Chapter 50

 

RENEE CAUGHT UP with the three kids as they got to the door and grabbed them to stop them fleeing into the dust.

“Why are you rushing ahead?”

Sawyer’s kid sighed. “I overheard Mr. Sawyer talking to Ms. Harrison. He felt gala night would be perfect for the visitors to abduct students. He’s on the lookout.”

And that would have been useful information before. “He armed?”

He nodded.

Great.

Renee pulled on her mask, and they headed out into the storm. Her heart pounded in her chest. The kids were light and fast which made it easier. She halted them at the corner. The guard was walking away but Aeron’s warning rang through her mind.

“We’re going to head back around my building and hit the garage that way.”

She realized that the kids didn’t have radios.

Dimwit.

She took hold of the two boys’ hands and got the girl to hold on to her waistband. They hurried down the steps, around the building, and to the back. The guard in the southeast hut was patrolling. His route was near the dorm between where they’d stood in the far southeast corner and where the dining halls were.

She led the kids along the back path, feeling both boys squeeze her hands tighter as the storm intensified. There was no shelter this side.

She headed northeast, taking refuge next to her villa. She glanced back to her left. The boys’ dorm door opened and a flashlight beamed out. Renee ducked around the side and pulled the kids into motion. The light turned back toward the main building.

She made a break for the garage. One knock and she burst inside.

“Five minutes,” she muttered to herself as she pulled off their masks and Ryan handed them some water.

“Sawyer is on the prowl. Cut the lights and stick to flashlights, okay?”

Ryan nodded and ushered the kids toward the bus. She was glad to see he looked more alert.

She smiled at Ty, Ian, Jane, and Leigh-Anne. “Everyone okay?”

They nodded.

Good.

Renee pulled down her mask. She took a deep breath.

Eight kids down.

Another eight to go.

She swallowed the dryness in her throat. It was getting tougher each time.

 

URSULA NODDED TO the five suited-up kids around her group and Jessie. They needed to work together to pull it off. One by one they skirted up the rope to the second floor of the main building.

The beam of a flashlight rounded the corner. She darted up the rope and reeled it in. The flashlight beam moved closer to where she’d been standing.

No surprise Sawyer was on patrol. She shut the window, cleaning the dust that had come in with them.

“Urs, I need your guys ready.”

Ursula touched her earpiece. “They can make it by themselves. Get Jed. Jessie and I will bring his sister.”

“Roger that.”

As the kids fanned out and crept through Jäger’s quarters, Ursula crept out, down the stairs, and scanned the empty hallway. She hurried around the corner, unlocked, and headed into his office. She pulled the device from where Aeron had planted it and placed it in her pocket. She woke up his computer and inserted a USB drive into it.

The second Jäger knew they’d pulled one over on him, he’d try and cover his tracks.

False trails and some inventive doctoring of newspapers and locations would keep Aeron’s family safe. Alex Riley had never been to Missouri, still, Frei wanted to make sure.

Ursula wiped every file Jäger had and installed new, false ones to cover them. Then she planted a special change to his computer. A safety clause.

She headed back out, locked up behind her, and hurried around the corner. She took a breath and dashed across the hallway and back up the stairs. She slipped into Jäger’s quarters and over to the window. Jessie and the others were waiting for her.

They gave her the thumbs up.

Perfect.

They were all out of the window and on the ground in seconds. “Head to the garage. Good work. Go, get comfortable.” Her kids disappeared from view and she turned to Jessie. “Jed’s sister.”

Jessie nodded and they crept west to the girls’ main dormitory. Jed’s sister’s things were on the bus. She’d been told that her room was being redecorated and that’s why she was in Jessie’s room.

Ursula just hoped Jessie could keep her calm enough to get her to the garage.

Darting kids was risky.

 

I PEEKED OUT at the stage. The hero was being told to meet his love next to the usual palm tree. There were three kids left with me—Jed, Miroslav, and Miranda. I didn’t know how Renee was going to pull it off but I couldn’t appear anything but calm.

I glanced at Miroslav who made my heartbeat grow heavy and I wandered to him.

“Hands,” I whispered.

He held out his hands. As I suspected, they were a weird blue color.

“Salt, water, now.”

He smiled at me. “I was trying to keep it for the performance.”

“Take it now,” I said, squeezing his shoulder. “Better to stall it before it starts.”

The stage door opened and Renee crept in. She resembled a sand sculpture. I headed to her and handed her a towel and once again forced her to drink something.

“Sawyer,” she mumbled. “Thanks for the heads up.”

“That’s my job.” I smiled at her.

“Progress?”

My smile faded. “The usual palm tree.”

Renee closed her eyes for a second. “Oh no. She’ll be telling him that she lied any minute.”

I cocked my head at her.

“You’re not the only one who loves Oscar.” She held out her arm to Jed who still had Miranda attached to him. “You can canoodle on the bus. Move it.”

Jed kissed Miranda and strode over to Renee. He looked all kinds of brave but I could feel how terrified he was for her, his little sister, and himself.

“Keep her safe,” he whispered to me, meeting my eyes.

“Sure thing. It’s easy, right?” I gave my best winning smile. “She just has to look pretty.”

Jed headed off with Renee and I felt a swirl of panic in my stomach. Look pretty . . . Convincing. We had to be real convincing. What a time for a first performance.

Baby steps. Renee had said baby steps.