the time gone so fast? Ana felt a bolt of fear. Twenty minutes and they were no closer to figuring out the code. What if they didn’t guess it in time? What next? Give up? Leave the outbuilding and let Ellis pick them off one by one? Or stay in here and die? Some choice.
Things were silent outside. The shadow had moved away. Ana listened carefully, trying to figure out which way Ellis was heading. She mentally ran through his options. There were skylights on the curved roof, but it would be next to impossible to climb up over the blistering hot sheet metal. Most likely Ellis had already scouted around for any holes he could crawl through. He must have decided the door was his best option.
Where was he?
“Ana, I got nothing.” Alex sounded panicked. “I’m blanking.”
Ana looked for any sign of Ellis. Still nothing. She had a bad feeling about this, but there wasn’t anything she could do. There was no way around it, their only hope was to open the hatch. If they failed to crack the code before the hour was up…well, she couldn’t let herself think about what would happen. They had to. It was that simple.
“Let’s swap,” she called back, heading to the hatch again. “I’ve no idea what Ellis is up to. Be careful.”
As they changed positions, Alex briefly caught Ana’s hand. The warmth of his fingers on her skin, soft against her scars, stopped her.That feeling. She pushed gently against him, and they stood for a moment, stealing precious seconds as they held each other close. She closed her eyes. They were not dying today. Not like this. Not now.
That was when it hit them.
There was no mistaking it. The all-too-familiar smell of smoke. The smell of fire and the bitter scent of burned rubber, paint, and plastic. The smell of death.
“No!” Ana jumped back. Was Ellis really doing this? Was he going to smoke them out and then pick them off? Or let them burn to death then throw their charred bodies across the line? How could he? What waswrongwith him?
“That bastard,” Alex said, running his fingers through his hair,turning to look at the door. Smoke was billowing under it; a flicker of flame licked the edges of the metal frame.
It took just seconds for the smoke to spread throughout the shed. They would have minutes before they wouldn’t be able to breathe. Outgunned. Ellis had won. He’d figured out that if there was only one way in, there was only one way out. They were trapped unless they opened the hatch.
This was bad. Really bad.
Ana’s hands were shaking. She was transfixed by the fire, the flames. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t go through this again. She froze on the spot, unable to move, barely breathing.
Seeing her face, Alex turned and squatted down by the keypad.
D O O R
L O C K
H E L P
Red light. The one-minute countdown started. Alex stood up.
“I’m going to the door. If it comes to it, I’ll fight him. Okay?” Alex said, picking up the stick Ana had dropped. He pulled her around to face him. “Ana, I’m out of ideas. I need you to take over. You’re the smart one. You’re our only hope. Out there, we lose.” Alex was talking gently, but his words had a finality to them. “Don’t look at the fire. Just don’t look at it. This is different from last time. I promise.”
Ana got it. No time for weakness. No time to remember. They both had their part to play. Their lives depended on it.
She nodded, shaking herself out of it, shaking it off.
“I’ve got this. Go,” she muttered, turning away and dropping to her knees to study the lock.
