There was no response. I had no way of knowing if my message had made it through. The red dots remained on my chest. Please, please, please. “Look, I understand if you don’t believe me, but you have a red phone in that bunker. Call the governor of Hawaii and ask him if he knows Captain Danny Miner. Please.”
More silence followed, and the red dots didn’t move. Finally a voice spoke from a speaker directly above our heads. “How many of you are there?”
“Six.” My voice cracked. “Sorry, six,” I repeated louder.
“All Americans?” the voice replied.
I thought about saying yes, but I knew I had to be honest. “No, we have an African major with us.”
“Prisoner?”
“No, sir.”
“Names?”
“Our names?” I asked.
“No, the names of the chipmunks.”
Chip and Dale? Or Alvin, Simon, and Theodore? “Sorry,” I yelled back, dismissing the sarcastic reply on my mind. “I’m Hayley, this is Flynn, and we have Blake, Ava, Danny, and Eddie.”
“Don’t move,” the voice said sternly.
Don’t worry.
Ten minutes passed, and the voice hadn’t yet returned. What could be taking so long? Another ten minutes passed, and there was still nothing. Suddenly a female voice next to me spoke up. “Follow me.” I jumped. It was the girl from before, but this time she had a rifle. She was a little shorter than me—five-six or five-seven—with long, curly dark hair, and I detected a slight accent. UK or Australian? I asked for her name and age—I was guessing fifteen or sixteen—but she wouldn’t tell me.
Flynn and I followed her into the darkness. I was aware of several other people moving in behind us. We were escorted through several hallways to a staircase leading down into a basement below the ride. As Flynn and I stepped through the doorway, floodlights came on and we squinted against their glare, struggling to see. Eventually, we could make out the silhouettes of twenty or so armed men and women, all with their guns pointed at us. A voice spoke from behind the spotlight directly in our face. It was the male from the loudspeaker outside.
“We have confirmed your story.”
“You called Hawaii?”
“We did.”
“And?”
“They are thrilled you are alive, but they don’t know of an Eddie. I’m afraid you will have to make a choice. We can let you in without him, or you must all stay out.”
“You don’t understand—”
“Perhaps it is you that does not understand.” The man cut me off. “This is not up for debate. You are guests here, if indeed you choose to be—but your African friend is not. He is not welcome.”
I bit my lower lip and shook my head. “Can I discuss this with my brother?”
“If you must.”
“I must,” I answered, with perhaps a little too much sarcasm.
“You have one hour.”
“Maybe,” I muttered. That was up to Keena.
Flynn and I were escorted back to the front door. As we walked across the courtyard back toward Blake and the others, there were no red dots on us this time. Danny wasn’t going to be alert enough to answer the question—I knew that. I was going back to ask Eddie. This was all going to be up to Eddie.
SIXTY-SIX – The Hole Truth (Hayley)
Blake was squatting beside Danny when Flynn and I rejoined them. Blake quickly jumped up and gave me a hug. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. “Is Danny talking?”
“A little,” Eddie replied.
“Has he thanked you yet?” I asked with a smile, hiding the sickness in my stomach at what I was going to have to ask him to do.
“Not necessary.” Eddie shook his head. “He’d have done the same for me.”
“My friend.” I put my hand on his massive forearm. “The five of us couldn’t have carried you.”
Eddie laughed but said without hesitation, “He would have found a way.”
Eddie was right. Danny would have found a way. Danny would have found a way to get Eddie in that bunker too. “What has he said?”
“He asked where we are.” Blake knelt back down beside him.
Concern flooded my voice. “He didn’t know?”
Blake laughed. “No, no, no—he knew—he meant specifically. He wanted to know why we were hiding and not searching for the bunker.”
“And you told him about the girl—about the people?”
Blake nodded. “I did.”
“What did he say?”
“Nothing yet.”
“Eddie.” I turned to the African major. “We have a problem.”
“They won’t let us in the bunker, will they?”
I didn’t know exactly how to reply. “Yes and no. They won’t let you in.”
I heard Danny cough then and clearly say, “Bullshit.”
“Danny just said—”
“I heard him.” I moved over to my brother. “Danny, they said either we leave him out or we all stay out.”
“Then we all stay out,” he whispered back weakly.
“No,” Eddie replied behind us. “I will not accept that.”
“By tomorrow I’ll be strong enough—”
“There will be no tomorrow,” Eddie interrupted Danny. “You said as much yourself.”
“Maybe I was wrong.”
Eddie scoffed. “Doubtful.”
Suddenly there was a commotion in the courtyard.
“Someone’s coming,” Ava whispered. “It looks like that girl.”
I stood and stepped out into the courtyard. It was the girl, and she was running, clearly in a panic. “They’re coming,” she yelled.
I looked behind her but didn’t see anyone else. “Who?”
She ran up to me. “The enemy.” She was out of breath. “Somehow they found us. Every truck, helicopter, everything—everything is coming this way.”
“How did they—”
“The Humvee,” Blake offered behind me. “Danny says it must have had a GPS tracker.”
Of course it did. That’s why there was almost no pursuit coming from the Seven Oaks Dam. Qi Jia wanted us to go where we felt safe, saw us stop here, got everyone together, and followed the signal. We’d made it easy. “How much time do we have?”
“Seconds, minutes…” Eddie spoke, stepping out with Danny in his arms. “Who knows?”
The girl took one look at Eddie’s massive build and retreated a few paces.
“Don’t worry.” I put my hand on her arm. “He won’t hurt you.” She didn’t look convinced. “He just wants to keep my brother safe.”
She told us to follow her, introducing herself on the way as Mackenzie—insisting we call her Mack.
We hurried behind her to the entrance of the Pirates ride. There we were met by six armed guards—five men and a woman. “We’ll take him from here,” the one man said to Eddie.
Eddie handed Danny to two of the men, and they hurried into the building with him. Ava followed them in. Blake grabbed my arm. “Come on, Hayley.”
“No.” I stared at the man who had his gun pointed at Eddie. “You don’t let him in, I don’t go in.”
“Hayley, go,” Eddie growled.
“No. This is bullshit. Two times you’ve saved my brother. Twice you’ve saved me. I’m not leaving you.”
“I’m not either then.” Flynn stood beside me.
Blake sighed and rolled his eyes. “Okay then, I’m with you. You guys go back inside.”