“Holden, we can’t do that to her,” Penelope whispers, and I freeze in my tracks. They haven’t noticed me, but the guards will, so I bend to tie my shoe.
“She was going to let themkillme!” Holden growls. “She deserves what she gets. And we need a distraction—now.” I can’t see his face, but every muscle in his body is tense.
“I know, but—”
Holden grabs Penelope’s arm so hard that she flinches. “You’re either with me or with her, Pen.”
“I’m with you. I told you. But ...” She lowers her voice, and I stand, but I can’t make myself walk away. “If you tell them she took it, they’llkillher.”
I walk to my cousin as fast as I can without drawingattention. “Genesis,” I hiss as I kneel in front of her and Indiana. “Holden’s going to tell them about the C-4.”
She frowns. “He can’t prove it. It’s already in the jungle.”
Holden is already up, heading for Sebastián.
“But what about the ...” I glance at the bulge in her pocket, where the detonator phone is hidden.
“Shit.” She glances around the clearing. “I have to blow it now.”
But Holden is already talking to Sebastián. “There’s no time. Give it to me.”
“No, I—”
I take the phone from Genesis’s pocket, then shove it into my waistband next to my insulin pump. “Trust me.”
I stand, turn my back, and walk away.
“Genesis!” Sebastián aims his rifle at her chest. “Don’t move.”
GENESIS
I stand slowly, my hands in the air.
“Back off!” Sebastián shouts at Indiana. When I nod, Indiana reluctantly takes three steps back. “Óscar,¡venga!”
Óscar begins patting me down while Sebastián maintains his aim at my chest.
Silvana sticks her head out of the green tent. “¿Aún más drama con la princesa?What’s going on this time?”
“Are you missing a detonator and a phone?” Sebastián demands as Óscar’s hands trail down my sides.
Silvana disappears into the tent as Óscar pats my back pockets. “She’s clean,” he declares when he comes up empty.
“The hell she is,” Holden shouts. “We saw it!” Rifles swing his way, and Penelope flinches. “Check her again!”
“She doesn’t have anything,” Óscar says. “The boy just wants revenge.”
Silvana throws open the tent flap and charges toward me, her pistol drawn. “Where are they?”
I backpedal, my pulse racing. “I don’t know what you’re—”
“There’s a brick and a phone missing.” Silvana takes my chin and stares down into my eyes. “Lie to me, and I’llkill every friend you have left.”
1 HOUR EARLIER
MADDIE
Silvana shoves Genesis back by her chin and my cousin lands in the dirt. “Start talking.” Silvana pulls her pistol on Domenica. “Or I will shoot her.”
