“Are we ready?” Nelson says. “Five bullets left. A twenty percent chance that the next one is lethal.”
Lev avoids eye contact with him, struggling to keep his breathing under control. As he already knows the surprise ending of the game, Nelson aims the gun at the girl even before asking the question.
“You think I’m afraid to die, but I’m not,” the girl says. However, the warble in her voice says otherwise.
“Please,” Lev begs. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I believe I do,” Nelson cheerfully tells him. He clears his throat. “Round two. The question is . . . Where is the Akron AWOL hiding? You have three seconds before the buzzer.”
“Please don’t,” Lev pleads again.
“One!”
“Turn it on me! She has nothing to do with this!”
“Two!”
“I’m the one with the wrong answers! Not her!”
“Three!”
“No! Wait! I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you!”
He cocks the trigger. “Better make it quick.”
Lev takes a deep, shuddering breath. “Indian Echo Caverns. In Pennsylvania. It’s where the AWOLs from the East Coast are hidden. They take them deep in the caverns and keep them there until they turn seventeen. Connor’s helping them run it.”
“Hmm,” says Nelson, considering it. “It’s on an Indian rez. I’ll bet stinking Slotmongers are always giving sanctuary to AWOLs.”
He puts the gun across his lap and leans back in his chair. “Now I have a dilemma. Of all the AWOLs I’ve tagged, none of them have gone in that direction. So who should I believe? You or my data?”
“Where were you tagging them?” Lev asks quickly. “If they’re west of Pittsburgh, they probably go someplace else if the resistance picks them up—and don’t ask me where, because I don’t know!”
Nelson smiles. “You know, I’m so glad you didn’t blow yourself to smithereens last year, young man. Because you’ve just saved this girl’s life. Assuming, of course, that you’re telling the truth.”
“If I’m lying,” says Lev, “you can come back and kill us both.”
That makes Nelson laugh. “If it turns out you’re lying, I would have done that anyway, but thank you for giving me permission.”
Then he leaves, making no attempt to free them from their bonds.
54 - Lev
“Were you telling the truth?” Miracolina asks,
“Of course I was,” Lev says, just in case Nelson is still listening. A few moments later he hears Nelson’s van start and drive off. The fact is, it hadn’t mattered what Lev told him—what mattered was Nelson believing it. Lev pulled the location out of his memory—he had been to Indian Echo Caverns with his family many years before. He remembered the guide saying that it used to be a hideout for outlaws. Lev stayed close to his mother, fearing that those outlaws might still be lurking in shadowy crevices. Lev has no idea if AWOLs really are hiding there. He hopes not, now that he’s unleashed Nelson on the place.
“So what do we do?” Miracolina asks. “If he catches your friend, he won’t be back, and we’ll starve to death, and if your friend’s not there, he’ll come back and kill us.”
“I thought you weren’t afraid of dying.”
“I’m not. I just don’t want to die a senseless death.”
“We won’t. Not if I can help it.” Then he begins to roll back and forth on his bed. His hands are secured tightly to two of the metal bedposts with the cable ties, but his feet are able to build a kind of rocking momentum. He throws his weight left, then right, over and over again, and the bed begins to scrape on the ground beneath him as he does. He tries to flip the bed but can’t build the momentum, and eventually he has to rest.
“It’s not working,” Miracolina says, stating what’s more than obvious.
“Then maybe you should start praying. I sure am.”