Mira's POV
I pressed my hand over my mouth to keep from breathing too loud.
Under Coach Maria's desk, I made myself as small as possible. My knee throbbed from crouching, but I didn't dare move.
The footsteps stopped right outside the office door.
Through the crack under the desk, I could see shoes. Black boots. Women's boots with thick heels.
The person stepped into the office.
My heart beat so loud I was sure they could hear it. Ba-boom. Ba-boom. Ba-boom.
The boots walked slowly around the room. Whoever it was, they were looking for something. Or someone.
Please don't look under the desk. Please don't look under the desk.
The boots stopped right in front of the desk.
I held my breath.
A hand reached down.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
The hand grabbed something off the floor—the chair I'd knocked over. The person set it upright.
Then the boots turned and walked toward the computer. I heard clicking. They were checking what I'd been looking at.
"She knows," a woman's voice muttered. Cold. Sharp. The same voice from the audio recording.
Victoria Cross.
More clicking. The flash drive ejected with a soft pop.
"Looking for evidence, little girl?" Victoria said to the empty room. "Too bad you won't get the chance to use it."
She knew I was here. She had to know.
But then the boots walked back toward the door. They paused.
"If you're hiding somewhere in this building," Victoria called out, "you should know I have people at every exit. You can't leave without us seeing you. Make this easy on yourself. Give me the flash drive, and we'll talk."
Talk. Right. The same way she "talked" to Damien about his sister.
The door closed. The boots clicked away down the hall.
I stayed under the desk for three more minutes. My legs cramped. My knee screamed. But I didn't move until I was absolutely sure she was gone.
Finally, I crawled out and stood up. My whole body shook.
The flash drive was gone from the computer, but I still had the photograph in my pocket. And I'd seen the videos. I'd heard the recordings. I knew the truth now.
But Victoria was right about one thing—she had people watching the exits.
I looked around the office. There was a window, but it faced the parking lot. If Victoria had people there, they'd see me climbing out.
Think, Mira. Think.
My phone buzzed. Another message from the unknown number:
Victoria's at the south exit with two security guards. North exit has one guard. East exit is clear but it's locked from the outside. You need a key card
I spun around, looking at the empty office. Who was sending these messages? How did they know where Victoria was right now?
The air vent in the locker room connects to the maintenance tunnel. You can get out through the equipment bay. Go NOW. You have maybe five minutes.
An air vent? Was this person crazy?
But what choice did I have?
I ran back to the locker room as quietly as I could. My footsteps echoed too loud in the empty hallway. Every shadow looked like Victoria. Every sound made me jump.
The locker room was still empty. I looked up at the ceiling.
There. In the corner. An air vent with a grate.
I dragged a bench under it and climbed up. My knee hurt so bad I almost cried, but I bit my lip and kept going.
The grate had four screws. I used a coin from my pocket to unscrew them. It took forever. My hands kept slipping.
Finally, the last screw came out. I pulled off the grate and peered inside.
Darkness. A square tunnel barely big enough to crawl through.
This was insane.
But then I heard voices in the hallway. Victoria's voice: "Check the locker room."
I pulled myself up into the vent.
It was dark and dusty and smelled like old metal. I pulled the grate back into place just as the locker room door opened below.
"She was just here," Victoria said. "Find her."
I crawled forward as fast and quiet as I could. The metal was cold under my hands. Dust got in my nose and I wanted to sneeze so bad, but I held it in.
Behind me, I heard banging. They were checking the lockers.
I kept crawling. My phone lit up in my pocket, and I pulled it out:
Straight ahead 20 feet. Then turn right. Drop down into the maintenance room. Door code is 4729.
Who WAS this person?
But I followed the directions. Twenty feet forward felt like twenty miles. My knee was on fire. Every breath sounded too loud.
I reached a turn and went right. After a few more feet, I saw another grate below me. Through it, I could see a small room full of tools and cleaning supplies.
I pushed the grate open and dropped down. The fall hurt, but I landed on my feet.
The door had a keypad. I typed 4-7-2-9.
It clicked open.
I stepped into a long tunnel with pipes running along the ceiling. At the end, I saw daylight.
The equipment bay. I was going to make it.
I ran toward the light.
I was ten feet from the exit when someone stepped out of the shadows.
A man. Tall. Wearing all black. He smiled, but it wasn't a nice smile.
"Going somewhere?" he asked.
I turned to run back, but another man appeared behind me. They had me trapped.
"Victoria will be very happy to see you," the first man said.
He reached for me.
I did the only thing I could think of. I screamed. As loud as I possibly could.
And then something amazing happened.
The fire alarm went off.
Lights flashed. Water sprayed from the ceiling. The sprinkler system.
The men looked up, confused.
I ran.
I ducked under the first man's arm and sprinted toward the exit. Water soaked my hair, my clothes. I slipped on the wet floor but kept running.
Behind me, the men were yelling.
I burst through the exit into the parking lot.
And ran straight into someone.
Arms caught me before I fell. I looked up, ready to fight.
It was the woman from before. The one with the sunglasses.
"Get in the car," she said. "Now."