Page 67 of Five Survive

Red didn’t know if she could talk, not until the words were there waiting, raw from the silent scream.

“Because he said. He told us he would kill them and I believed him.”

She didn’t need to say the rest, it was there, haunting the end of the sentence, finishing the thought.I believed him, but you didn’t.

“But I don’t understand how he—”

The static dropped out, cutting Oliver off.

“That was your fault,” the voice said, dark and deep, breaking up at the edges. “I told you to send them away.”

Oliver was in front of Red before she realized, taking the walkie-talkie from her hands. Hey, that was hers. Her responsibility.

Oliver pushed down the button.

“You didn’t need to kill them!” he shouted, the white of his knuckles pushing through his skin like a prehistoric backbone. “We didn’t tell them anything. You were watching, we didn’t tell them anything. They were leaving!”

Static.

“You passed them a note telling them to call the police,” the voice answered, clipped and clear.

Oliver’s mouth fell open.

“Did you think I wouldn’t know?” the voice continued. “That was your fault, I didn’t want to do that. They’re dead because of you.”

He paused. A fizzing, metallic breath leaked out of the speakers before the static took over.

“I’m not the one who fucking shot them,” Oliver said, voice breaking, but he hadn’t pushed the button, and Red couldn’t tell if he’d meant to or not.

“Now,” the voice came back, “before anyone else has to die, listen to me. Stop trying to escape. You can’t. Everything has been planned for. Do what I asked you to.” He breathed out, almost a sigh. “One of you has a secret. Give it to me and I’ll let the others live. We have hours before daylight. I’m not going anywhere until I get it, and neither are you.”

Oliver’s brows lowered, a shadow over his eyes.

He raised the walkie-talkie, remembering to hold the button this time. “One ofushas the secret?” he asked, unsure, tripping over the words. “You’re not holding us hostage to get information from someone else?”

This was about him and Maddy, wasn’t it, to get that name from Catherine Lavoy? The Frank Gotti case that Red knew backward and forward. Oliver had been so sure before, and Red had followed him right there.

Static.

“This is all about one of you, inside that RV. Give me what I want and your friends don’t have to die.”

Oliver looked at Red. She tried to hide her realization from him, blink it away. Oliver had been wrong about why they were here. Wrong about the note too. Now two people were dead, right outside, and it was all their fault.

“It’s not about using you and Maddy to get to your mom,” Reyna said, voice steadier now, speaking to the back of Oliver’s head.“Someone here has a secret, knows what this is about. That’s what he’s saying. Oliver, it could be—”

Oliver cut her off, raising the walkie-talkie to his lips. “Who?” he asked. “Which one of us?”

A crackle of static followed by a cackle of laughter.

“That’s not how this works,” the voice said. “You know who you are. I’ll be waiting.”

Static.

The walkie-talkie dropped to Oliver’s side, his eyes dropping with it. Red looked beyond him, at Reyna, then Maddy, Arthur over there and Simon at the back. This was about one of them, about something they knew.

Red coughed, looked away.You know who you are.She had a secret too, didn’t she? Bigger than most. But this wasn’t about her. It couldn’t be. No one knew, that was the whole point of it. No one could ever know, not even tonight. That was the plan. Red needed the plan and she wasn’t the only one. But she had her answer; it wasn’t about that, about her. And if they were talking secrets, Red wasn’t the only one hiding something. Clearly Reyna had a secret, something bad enough to think this night could be about that, something Oliver must know too and didn’t want out. Red had picked up on that. She hadpotential,see? And before, Maddy had denied having a secret just a little too hard and a little too fast, and Red knew her just a little too well. Which meant there was something she didn’t know at all. She didn’t like that feeling.

Simon was the first to speak, voice cutting over the static. “Their truck is right there, like twenty feet from the door.” He sniffed, turning to look out the windshield. He didn’t have a secret he was thinkingabout, then. Or he was just better at hiding it. “All four tires,working engine, no holes in it. Yet. Doors still open. Ready. It will move. It can drive away.”

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