David tapped the face of his wristwatch in absent bother. “That’s not going to happen. I’m sorry, Mia, but I see no need to leave this place.”
“I do,” Amanda declared. “But I’m not ready.”
“Me neither,” said Hannah, with a tender glance at Zack. “Look, you’re right. It’s your life and you know what you’re doing. It just breaks my heart to lose you. It would kill me to learn that something bad happened to you out there on your own.”
Amanda reeled with envy at her sister’s warm finesse with men. Even as a child, Hannah’s effortless charm had boys falling all over her. She disarmed them as easily as Amanda set them on edge.
Zack’s tense brow unfurled. He patted Hannah’s wrist. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to start a whole drama. But after everything that’s happened, I just can’t stay here anymore. I have to get out and do something.”
He pushed his chair back and stood up.
“I need a purpose.”
As Zack retreated from the table, his companions glumly stared at their half-eaten dinners. Theo blew a hot sigh through his nose.
“I’ll go.”
Zack turned around at the door, wearing the same look of surprise as the others. Theo himself seemed caught unaware by the announcement. He had no clue where his idea came from, but assumed it wasn’t a place of bravery.
“I’ll go with you,” he said. “If that’s all right.”
Quint’s lantern jaw went slack as he continued to monitor the discussion from his office. Azral had already assured him that Trillinger’s departure was an acceptable loss. The cartoonist was expendable and wouldn’t be missed. But if Zack turned his exit into an exodus, if he convinced even one of the crucial Silvers to escape with him . . .
The handphone on Quint’s desk suddenly lit up with a new text message.
<Maranan must not leave.>
Quint rubbed his eyes in tension. Of course. Of course Azral already knew.
He stroked his neck in dark contemplation before keying a reply.
<Maybe we should dispose of Trillinger. Convince the others that he left alone, without word. They’d believe it. And if they hear he died in travel, it would be ages before any of them dared to leave this place.>
Azral responded immediately. <You’d do this?>
Quint scowled at the screen. He was hoping Azral would do the dirty work himself. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.
<You once told me your project was for the greater good,> Quint typed.
<A greater good than you can possibly imagine.>
The esteemed physicist could only sigh.
<Then yes. I reckon I would do it.>
Four minutes later, Azral’s final message arrived. Quint could see the smile behind the words.
<I chose you well, Sterling. Do this right and we’ll have much to discuss.>
Quint leaned back in his chair and pondered the variables of this new equation. He promised Zack he’d have his parting cash on Monday. That gave him two and a half days to plan his attack. Two and a half days to rid the world of a man who shouldn’t exist at all.
—
The rest of the weekend was tense for all six Silvers. The sisters snapped at each other over silly little trifles. Mia barely left her suite. David followed Zack around like a cloud of doom, raining negative scenarios about his impending journey. Zack was, as David cautioned, a fairly obvious Semite on a solitary trek through a regressed American south. Zack told him it sounded like a great screenplay, then reminded him he wouldn’t be traveling alone.
“Yes you will,” David attested. “You’ll lose Theo at the first liquor store. If you’re lucky, he won’t steal all your money beforehand.”
Though Zack scoffed at the unkind notion, it had already made several laps around his own head. Even Theo found the idea far too credible for his liking. His tricky demon never stopped reminding him that sweet relief could be found just outside the property. It filled him with increasing dread about staying there. By the end of the weekend, the voice in his head had fallen to abject panic. Get out. Get out. Get out now.
Of all the Silvers, none seemed more anxious than Future Mia.
On Sunday night, the younger Farisi received four portal dispatches. The messages ranged from the obscure to the alarming:
The steering column is the gearshift. Press the white triggers on the inside of the wheel to switch the van out of Park.
The motorcycles have sped ahead to set up a tempic barrier on the highway. There’s no getting around it, but Zack will know how to get through it.
The winter blonde’s name is Krista Bloom. Use it. It may buy you a few seconds.
The fourth and most disturbing note had been scrawled across an entire ripped page, filled with a large and shaky version of Mia’s handwriting. The author was clearly not in a good state.