D. MacHale - SYLO

I couldn’t believe what she was suggesting. I looked to Quinn, who stood next to her, gazing out at the dock.

“Tell her,” I ordered. “It’s crazy.”

“I don’t know,” he said thoughtfully. “Maybe crazy is a good thing. They’d never expect us to try something that was so totally nuts.”

“What?” I screamed with surprise. “It’s not nuts, it’s suicide. You didn’t see what happened to that cigarette boat. They blew it out of the water.”

“That boat made a run in broad daylight,” Tori said. “At full throttle. Those are some big ships out there. If we go quietly, they might not even notice us.”

My mouth hung open in shock for several seconds before I declared, “You’re both crazy.”

Tori whipped away from the window and stalked toward me.

“So what do you want to do?” she said in a tone that was more accusing than questioning. “Sit around and wait until we get arrested and locked up? You can’t even go home or your parents will turn you in.”

“I…I still don’t believe that,” I said, though I wasn’t so sure.

“She’s right, Tuck,” Quinn said. “There’s nothing right about what’s going on. Granger’s a murderer and whatever the deal is with our parents, they’re cooperating with him. We’re alone here.” He turned to Tori and added, “It’s about five miles to the nearest landfall. We can ditch anywhere, then flag down a car and head for Portland.”

Tori said, “We’ll go to a local TV station. Or radio. I want to go on Big Hits Y100.9 and tell the world what’s happening.”

“Chris Mac!” Quinn declared. “I love that DJ. Can you imagine if we went on his show to blow the lid off this thing?”

“Stop!” I shouted. “You guys are talking like this is some big adventure. I know you both hate living here but you can’t use what’s happening with SYLO as an excuse to go looking for a little excitement.”

“I think the excitement came looking for us,” Tori said flatly.

“But this is serious,” I argued. “People are dying and I don’t want to be next.”

“Neither do I,” Tori said coldly. “That’s exactly why we have to get out.”

“No,” I shot back. “My parents wouldn’t let anything happen to us.”

“Neither would mine,” Quinn said. “But you heard Granger. Whatever’s going on is serious enough that he’s killing people to keep it quiet. You think our parents can stop that guy? Hell, he’s part of the United States Navy. He’s got the president on his side, which means he’s got the whole freakin’ government behind him. You think any amount of pleading by our parents would stop them from doing whatever they want to us?”

“There’s only one thing that can stop them,” Tori interjected. “They have to be exposed. This whole mess has to be exposed. We can do that.”

I looked from one to the other. They totally believed in what they were saying.

“Exposed,” I said. “What if that’s the exact right word? What if we’re mistaken? What if the virus is real? We could be carriers. If we left, we could spread it to the rest of the population.”

“You’re reaching, Tuck,” Quinn said dismissively. “You don’t believe the virus is real any more than I do. Not anymore. There’s some other reason we’re being held captive here. If you want your life back, the only way to do that is to let the rest of the world know too.”

Quinn looked at Tori and added, “I’m with you. We’re outta here.”

“I don’t think so,” came a strange man’s voice.

We all spun around to see a soldier standing in the doorway that led to the back porch. His right hand was at waist level, holding a pistol—aimed at us. He wore the dark red fatigues and red beret of SYLO.

The chopper had left someone behind after all.

The three of us stood frozen for what seemed like an eternity.

“We’re leaving,” Tori finally said. “You can’t stop us.”

The soldier flicked his gun to the right and calmly fired a shot that was as loud as it was shocking. The three of us flinched as an old vase on Tori’s mantle exploded.

“My orders are to bring you in,” he said coldly. “Ideally it would be alive, but that isn’t a requirement.”

He was an older guy with a cold look in his eye that made me believe he had seen more than his share of mayhem. Or caused it. I didn’t see a drop of sympathy or concern for us. He had his mission and I didn’t doubt that he would do anything necessary to carry it out.

It was over. They had us. To be honest, I felt a touch of relief. At least we wouldn’t be making an insane escape attempt in an ancient boat, trying to sneak past the U.S. Navy.

“Let’s all step outside,” the guy said coolly as he reached for a small walkie-talkie that was clipped onto a web belt.

“No,” Tori said.

Both Quinn and I shot her a surprised look. What was she doing? The soldier shifted slightly, aiming his pistol on her.

“Don’t be stupid,” was all I managed to say to her.

“Listen to your friend,” the soldier said, smiling condescendingly.

Tori was wearing a navy blue peacoat. She put her hands into her coat pockets and took a step toward the soldier. I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to reach out and grab her to keep her from taking another step, but with somebody pointing a gun on us, I didn’t want to risk things getting out of control.

“You’re not going to shoot,” Tori said with confidence. “Unless you’re a murderer.”

The soldier raised the gun and with his eyes still locked on Tori’s, he fired, blowing out a ceiling light. The explosion made Quinn and I jump again. The ringing in my ears was painful.

Tori didn’t flinch.

“Stop!” Quinn shouted.

I wasn’t sure who he was talking to.

Tori kept walking toward the soldier, who brought the gun back around to her.

“You are making a very big mistake,” he said.

Was his voice cracking? Was Tori right? Was he going to be the first to blink? He didn’t step back but he didn’t seem as confident as he had a moment before.

Tori stepped right up until the muzzle of the gun was pressed against her chest.

“The only mistake here would be if you hurt any of us,” she said, her cool unshaken. “Is that what you want? You want to be known as a kid killer? Your picture would be on the front page of every newspaper in the world.”

The soldier laughed. He actually laughed. It wasn’t maniacal or condescending. It seemed oddly…sad.

“Would it?” he said. “That would be good news.”

Quinn shot me a curious look.

“That’s good news?” he asked the soldier. “You want to be known as a kid killer?”

The soldier looked at him, then at me. His eyes focused like he was seeing us for the first time as something other than prey. He then spoke in a voice that was so soft I could barely hear him.

“It would mean people still cared.”

As he looked me straight in the eyes, I saw a brief glimpse of a real person. A person with a family and history and friends. It didn’t last long. His eyes quickly turned cold.

He looked back at Tori while reaching for his walkie-talkie. “Do us all a favor,” he ordered. “Take a step back and—”

Tori thrust her right hand forward, the hand that was in her pocket, and hit the soldier square in the gut. It wasn’t exactly a punch, but the guy reacted dramatically. His back went straight, he let out a pained gasp, and fell to his knees. Tori stepped out of the way and the guy fell flat on his face. She quickly kicked the pistol out of his hand.

Quinn and I didn’t move. I can’t speak for him, but I was in shock.

“There’s line on the porch,” Tori shouted at me. “Get it.”