Page 87 of Five Survive

Oliver nodded, seeing the sense in what Maddy had just said. “Yes,” he said, just to confirm it. “Yes, she would have wanted that. To keep Red safe, anonymous. Make sure no one ever found out who you were. Except”—he paused, a wayward muscle ticking in his cheek—“someonehasfound out who you are. They know you’re the witness. That’s what all this is about.” He gestured his arms around the RV, rolling those too-wide shoulders. Red followed his fingers as he traced them in the air, pointing to the bullet holes in the walls and furniture. “I said—right at the start, didn’t I?—that this hadorganized crime written all over it. This is what they do.” He stood still for a moment, staring right at her, through her. “They’re here to kill you, to make sure you can’t testify at the trial.”

Simon gasped, maybe not at what Oliver was saying but that he’d said it at all. But Red knew Oliver was right, the rest of them must as well. The man out there with the rifle knew who she was. And that little red dot, it was meant for her, always meant for her.

“Oliver,” Reyna hissed, trying to tell him something with her eyes, but Oliver blinked and looked away from her, back at Red.

“Why didn’t you say all this three hours ago, when the sniper told us he knew who we were, that he was looking for a secret?” His eyes darkened, and Red’s heart reacted like there was a direct link between them, cause and effect, kicking up in her chest. “You must have known he was talking about you.”

But she hadn’t, and that was the truth. She hadn’t because she’d listened to Oliver once again, over her own gut.

“No,” Red said, taking one step back, away from Oliver, toward Maddy. “I didn’t. I didn’t think there was any way they knew I was the witness. Your mom told me no one could find out my name or any identifying factors, that was the whole point. And then you confused me.” Red shook her head. “You said they were holding you and Maddy hostage to get the name from your mom. And I thought you must be right, and obviously I didn’t want them to get the name because then they’d know it was me, so I went along with your escape plans. I was wrong, but so were you.”

It happened in half a breath, in one flicker of static hissing in her hands. Oliver switched, flipped, face changing around those overbearing eyes. Hard edges and all teeth.

“You should have told us at the start!” he roared, pointing two fingers toward her, like a gun made from the flesh and bone of his hand.“You knew this was about you. You kept it to yourself, kept us here hours longer than we needed to be! Selfish, Red! Stupid. Those two people out there.”

Red bet he’d already forgotten their names.

“They’re dead and it’s your fault!” Spit flew from his mouth. “You could have ended this hours ago!”

No, not more guilt, Red couldn’t carry any more. She’d begged Oliver not to pass that note to Joyce and Don. It was him, not her. Please say it wasn’t her.

“You didn’t tell your secret back then either,” Arthur said, rough and jagged. Was he angry, or was that from Oliver pressing against his throat? “It could have been about you and you held on to it, you and Reyna. You only spoke up when Reyna forced you to.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Oliver said, not taking his eyes off Red, trapping her there in his gaze. She shouldn’t have looked back, now she was stuck, legs melding into the ground.

“If you die, Frank Gotti walks,” Oliver said, voice lower, but the threat was still there, recharging. “That’s what they want. They’re here to kill you.”

“She knows that, Oliver,” Simon said, staring at the back of his head. “You don’t have to keep saying it.”

Oliver blinked and Red moved another step back, closing the gap between her and Maddy. The RV wasn’t safety, but Maddy Lavoy was. Maddy looked after her, just like Catherine. Paid for Red’s lunch sometimes when she couldn’t, though Red had never asked her to. Helped her look for things when she lost them, kept reminders like a walking, talking to-do list. Organized this whole trip so Red could afford to come on spring break. Maddy cared.

“Red,” Oliver said, turning her name ugly in his mouth, full of hard edges. “You have to leave the RV.”

No one said anything for two seconds, only the empty fizzing static that had made its home in Red’s head.

“What?!” Maddy shrieked, voice right behind her, cutting through. “Oliver, what are you talking about?”

“She has to leave the RV!” Oliver looked over at his sister, like Red was already gone and it wasn’t up for discussion. “They want her. She’s putting the rest of us in danger by staying here. Look. He’s going to keep shooting up the RV until he gets what he wants. Some of us will get hit. Some of us will die if we continue. We need to give him what he wants, and he wants Red!”

“No!” Arthur roared now, voice dark and dangerous to match Oliver’s. He stretched up to his full height, raised his chin to look Oliver in the eye. “Red is not leaving the RV.”

“You can’t be serious,” Simon was saying. “He’ll kill her!”

Oliver didn’t answer Simon, instead looking at Red like she was the one who’d spoken. Her heart was fast in her chest, too fast, it knew what was coming and so did she, both unraveling at their seams. She didn’t want to die. She wasn’t ready. And, oh god, she’d know it was coming, just like her mom did, lifetimes of regret and guilt and anger and hate in those last few seconds of life. No one’s world would fall apart without her, though, at least that was one good thing. Would it hurt, or would it feel like relief, when the bullet finally split her open? What should her final thought be? Please, not about the fucking pattern in those fucking curtains, why couldn’t she let that go? She was supposed to be thinking about dying, for fuck’s sake. She didn’t want to die. No, this couldn’t be happening. Maddy, help.

“You must have known,” Oliver was saying, voice strange and unsteady like he was trying to control it, trying to be reasonable when reason had gone out the window hours ago. His eyes betrayed him,though, wild and overfocused. “On some level. You must have known this was a possibility when you agreed to testify, Red. I mean, this is the Philly mob we’re talking about, what did you think was going to happen?”

Not this, never this. No one was ever supposed to find out her name, Catherine told her that.

“But she didn’t do anything wrong,” Simon said, backing up to stand closer to Red. “She just saw a man leaving a crime scene, she shouldn’t have to die for that.” His arms tensed at his sides, the Eagles logo on the back of his shirt rippling, mouth opening and closing like it was whispering silent nothings to Red. “I mean, Oliver, you actuallykilledsomeone and you weren’t prepared to leave the RV.”

“This doesn’t concern you, Simon,” Oliver said, darkly, trying even harder to mask it.

“Yes it does!” Simon raised his voice. “It concerns every single one of us. ‘No one is leaving this RV,’ that’s what you said, back when you thought it was your secret they wanted. I see the rules are different for you, then! We’re not kicking Red out!”

“Do you want to die?” Oliver let his eyes fall on Simon, and Simon shrank under their weight.

“No one wants to die, that’s my point,” Simon answered, trying to push back.

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