She was talking to Vinco, the knife-wielding bastard.
“I believe you. But she’s not there now. She’s hiding with this Broken Guy. We need to entice her out,” Vinco said.
“I’ve tried. I promised to not recycle her friend if she turned herself in. It didn’t work.”
“Perhaps we need to find someone she cares for more,” Vinco said.
“She has no other friends. The general opinion is she’s a loner and detests being among the scrubs. Not that I blame her.”
“She might think you’re bluffing about her friend. Schedule him for execution. Parade him down through the lower levels on his way to Chomper’s Lair, take him inside and kill-zap him if she doesn’t give herself up.”
“And if she does?” Karla asked.
“Contact me and I’ll interrogate her.”
I shuddered at the delight in his voice.
“What about her friend?” Karla asked.
“Keep him alive for now. He’s fun to play with.”
“What time should I schedule the execution?”
“Before the hundred hour assembly.”
“All right. Go spread the word, Commander.”
The sound of a shutting door echoed through Riley’s metal box. I stared at the clock. Hour sixty-two. Thirty-eight hours to turn myself in. Yet another count down. But this one didn’t produce blind panic. Was I more confident of our success? Or was I just used to being in a constant state of panic?
I re-joined the others. They had answered another two questions. Four left.
“What’s the one about turning something in?” Takia asked me.
“Oh. It’s question number six. It’s, ‘What do you turn to get the outside in?’”
A discussion ensued, producing the same answers I had. Riley sat in the midst of them, adding his own arguments to the debate. But Doctor Lamont kept her place along the wall. Her pale face appeared strained. I walked over to her.
“Do you feel all right?” I asked.
She gave me a wan smile. “Isn’t that my line?”
“When you look as white as the lady sleeping in the infirmary, it’s a valid question.”
“Just tired.” She pushed away from the wall. “I better check on her and make sure there’s no internal bleeding.” Doctor Lamont hurried from the room.
That’s all the poor woman needed, I thought. She had lost so much blood; I hoped she wasn’t bleeding on the inside.
Daylights flooded my mind. Of course, how stupid! I punched the wall. Everyone quieted and stared at me.
“I know the answer to number six!” I cried.
“Don’t keep us in suspense,” Riley said.
“Inside out! You turn the inside out to get the outside in.”
The group worked another hour, then each left at different times. We had answers, or what we thought were the correct answers to eight of the ten questions. Not bad. I sent a message to Logan through Jacy, and arranged to bring Logan to Domotor’s hideout at hour eighty-one. His hidden room would be the best to access the network without interruption and without Pop Cops looking over his shoulder.
Jacy hadn’t mentioned Karla’s plan to use Cogon as bait, and I, too, avoided it. Riley returned to his work station and Doctor Lamont rested in her room. Exhaustion pulled at me, but the doctor had asked me to watch over her patients while she slept.
