“How long will you be gone?”
“I don’t know. However long it takes.”
Holly just hugged me, for once not saying a word.
I pressed my face against the window of the car, remembering the evening more than three years ago when I’d sat in the same spot on my way to headquarters for the very first time. So much had changed since then.
My skin prickled and I sensed that Major was watching me.
The car glided to a stop. I reached for the door but Major’s words stopped me. “I know something is going on between you and Alec. I already spoke with him about it. Don’t let it endanger the mission.”
“There’s nothing . . .” I stopped myself. It would have been a lie and some people said Major could smell lies. It was just one of the ridiculous tales people spun about Major because they didn’t really know what he was capable of.
We stepped out of the car. My legs felt like jelly as I trudged into the hospital. The tightness in my chest grew with every step I took closer to Madison’s room. Voices echoed from the end of the corridor and my muscles began quivering.
I stumbled and Major grasped my arm. “Act natural,” he said under his breath. “They should have been gone by now.”
We walked through the corridor, closer to Madison’s parents, acting as if we had some good reason to be here apart from covering up the death of their daughter.
I busied myself with gazing at the checkered pattern on the linoleum floor, but as we passed Madison’s room, my eyes found them: Ronald and Linda Chambers. Linda looked older than in the photos I’d seen—wearier, paler, her blonde hair gathered in a messy ponytail. Ronald looked thinner and the gray streaks in the hair at his temples had spread. They clung to each other as they listened to the doctors spewing lies. I couldn’t hear the doctors’ words but I knew that whatever they were telling them was far from the truth.
The worst thing was the way their faces lit up with hope as the doctors spoke to them. They thought their daughter would recover, that they’d get her back; they didn’t know that only a few hours ago they’d lost her forever.
Suddenly, a sense of determination filled me. I’d find the monster who’d taken their daughter away from them. Even if I couldn’t give Linda and Ronald Chambers their daughter back, I could at least try to give them justice. We turned another corner and they disappeared from view.
Hawk-Face leaned against the wall a few steps from us. He straightened when he saw us. Major let go of my arm. I hadn’t even realized he’d been dragging me along.
“Why are they still there?” Major’s scowl made the man recoil.
“I’m sorry, Sir. They should be gone any moment.”
“They’d better be.”
Major started pacing and I busied myself with counting his steps. His legs weren’t long but his stride made him look tall. Hawk-Face peered around the corner, then turned to us and gave a quick nod.
We walked back to Madison’s room, my mouth as dry as sawdust. Hawk-Face marched ahead and opened the door. Major beckoned for me to enter. There was no turning back now.
The silence of the machines hit me.
No beeping.
No intake of breath.
I wished I had my iPod with me; anything to drown out the silence in the room. Madison lay on the bed. Nothing had changed—except for her missing heartbeat and the stillness of her rib cage.
“Can I have a moment?” I asked. The words sounded muffled, like they were spoken through a layer of cotton.
Major hesitated. Did he have to question everything I did?
I set my jaw, keeping my focus on Madison as I waited for him to leave. When he finally did, I moved to her side. Her eyes were closed, as if she were asleep. I’d always thought that death would be ugly and ghastly and forbidding. Instead it masked itself with peacefulness and quiet.
I reached out, my fingertips stopping an inch from her hand, then closed the gap and touched her cold skin. I sank down beside the bed, my forehead coming to rest on the cool blanket beside her body. There was no sound.
The small ball of unease that formed in my stomach when I first heard about the mission had now turned into a pulsating fear beneath my skin. Looking at Madison’s still form, I was forced to confront the truth. A killer would be after me; someone who cut A’s into the skin of his victims, like an artist signing his work.
Just then, the door opened without warning. I stumbled to my feet, wiping away the tears that threatened to spill over my eyes. I wanted to snap at Major for giving me so little time.
But it wasn’t Major.