Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 114419 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114419 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
He walked to the door on the opposite side of the wall and picked up the lock, identical to the one that had been on the previous door. A five-digit code.
Gavin lowered his head, massaging the back of his neck. He’d attempted to swallow down the shock and deep sadness at what his mom had divulged, but it was catching up with him. Danny Boy was his brother. He’d been reading his brother’s notes. Jesus. He breathed in and let out a long exhale. He knew he had to hold his emotions at bay for now so he could focus on the predicament Danny had forced them into, but he needed a moment. Just one.
You were always a loud little shit. Loud and happy. You got to stay that way. Good for you, Big Winner. Danny’s words from when he’d first arrived came back to him, along with a ripple of pain. He’d remembered Gavin, while Gavin had no memory of him.
He turned away from the door and met Sienna’s eyes. There was so much understanding in her expression, and it washed over him. A balm. A blast of strength. Just the one he’d needed.
With regained focus, he walked back to the middle of the room and stood looking up for a moment, calculating whether or not they could climb on each other’s shoulders to make it to the window, but he didn’t think so. What were these? Private gambling rooms? Had there been felt-covered tables in here once where high-stakes bets were made? The offices had been situated so that security could view the room from all angles at all times but were far, far removed from the games going on. Even if they stood on each other’s shoulders, the person on top—his mother since she was the lightest—would have to jump for the window and then pull herself up and over the ledge. It wasn’t going to happen. Plus, Danny was up there somewhere, and if he knew they were attempting to climb and jump, he’d only have to reach his hand out and push, and they’d all go toppling over, someone’s back likely breaking.
Gavin walked over to Sienna, who had approached his mom where she was still standing by the wall and taken her in her arms. She let go, and Mirabelle wiped a tear from her eye. She looked shaken and grief stricken. Hollow. He put his hands on the sides of her shoulders. “Mom. Listen to me. We’re going to get out of here, and then we’re going to get help for Danny.”
“He doesn’t want us to get out of here, Gavin. He’s just running down the clock with all of”—she swept her hand around, and Gavin glanced briefly at the graffiti-like scrawls, all in orange paint, on the walls—“this.”
“Maybe,” Gavin said. Probably. “But we have to keep going, because through one of these doors is going to be an opportunity.”
“Gavin’s right, Mirabelle,” Sienna said. “Maybe he assumes we won’t make it through in time, but he’s also giving us an opportunity. If he wanted us to sit and wait for this building to explode, he’d have simply tied us up and left us. Maybe part of him hopes we’ll make it out. And if that’s true, then Gavin’s right: we can’t give up.”
His mother nodded but looked unconvinced. Gavin tipped his chin to Sienna, who gave him a small smile.
You play fair, and I will too. The line from Danny’s letter came back to him. If he even halfway meant it, he’d set this all up with the possibility—no matter how small—that they’d make it out. Maybe.
Gavin spotted something on the ground. He took the few steps to it before bending and picking up the penny. He held it up to the two women, who both looked at it in confusion. Gavin stuck it in his pocket. For all he knew, Danny had dropped it when he’d been in here creating this orange artwork. But it might be relevant.
“Let’s do a full search of the room first,” he said. “Maybe he hid another container of clues.”
They each went in an opposite direction, feeling over the door ledges, looking in corners and along the baseboards. There was a loose floor tile near the wall, and they spent several minutes pulling at it, but though it was coming up at a corner, it seemed mostly adhered. They’d need a pry bar to remove it completely or feel underneath. “Damn,” he swore as they walked toward the wall with the most graffiti on it. It seemed their clues would be contained to the sloppy drawings.
Sienna stood back so that she could see the entirety of the main wall, and Gavin came to stand next to her. “It sort of looks like a map,” he said, his gaze going from one intersecting line to another.