“They’re on a mission, Macey,” Zach reminded her. “If what happened at the prison proves anything, it’s that nothing has changed. The Circle has moles everywhere. Even within Max Edwards’s little task force. If we want to stop the Circle’s leaders, then we are going to have to track them down ourselves.” Zach crossed his arms and leaned against the balcony’s railing. “That’s what Rachel and Joe are going to do.”
He was right, and I wanted to say so. But a thought I couldn’t articulate had settled in my mind, and I felt myself turning it over and over like a talisman.
“What is it, Gallagher Girl?” Zach asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. It’s just…something isn’t right.”
Technically, a whole lot of somethings weren’t right, but there was one I couldn’t put my finger on, and that, more than anything, haunted me. I wanted to ask my mother for advice. I needed to talk to Abby. I wanted Joe Solomon to fly in like the pigeons and start asking me questions until I landed upon the answer my mind knew but couldn’t say. I had been on my own for months last summer. But I’d never felt more alone in my life.
“What do we do now?” Liz asked. “Who do we tell about my test and…you know…World War Three?”
It sounded so silly when she put it that way—so crazy and far-fetched; but Liz was the smartest person I knew, and Liz wasn’t just serious. She was terrified.
“Liz, are you sure you’re right about this?” I asked. “Are you telling me that five and a half years ago you said that a person would have to do these exact things to start World War Three?”
“Well…” Liz looked slightly guilty. “Not these things exactly.”
Bex opened her mouth to protest; but, for once, Liz was too fast for her.
“I said it would be about oil and the trade routes of the gulf. I said that to escalate the tension in the region, one would need to eliminate the trade options for Iran and drive over eighty percent of their oil traffic through the pipelines they have going through Caspia.”
“Caspia is a police state,” Bex said.
“Exactly. There was a coup d’état fifteen years ago, and a bunch of military higher-ups took over the government and got rid of the royal family. King Najeeb has been living in exile ever since. The royal family had close ties to the West and an alliance with Turkey. But the military dictatorship that now rules Caspia is loyal to Iran. The whole thing almost blew up ten years ago, but that led to—”
“The Treaty of Caspia,” I said. “Mr. Smith talked about that for a solid week our eighth grade year.”
“Exactly,” Liz said. “Caspia is a no-man’s-land. Neither Iran nor Turkey can officially cross the border. But if more and more of the Iranian oil traffic has to go through there, then that border starts looking more and more tempting to the Iranian forces.” Then Liz shrugged. “At least that was my theory.”
“What does that mean, Liz?” Bex asked with a shake of her head.
“It’s not science, okay? It’s a butterfly—”
“Effect, we know,” Bex finished for her.
“No! You don’t know. I’m telling you that someone has my essay.”
“And that’s why we can’t tell anyone, Lizzie,” I explained. “If you gave that answer to the Gallagher Academy, then that means the Circle got it from the Gallagher Academy. We have no idea who we can trust.” I took a deep breath. “Besides, it’s not like these things are covert. Everyone in the world knows what’s going on.”
“So?” Liz asked.
“So are you sure, Liz?” Bex finished. “I mean, it sounds like the best spies in the world think these things are unrelated. Flukes.”
“And things are never more than they appear?” The question cut us to our core. “Besides,” Liz added, “I think the best spies in the world are right here. And I’m asking them to believe me.”
“Can you get a message to Mr. Solomon?” I asked Zach, who shrugged.
“Maybe. There’s a dead drop I can use, but there’s no way of knowing when he’ll get the message. Or if he’ll get the message.”
“What about your mom?” Macey asked me.
“The same. We have to assume every means of communication in and out of the school is being monitored.”
“So what does that mean, really?” Liz asked me.
“I guess…I guess it means we’re on our own.”
Chapter Nineteen