I gaped at her. It was scary, frankly, exactly how good Ariane could be at this stuff. This girl, Elise, would have died today if Ariane had so chosen.
She frowned. “What?”
“Nothing. I’m just glad you’re on my side,” I muttered.
Ariane returned her attention to her phone. “Now we just need to find out what she’s been posting in the last hour or so. She doesn’t use the location checkin function, but she’s been posting to one of the photo sites. I found her account there as well. Apparently, she won the annual all-expenses-paid trip with five friends from the Midwest Fine Arts Council, if such an organization even exists, to visit the city for the weekend.” Her tone held bitterness. “Just enough to make it impossible for her to say no but not enough to make her wary enough to stay away.”
“Tempting, but not too good to be true,” I muttered. The Committee knew what they were doing.
Ariane stiffened suddenly.
“What’s wrong?” I looked at her phone, expecting to see something horrible, like a photo of trials-related violence or an “account deleted” notification.
She shook her head, her mouth tight. “I think I just figured out who the Committee selected as Ford’s target.”
Meaning the person they thought Ariane would fight or seek vengeance for.
“Who?” I asked, mystified.
“Before I left GTX, Rachel was talking to me—”
“Rachel Jacobs?” I asked in disbelief.
“It’s a long story,” Ariane said with a sigh. “But she mentioned something about Cami winning a shopping trip. She’s here in the city today.”
“You’re kidding.” If the Committee had selected Rachel as someone Ari would care about, then maybe we weren’t in as much trouble as we thought, because clearly their research skills sucked.
She shook her head. “It didn’t occur to me before, because they were clearly attempting to select people who were of emotional interest to the candidates. I’m not sure how Rachel qualifies for me, but I think it’s a good possibility.…”
“Ford and Rachel inhabiting the same space,” I said, trying to imagine it. Rachel would think Ford was Ariane, which meant she’d be her typical abrasive self. I doubted Ford would handle that with anything like the patience Ariane had demonstrated. “That’s going to go bad, and quickly.”
“My thoughts exactly, which means we have another reason to hurry.” Ariane turned her attention to her phone, skimming through Elise’s posts. “Elise was at the Museum of Science and Industry as of forty-five minutes ago.” She turned the screen toward me, and I vaguely recognized the white sprawling building in the picture. “Lake Shore Drive.” She clicked her phone off and returned it to her pocket, moving swiftly. “I should have more than enough money for a cab, assuming we don’t encounter traffic difficulties.…” She hesitated. “Are you…how are you feeling?”
Her dark eyes searched my face.
I forced a smile. “I’m fine.” I could handle a cab ride, no problem. And a museum? That didn’t sound too taxing.
The problem with our plan became very, very clear as soon as the cab pulled up to drop us off in front of the building.
“Wow. It, uh, didn’t look this big in the picture,” I said.
Ariane looked up from her phone, where she’d been attempting to find out information for the layout. “It’s one of the biggest museums in the country, apparently,” she said, sounding displeased, as if the museum had done this deliberately to aggravate her.
I fought the urge to laugh.
Ariane paid the cab driver, her actions awkward and uncertain, indicating the newness of the activity for her, and then we got out.
The museum, with its towering columns, sat in the center of an expansive lawn, the lake a bright blue pool to the east. All the skyscrapers that made up downtown Chicago had been left behind for this vast openness that felt out of place in the middle of the city. Hundreds of people swarmed up and down the museum sidewalk and steps. In the grass, families were having picnics or eating bag lunches. Crowds of elementary-aged school kids, tourist groups with cameras, and even groups of people on Segways flowed around us.
And that was just on the outside. This place looked so huge, I couldn’t imagine how many more people were already within.
“Any chance ‘Brittany’ could message her and suggest meeting up out here?” I asked.