“So we’ve got three minutes to solve this,” she said. “We should assume the clock has already started ticking.”
“I’m looking at seven round hatches,” Toro said, standing beside her. “I’m assuming we open them.”
“It would never be that easy,” she said dryly. “There’s bound to be a—”
Before she could finish the thought, new words appeared on the screen.
YOU MAY OPEN ONLY ONE OF THE HATCHES. WHEN YOU DO, YOU WILL SEE A RED BUTTON THAT YOU MUST PUSH. TWO OF THE RED BUTTONS WILL DETONATE A BOMB. TWO OF THEM WILL SHOOT POISON DARTS. TWO OF THEM WILL PROVIDE FOOD, BUT LEAVE YOU TRAPPED IN THIS ROOM. ONLY ONE WILL UNLOCK THE EXIT AND ALLOW YOU TO LEAVE UNHARMED.
She turned to Toro. “These hatches are painted all the colors of the rainbow. I wonder if that’s how we’re supposed to figure out which one to open.”
Toro studied them. “You’d think we’d have more to go on.”
“You see how it’s set up so you have to stand within arm’s reach to push a button?” she said. “Puts you square in the line of fire for either the darts or the bomb. Like the first devices after that little welcoming speech. It’s damned clever—and efficient.”
The screen changed again.
HERE IS YOUR CLUE:
CERTAIN DEATH LIES TO THE IMMEDIATE LEFT OF THE FOOD. RED AND VIOLET HIDE IDENTICAL THINGS. THE SAME IS TRUE FOR ORANGE AND INDIGO. WHEN YOU’RE NOT SURE, THE BEST CHOICE IS TO IGNORE CAUTION, AND GO.
A digital clock appeared above the words. It began at 3:00, then quickly showed 2:59, then 2:58.
“Three minutes,” Toro said. “What the hell?”
“Shut up and let me think,” she said. “This is a logic puzzle. We’re supposed to use all the clues in those lines to figure out which hatch to open.”
“And if we get it wrong, we’ll get poisoned or blown up.”
She began to pace, the movement helping her sort through possibilities. “Let’s start with the constants and work toward the variables.”
“The constants are the knowns?”
“Exactly. The red and violet hatches are on either end of the row, and they are alike. That means they both hide something deadly, or they both hide food. The same is true for orange and indigo, which are the next ones in. According to the first sentence, the two circles that cover the food have something deadly to the left of them.” She turned to face the row of round hatches. “I’m going to assume that refers to our left as we stand in front of them.”
“How can you be sure?”
“I can’t,” she said flatly. “But I’ve got to start somewhere, and we’re running out of time.” She recognized the signs of panic in Toro’s demeanor. This is where her training and background worked in her favor. She had to get him to help her or, if he couldn’t, then to be quiet. “Toro, I’ve had to figure things out while bullets have literally been flying all around me. I’m asking you to lead, follow, or get out of the way.”
He crossed his arms and glared at her. So be it.
She turned back to the puzzle and began to mentally slot her conclusions into place. If she put the bombs on either end behind the red and violet hatches, that would satisfy the clue, because they would both kill her. If she placed the food behind the orange and indigo circles, that would work, too, because they could each have something deadly to their left. Assuming she was correct, only the yellow and green circles remained as the unknowns.
“We’ve got thirty seconds left,” Toro said, apparently unable to hold his tongue any longer.
She held up two fingers. “I’ve got it down to the yellow and green hatches,” she said. “But I can’t go any further.”
“Have you used all the clues?” he asked her.
Good point. She had not taken the last sentence into account. “When you’re not sure, the best choice is to ignore caution and go,” she muttered to herself.
Something nagged at the back of her mind. What was she missing? She had to be decisive, to ignore caution.
Caution.
She canted her head to one side. The yellow and green circles lined up like the lights on a traffic signal.
Yellow meant caution.
Green meant go.
“That’s it,” she called out to Toro.
“What’s it?” He sounded equal parts leery and desperate.
“When you’re not sure, the best choice is to ignore caution and go,” she repeated for his benefit. “When you’re driving, a round yellow light means caution. Green means go.” She stepped in front of the green hatch. “The clue says to ignore caution and go.”
Toro moved to lay a restraining hand on her arm. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to open this hatch and push the button,” she said calmly.
“If you’re wrong—”
“Then you can haunt me in the afterlife.” She tipped her head toward the clock. “We’ve got less than ten seconds. Do you have a better option?”
He dropped his hand and took a step back. “Go ahead.”
He didn’t duck down or distance himself from her. He was remaining in the kill zone beside her for a second time. Interesting.
She opened the green hatch, saw a bright-red button mounted into the wall, and pressed it without hesitation.
A moment passed.
Another heartbeat later, the exit door unlatched and slid open.
A disembodied voice emanated from above them. “I’m impressed.”
They both glanced up to find the source of the sound, which was an overhead speaker. Dani noticed that this time she could not hear the words echoing down the halls. It appeared Nemesis was speaking to them privately.
“Impressed enough to make an offer,” Nemesis continued. “But only to the Minotaur.”
Dani saw her confusion reflected in Toro’s face when she glanced his way. Apparently he believed the comment referred to him, but he didn’t know why Nemesis had referred to him as a mythological creature.
She thought back to a course on mythology from her sophomore year, recalling that the Minotaur was imprisoned in a labyrinth because he had killed too many people. Since toro meant bull, and his profession involved murder, and he was currently trapped in a mazelike structure, the name was fitting.
For whatever reason, Nemesis was about to make an offer that excluded her. With a growing sense of dread, she concluded the announcement had something to do with the recent revelation of her true status as an undercover agent.
“I am prepared to cancel the bounty on your head if you kill your partner,” Nemesis said. “I will explain to the rest of your group that she tricked you and that you had no idea she was a spy—which we both know isn’t true—but they won’t think you turned on them anymore. As a bonus, I will direct you to the closest location where another weapon, food, and more water are located. She’s not going to get out of here alive. Why share her fate? Especially when you can be a free man. A very wealthy free man.”
In the silence that followed the announcement, Toro slowly turned toward Dani, his gaze decidedly calculating.
CHAPTER 41
Wu braced himself for the next onslaught of questions from the assistant director. The JOC had become claustrophobic, and he longed to get out in the field and take action. Promotion demanded sacrifice, and the higher one went in the bureaucracy, the less hands-on investigation one did. Instead of finding his missing agent, he was directing others to do it.
And defending himself in the process.
“They’ve clearly been captured,” Assistant Director Hargrave said. “But where are they being held?” He narrowed his eyes. “We’ve got to source the game, even if it is on the dark web.”
Wu gestured to his cybercrime specialist. “We’re going through the game to find where it’s being hosted.”
“The website is only accessible when the system is on, so that limits me to following cyber footprints while the game’s being streamed,” Patel said. “I put a system in place to record everything so we can retrieve it in case the files are deleted, but that doesn’t help with tracking.”
“What are you doing to hack into the game then?” Hargrave asked.
“I’m putting together a team of my best people,” Patel said. “We’ll monitor the site around the clock and write code to exploit any vulnerabilities and find a back door in, but we haven’t had any success yet. Whoever is behind this knows what they’re doing.”
“What about proactive intervention?” Wu asked.
“We’ll access the site and become subscribers, using some of the fake profiles we’ve set up. After we’re in, we’ll try to initiate a dialogue with the game’s developer. At the very least, we’ll sprinkle some fairy dust.”
“Come again?” Hargrave said.
Wu, accustomed to Patel-isms, translated for the assistant director. “He means they’ll seed the target server with tracking malware. If it works, they can use it to locate the originating IP address and follow other subscribers.”
“Do we have a warrant for this?” Hargrave asked.