"Humor me,” he said. She fell silent.
Jasper emerged from the hallway carrying his sidearm. "What've we got?"
“I don’t know,” Ronan admitted. “Let’s check with Avery.”
Avery was already in the security room. "I'm pulling camera feeds,” she said as the monitors flickered to life. The final image zoomed toward the tree line. A little girl stood alone in the rain, barefoot, wearing an oversized white hospital gown. She couldn't have been older than eight. She looked directly into the camera.
Sophia gasped so sharply that it made everyone turn. "No—” Her face had gone white.
Ronan looked from the monitor to Sophia. "You know her." Tears filled Sophia's eyes, and she nodded, barely able to breathe.
"That's Emma." The name trembled from her lips. "The little girl I told Jasper about." Everyone looked back at the monitor as the child slowly raised one trembling hand. She wasn’t waving but pointing toward the woods behind her. Then she mouthed three silent words.
They’re behind me.
And then, the camera feed exploded into static.
The security monitors went black. One by one—all eight screens had turned to static and then went black. The only sound inside the safe house was the steady drum of rain against the windows.
Ronan was already moving. "Lock the house down."
Avery's fingers flew across the keyboard. "I'm trying."
"What do you mean by trying?" Ronan asked.
"Somebody's inside the network,” Avery said. Her jaw tightened. "They're not hacking us." She looked up. "They're controlling us."
Jasper stepped into the security room. "Offline?"
"Completely offline,” she said.
"Do we have thermal?" Jasper asked.
"Gone,” Avery said.
"Perimeter feeds?” Ronan asked.
"Gone,” Avery said.
Ronan sighed. "I hate competent bad guys."
Sophia hadn't moved. She stood frozen in the middle of the great room, staring at the blank monitors. "Emma." Her voice barely carried.
Ronan stepped behind her. "Sophie."
"That was her."
"I know,” Ronan said.
"They found her." Tears welled in Sophia's eyes. "I promised that I’d come back." Ronan watched guilt crash over her like a tidal wave. She wasn't seeing the monitor anymore; she was back in Keller's compound, and back with an eight-year-old girl who'd looked at her like she hung the moon. And Sophia had survived, but Emma hadn't—or so she believed. Until now.
"Talk to me." Jasper's voice was calm and grounded.
"What do you remember?" Sophia closed her eyes.
"She liked dinosaurs." The room fell silent.
"What?" Ronan asked gently.
