The Fourth Person
756 Words
Chapter 5
The Fourth Person
The camera shutter clicked.
The sound echoed through the empty library.
Nadia froze.
Layla stopped breathing.
Adrian slowly turned toward the sound.
“We're not alone.”
The library doors burst open.
Two figures stepped inside.
Nadia recognized them immediately.
The same dark coats.
The same men who had followed them through the tunnel.
One of them looked directly at the photograph in Nadia's hand.
“Give us the photo.”
Layla grabbed Nadia's arm.
“Run.”
Adrian moved first.
He shoved a chair across the floor.
It crashed into the nearest man, giving them just enough time.
“Go!” Adrian shouted.
Nadia ran.
Books fell from shelves as the men pushed through them. A chair toppled behind her. Layla pulled Nadia toward the staff corridor.
“This way!”
They reached a narrow door.
Nadia looked back.
Adrian was still in the library.
One of the men had grabbed his jacket.
Adrian fought free and shoved him backward.
“ADRIAN!”
He looked at Nadia.
For one second, their eyes met.
“Go!”
“I’m not leaving you!”
“You have the photograph!”
That stopped her.
The photograph.
The evidence.
Layla pulled her through the door.
“Nadia, now!”
They disappeared into the corridor.
The door slammed behind them.
They ran until the sounds from the library faded.
Layla finally pushed open a stairwell door.
“Inside.”
They slipped into the darkness.
Nadia leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath.
“Where's Adrian?”
Layla didn't answer.
“Layla.”
“I don't know.”
Nadia stared at her.
“We can't leave him.”
“We don't have a choice.”
“Yes, we do.”
“Nadia, if we go back, they'll catch all three of us.”
Nadia hated that she was right.
She pulled the photograph from her pocket.
Her hands were shaking.
“We need to understand this.”
Layla looked at it.
Nadia held it beneath the weak light from her phone.
Adrian.
Layla.
Ethan Cross.
And the fourth person behind the window.
She stared.
Something about the face felt familiar.
Not just familiar.
Impossible.
Then she remembered.
The first week of the semester.
A man standing outside the administration building.
The same face.
Nadia's stomach dropped.
“No.”
Layla looked at her.
“What?”
“I've seen him.”
“Who?”
Nadia pointed at the photograph.
“Him.”
Layla's face went pale.
“Where?”
“Campus.”
“When?”
“Last month.”
Nadia searched her memory.
“He was talking to someone near the administration office.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
She turned the photograph over.
There was writing on the back.
A date.
October 14 — 3:17 A.M.
Nadia frowned.
“The party.”
Layla nodded slowly.
“That was the night Ethan disappeared.”
Nadia looked at her.
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Layla swallowed.
“I told you. I don't remember everything.”
“You remember something.”
Layla looked away.
Nadia stepped closer.
“You gave me this photograph because you wanted me to know the truth.”
“I gave it to you because I wanted you to survive.”
“Then tell me what happened.”
Layla's eyes filled with tears.
“I saw Adrian arguing with Ethan.”
Nadia's heart tightened.
“What were they arguing about?”
“I don't know.”
“Layla.”
“I don't!”
Her voice echoed through the stairwell.
Then she lowered it.
“I left them alone.”
Nadia stared at the photograph.
“Then who was the fourth person?”
Layla shook her head.
“I don't know.”
A vibration came from Nadia's pocket.
Both girls froze.
Nadia pulled out her phone.
One new message.
UNKNOWN NUMBER
Her fingers went cold.
She opened it.
A photograph appeared.
Nadia stared at the screen.
It showed the library.
Then she realized when the photograph had been taken.
Minutes earlier.
It showed her.
Layla.
And Adrian.
But the camera angle was impossible.
The photographer had been standing inside the library.
Watching them.
Below the photograph was a message.
You found the fourth person.
Nadia's pulse quickened.
Another message appeared.
Now find out why he was watching you.
She stared at the screen.
Then came a third message.
And don't worry about Adrian.
Nadia's heart stopped.
A final message appeared.
He's with us.
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