“You were a governor, an ambassador. You were almost president—and you mean to tell me that you hate the government?”
“Why should governments have more power than the people they’re supposed to govern?”
“Is this supposed to be a social studies class? Because I haven’t had one of those in ages.”
“We strayed from our mission, Cammie. Zach’s mother—Catherine—she’s just one of our operatives who became greedy. But people like Catherine were only reflecting what they saw in our leadership. We lost sight of our ultimate goal, and now the Circle is crumbling. And so those of us in the Inner Circle decided that it is time to finish Cavan’s original mission.”
I thought back to Cambridge, the mad terror in Knight’s eyes as he talked about whatever it was the Circle was planning. I had thought the truth had died with him, but there it was again—staring back at me through three inches of reinforced glass.
“What mission is it?” I asked, lurching forward. “What is the Inner Circle planning? Tell me how to stop it.”
He leaned a little closer. The shackles on his wrists jangled as he pointed in my direction and said, “Elizabeth Sutton is a very smart girl.”
The abrupt change in subject knocked the air out of me. I had wanted answers and I got games. “Don’t talk about Liz,” I snapped. “If that’s some kind of threat—”
“I would never hurt Ms. Sutton. And you…well, you would do well to listen to her. She is wise beyond her years.”
I shook my head and spat, “What does Liz have to do with this?” I was racked with confusion and fatigue. “Why am I here? Why are you telling me all of this? Why aren’t you telling them?” I pointed to the cameras that lined the room, covering every possible angle.
“Because I have a favor to ask of you, Cammie.”
I watched his eyes grow darker. Any trace of happiness was gone. I no longer thought he was enjoying himself, playing with me. He was a desperate man. And he looked at me as if I were his only way out.
“What?” I snapped.
The ambassador looked down at his bound hands. “My son. He’s not part of this, you know?”
“Preston will be fine. He’s in custody. Catherine can’t get to him now.”
The ambassador’s eyes iced over. “None of us will ever be fine again. But my son can help you stop it.”
“What have they done?” I asked again, more urgent now. I thought about what Knight had told me. “The Circle leaders got together and put something into motion. What was it?” Impatience and fear were breaking through my voice. “Tell me what I have to do!”
He was opening his mouth to speak—the words were almost there. A few moments longer and Winters would have told me everything we needed to know, but they were moments we didn’t have. Because before Preston’s father could say another word, the glass that stood between us went black.
“Ambassador?” I yelled and glanced at the door, expecting a guard to knock—come in and tell me that my time was up. But no knock came. I looked at the cameras, but the tiny lights were out and I knew that they were off. No one was watching. No guards were monitoring our conversation. I was alone in the quiet room, and I felt the hair on my arms stand on end. Everything was too still, too quiet, as I broke with protocol and rushed toward the glass.
“Ambassador! Ambassador, are you—”
I raised my hand and started to bang, but then I heard the sounds of a struggle on the other side. Sharp cracks filled the air—twice, in rapid succession, and I bolted away just as a third crack sounded.
The thick glass that separated the two rooms must have been bullet resistant—but not bulletproof—because the glass began to splinter, cracks spreading out like a spiderweb.
“Help!” I yelled into the cameras, but I knew no one would hear me.
I ran to the door and peered out the tiny window just in time to see the door to the next room open.
There was a small, basic lock on my door. It seemed out of place there in that high-security fortress; but I turned it anyway and backed away slowly, hoping that whoever had shot the ambassador wouldn’t care about me. I was a visitor—a kid. There was nothing trapped inside of me that anybody wanted anymore. I was nothing, I told myself.
But then the doorknob moved.
Someone pushed against the door, but the lock held, and I jerked backward just as something heavy crashed against the door.
In my head, lists were forming. Plans. Options. But the fact remained that I was locked in a room with no weapons and no…
Window.
I picked up the metal chair and took aim at the center of the web that filled the heavy glass.