CHAPTER 6

MAIV

Izzy came in shyly, but Ana seemed instantly stronger. She hugged Izzy hard before turning to Adam and Maiv. “Thank you,” she said. “This means the world to me.”

Izzy took one look around and said, “Can we order room service?”

Everyone cracked up. “Not now, kitten. You have to go back to sleep.” Despite Izzy’s protests, Ana bundled her into the motel bed, turning off the lamp on the side table. Meanwhile Maiv took Adam aside.

“I can’t thank you enough.”

“Hey, it worked out. I didn’t get arrested or anything.” He was joking, but the smile died as soon as he saw the look on Maiv’s face. “Maiv, you have to tell me what’s going on. Your parents are super worried. Nobody’s seen you since you were at my house yesterday afternoon. You haven’t been answering calls or texts . . .”

“I can’t get into it right now, Adam. Just go home, and if you can talk to my parents outside or get them to come to your house, tell them that I’m safe, for now. And that I’m working something out. And that I’m so sorry. But I’m serious, you can’t call them or text them or talk to them at our home.”

“Safe for now? What are you mixed up in, Maiv? Who are these other people? What—”

“Later,” said Maiv. “I swear. I’m only keeping you in the dark right now to protect you. The less you know, the safer you’ll be. But at some point—I will tell you everything. I promise.”

***

“All right,” whispered Maiv after Adam had left. The four of them sat in the dark. She kept her voice low to avoid waking Izzy. “Let’s go through all our tasks.”

Ana bit her lip. “Listen, I’m not proud of the things I did. So I just want to say I’m sorry for whatever—”

James cut her off. “We all are, Ana. We made some bad choices. But for really good reasons, I bet. To help our families. And this guy took advantage of us. So let’s just figure out how to make it right.”

Ana nodded. Colin leaned forward and put his head in his hands and then sat back up. “OK, I’ll go first.”

After about fifteen minutes the four of them had laid out their tasks. Maiv wrote them down by the light of her phone, then organized them all into a time line for the past week and a half. She read it out loud.

Last week: Maiv wrote a story for her school newspaper about teen runaways. This would make Maiv’s later disappearance seem like something she planned herself. Colin took video footage of Ana and Izzy at a park and sent a snap cutter to Ana’s house. Maiv created a computer virus, put it on a jump drive, and sent it to Ana. Late Sunday night, Ana stood outside James’s apartment with a banner that said ‘We’re waiting.’

Monday: Colin went to SolarStar to get footage of the office layout and to plant a bug in the office of Len Steinberg. He failed to plant the bug and then left it at Ana’s house. Ana left the jump drive with Maiv’s virus at James’s apartment.

Tuesday: James left a note for the principal of Cleveland High School, saying that Maiv was cheating. Ana planted the bug in Steinberg’s office. Maiv bought clothes and a burner phone to send to James.

Wednesday: James stole Ana’s backpack. Maiv left a threatening note for Colin. Ana received Colin’s footage of herself and Izzy—another threat. She used the snap cutter to damage the plumbing of Maiv’s house. James spray-painted the outside wall of Colin’s high school with a threat to Colin’s family. Colin stole James’s bike.

Thursday: Maiv delivered Colin’s fake ID and credit card. Colin used these to buy a gun. Maiv put a threatening note in James’s locker. James took the printed copy of Colin’s family’s insurance from their hardware store.

Friday: Maiv delivered fireworks to Ana’s house. James released Maiv’s virus at EarthWatch, probably wiping important info from their servers. Ana stole and destroyed a jump drive from EarthWatch, probably for the same reason. James also left a threatening voicemail for Paul, using the phone Maiv sent him.

Saturday: Ana took photos of Paul and his family and left them at James’s apartment. James followed Paul, wearing the clothes Maiv sent him. He also delivered the photos to Paul’s house. Colin delivered the gun to Ana’s house. At midnight, Ana set off the fireworks behind Colin’s family’s store, setting it on fire.

Sunday: James left a package in a locker at the Amtrak station. Colin rented the van and drove it downtown. Ana planted the gun under a bench for James. Colin reverse-pickpocketed James to give him his instructions. James stole the file from Jennifer McKnight’s office at StolarStar.

“Holy crap, this is insane,” said Colin.

“Yeah,” said James. “He didn’t have ten tasks planned out ahead of time for each of us. He left himself a bunch of leeway, so he could make up stuff as he went along—tasks that would punish someone else, or fix someone else’s mistakes.”

“Or just get our fingerprints on things,” added Maiv. “Or catch us on some security camera somewhere. So that we’d all take the fall, and no one would ever figure out that he was pulling the strings.”

Maiv fought against the despair that gnawed at her. The Benefactor was a careful planner and good at thinking on his feet. He adjusted his plan every time the contestants tried to go off-script. How could they ever outwit this person? Especially since the Benefactor clearly had a lot of money and probably a lot of power. It was hopeless.

“But it looks like you were right, Maiv,” said Ana. “Aside from the tasks that are just designed to scare us and keep us in line, everything’s connected to ruining this one project. Erasing the records at EarthWatch and then stealing the hard copy.”

“Except one thing,” said James. “My eighth task doesn’t line up with anything. That package I left at the Amtrak station—what do you think that was?”

Looking at the three of them—so keyed up, so ready to do whatever needed doing—Maiv felt the despair fade a little. They were in this together. “I don’t know,” she said. “But we can find out.”