Darkness.
Complete and absolute.
The emergency lights died so suddenly that I couldn't see my own hand in
front of my face.
Only the echo of that familiar voice remained.
"Now... let the real game begin."
Every instinct I had screamed the same thing.
Move.
"Nobody talk," I whispered.
The beeping beneath the wooden box had stopped.
That bothered me.
Timers stop.
Explosives don't always announce thenselves.
I reached out slowly until my fingers brushed Eve's arm.
She flinched.
"It's me."
She let out a slow breath.
"I'm here."
Those two words grounded me.
As long as she was beside me...
I could think.
"Hawk?"
"I'm good."
"Cal?"
"Here."
"Mara?"
"I'm all right."
Good.
Everyone accounted for.
At least for now.
Then I heard it.
A soft metallic click somewhere in the
