Page 64 of Five Survive

“How, Red, how?” Oliver’s eyes flashed. “Go on, explain to me how the sniper is going to see this tiny piece of paper.”

“When you hand it over,” she said, straightening her back too, raising her chin. He was only a few inches taller than her like this. And she couldn’t let him do this.

“I have a plan for that, obviously,” Oliver spat. “Maddy, fold it, and again, and now on the top, write:Do not read until you’ve left this road.Now, quickly.”

Maddy folded the note, her elbow crashing into Red as she did, tongue tucked in her teeth. “Say it again,” she said, preparing the pen, shaking in her grip.

“Do not read until you’ve left this road,” he spat, keeping his voicelow.

“He said he would kill them.” Red watched Oliver watching his sister as she scratched out the words, blocky and big on the small square of paper. “He’s going to kill them.”

“No, he won’t,” Oliver replied, ripping the finished note away from Maddy. “I will shake Don’s hand and pass it over. If I angle it right, the sniper won’t even see the handshake, he’ll just see me trying to get rid of them. Don will know something’s wrong and not to react when he reads that top part. They won’t read the rest until they’re safely out of here, and then they’ll send help. The sniper will never know, he can’t know. This is going to work.”

He flipped the note in his hand, unfolding it to check the words inside.

Help, call the police, there’s an active shooter. We are trapped.

He refolded it, pressing harder than Maddy had, eyes spooling across the words on top, scratchy and desperate.Do not read until you’ve left this road.

“What if it doesn’t work?” Red said, hand darting out to hold on to Oliver’s sleeve, surprising them both. Maddy too, who gasped behindher. “He’ll kill them. That’s someone’s mom and dad out there. New grandparents. Don’t do this. Don’t drag them into this.”

“Red, be quiet. You don’t know what you’re talking about.” He shrugged her off.

But she did know, she knew better than anyone. If something happened to Don and Joyce, their daughter would blame herself for the rest of her life. Why hadn’t she insisted they stay the night? Why couldn’t she have had the baby tomorrow instead? Or yesterday? All her fault, dead because of her.

Red couldn’t put that into words, though, it didn’t belong, wouldn’t fit. So she tried just one word.

“Please.”

“What’s going on?” Arthur was back inside the RV, his voice low, walking over to stand between Red and Oliver. “What are you doing?”

“I’m giving them a note to call the police, passing it over in a handshake,” Oliver said, like he was expecting praise for his bright idea.

Arthur looked at Red and she tried to tell him with her eyes. Please understand.

“You can’t do that.” Arthur turned back to Oliver, and Red breathed out, so glad that Arthur had come back, glad that he was standing right here next to her, on her side. “He’ll shoot them,” Arthur said.

Oliver rolled his eyes, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “No he won’t, he will never know. The sniper hasn’t actually taken a shot at one of us yet. Not one. Maybe he’s actually bluffing, just trying to scare us into doing what he wants, maybe he isn’t planning on killing anyone. Not us, not them.” He tried to move past but Arthur stepped in his way.

“What if he does shoot?” Arthur hissed. “You’d be killing them.”

“Well, I guess it’s four against two. The others would agree withme.” Oliver gestured his head toward Reyna and Simon in the open doorway. Then his eyes flicked back to Red and Arthur; they were the two, outvoted, outnumbered.

Unless:

“Maddy?” Red said.

Maddy held her gaze. “They’ll be fine,” she said quietly. “We can’t not ask them to help us.”

“You’ll thank me when the police turn up and save you,” Oliver said, like it was a threat.

The static crackled into silence.

“You have sixty seconds to get rid of them,” said the voice, vibrating in Red’s hand. A metallic double click from the speaker as he cocked the rifle. “Fifty-nine, fifty-eight.”

“Move.” Oliver pushed Red out of his way, the note folded small, clutched in one hand.

“No,” Arthur whispered, but he didn’t move to stop Oliver.

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