Ellis looked like he was ready to spin the wheel and be done. But he couldn’t yet. He needed to keep his hostage alive for as long as possible, just in case Ana showed up. It could prove to be a tactical advantage; Ana would never do anything to hurt Alex, and Ellis knew it.
“Does it fucking matter? Even if she survived, which is unlikely, she won’t survive the next hour.” He turned to face Alex squarely. “You see, you’re her weak spot, Alex. She’ll come out of hiding for you—and when she does, I’m going to finish the game. Once and for all.”
Alex just shrugged. The power had shifted.
“Maybe I can’t stand up to you and win. But Ana? She’s beaten you at every turn. She’s smarter and stronger than you will ever be. If she’s alive, if she made it to the bunker, then you’re the one who needs to be afraid, because she’s mad at you, for Raya, for what you’re doing to me. She’s so mad…and you want to know something else? When she comes—and she will come, it won’t be for me.” Alex turned to look at Ellis through his curtain of dark hair, a smile on his lips. “She’ll be coming for you.”
38
Ana
34:23
Matt Hunt reached up and pulled off his mask.
“No need for this anymore.” He threw the mask on the bunker floor next to him and looked up at Ana. She hadn’t dared move and was still standing in the middle of the floor, clinging to the weight with both hands.
The dim light caught his features, vaguely familiar but softened by age and grief since the last time she’d seen him—a year ago, standing in the hospital hallway, hands in pockets, waiting to hear that Karl was dead. She knew him from the all-school debates; the sad widower who’d sponsored the debate team and showed up to every event, no matter how small, to support his only son. The only son who had walked into the gym a year ago, poured gasoline everywhere, and set himself and the building on fire.
Instinctively, Ana glanced behind her at the photo in the center ofthe corkboard. Karl’s young, anxious face peeked out at them, smiling into the mess that his actions had created.
“You finally figured out who I am. So, what was it? What gave me away?” Hunt was sitting on the edge of the chair now.
“The debate team uniform.” Ana nodded at his gray striped shirt and orange ‘HT’ logo. “Your company, Hunt Tech, sponsored the debate team. Whoever was doing this had to have some tech skills—decent enough to hack the school portal. That was kind of obvious, don’t you think?” she added. It had been anything but obvious, but she didn’t need to tell him that. She’d got there in the end.
“Ha, yes. My rather chic shirt.” Hunt chuckled; he was enjoying himself. “I did indeed sponsor the debate team. When Karl was put on probation by the school, they required him to join the team. He was miserable, so I figured I’d support him in any way I could—show him I was proud of him. What else did you manage to figure out?”
Ana tried to project calm control, her mind racing.
“The Balloon Game. It was the debate team warm-up.”
“Yes! Karl loved that game when he was little. We played it endlessly on car drives. He was the one who suggested it to the debate team, you know,” he added proudly. “A moral quandary. Who should live and who should die—it seemed like a fitting metaphor for this place. Good. Anything else?” He was smiling. Ana felt a flash of hot anger.How dare he smile?
“The Motel Loba.” Ana was winging it now, putting two and two together on the fly. “The Wolf Motel. In honor of Karl’s old basketball team—the St. Francis Wolves, I assume?”
“Hmmpf…close.” Hunt shook his head. “I did rename the Motel Loba after the Wolves, but certainly not in their honor. They don’t deserve to be honored.” A coldness had crept into Hunt’s tone. Hethrew out a quick smile. “Well, Ana Reyes. You answered my questions. I believe you have earned the right to ask me some questions now.”
“Is Alex alive?” Ana didn’t hesitate. She had to know. Her knees felt inexplicably weak. She held her breath. What if the answer was no? What then?
Hunt nodded curtly. “Alex is alive.”
That was all she needed to hear. There was still a chance. It was like a drug coursing through her veins, a powerful burst of hope exploding inside her, pushing fear away. There was still a chance.
“Next question,” Hunt said, smile still fixed smugly on his face.
How can you do this to us, you loser-freak?Ana bit back the words. It wouldn’t help. To beat him, she would have to think like him.
“Why are you doing this?”
Hunt’s smile dropped. It was as though a shadow fell over him. He looked away from Ana, one hand reaching out to gently touch a chess piece, fingertips resting on the queen.
“Two years ago, my beautiful wife, Karl’s loving mother…died.” He moved his hand across to the white king and pushed it to the center of the board, then carefully picked out a knight and stood it alongside the king. “It was hard for Karl, losing his mother that young. He had…struggles—challenges. He rejected his family and got into drugs and all sorts of trouble. Getting kicked off the Wolves was the lowest point for him. Basketball was his life, the one thing that kept him going. You would have thought they’d have given him a break. He’d lost his mother, for Christ’s sake. But no. One strike and you’re out.”
Ana had heard it all before. How Karl had deliberately started the fire during the Wolves’ game because he was bitter about being cut from the team. She didn’t want to listen to Hunt making excuses for his son’spsychotic behavior; not after today, not after everything he’d put them through.
While he was distracted, she took a closer look at Hunt’s radio. It was propped on the chessboard, inches from his hands—he was keeping it close. From here it was impossible to tell if it was a satellite phone or just some kind of fancy walkie-talkie, but she hadn’t seen anything else in the bunker that looked like a communication device. It had to be the way Hunt kept in contact with the outside world. Which meant it was her way to call for help.
Hunt was still talking: “Things were getting better, slowly. Karl got help—therapists, doctors, support groups. He was taking anti-depressants and they were making a difference. I took time off work to be with him. He had started working out and was beginning to feel like himself again for the first time since his mother died. The night before the fire, we were planning a European vacation, booking hotels and flights. He was so excited about the trip, about his future. No matter what anyone says, I know that my son did not want to die.I know.”
