He nodded, slowly. “I think you’re right. Was I really . . . ?”
“As a doornail. How are you feeling?”
Alex shuddered, saying, “I don’t know. It feels like part of me is missing.”
“Part of you is missing, Alex.” I shook my head. “I don’t think Terrie’s coming back.” He looked stricken. I pushed on anyway, asking, “Do you remember anything about what happened?” You’d better, because I can’t do that again, I added, silently.
Alex licked his lips, looking between me and Elliot before he said, “I don’t usually remember what happens to Terrie.”
“But this time you do?”
“A . . . a little bit.” He grimaced. “She felt awful when you left. So she went for a walk.”
“Did she see anyone?”
“Well, yeah.” He sounded slightly surprised. “April. She said Gordan wanted me. Wanted Terrie.”
“So Terrie followed her?” I asked. I felt Tybalt stiffen beside me.
Alex hesitated. Then, slowly, he nodded.
“Elliot. April is the interoffice pager, right? That’s her job?”
“Yes, exactly,” said Elliot, starting to look as uncomfortable as I felt. He was connecting the lines. I could see it in his eyes.
“So all of you, you just follow her whenever she asks you to.”
“Well . . . yes.”
“I see.” At least I thought I did, and I didn’t like what I was looking at. Maybe April couldn’t have been the one to kill Peter . . . but nothing said Gordan had to be working alone. “Where did she take Terrie?”
“The generator room.” Alex paused, expression twisting. “Where Peter died.”
“Then what happened?”
“I . . . we . . .” Alex closed his eyes, starting to talk more quickly. “She said to wait, and she vanished. And the lights went out.”
“Just the lights in the generator room?”
“There were still lights on in the hall. Terrie has . . . Terrie had really good night vision, and she saw something in the shadows. You said not to go off alone. That’s when she realized she was alone.”
“Is that when Terrie ran?”
“No. She called for Gordan—she’s always hanging out in weird places, it could have been her—but she didn’t answer, and that was sort of scary. So Terrie ran.” He was talking faster and faster, like he could outrun what he was saying. “Whoever it was followed her into the hall, so she kept running. Terrie made it outside.” A sigh. “She thought she was safe.”
“What happened then?” He started to shake, not answering. “Alex?”
He didn’t stop shaking, but started to talk again, voice dull: “Something hit her from behind. There was this pain in her throat and wrists and then in her chest . . . and then it was over.” He raised his head. “Then you were kissing me.”
Tybalt growled. I put a hand on his knee, signaling him to be still. Things were coming together with fast, fierce finality. April had given me the last piece I really needed; I’d just been too distracted to see it. When she came to Colin’s office, she said I was going to find out what caused them to remain isolated from the network. And when Jan died, she said there were no more reboots. She didn’t want to know why they were dying, because she already knew why.
She wanted to know why they weren’t coming back to life.
“Is that everything?” I managed, trying not to let him see how stunned I felt.
“Yes,” he said, with a small, unsteady nod.
“All right.” I slid to my feet, grabbing the edge of the cot and holding on until the world stopped swaying. Tybalt moved to catch my arm, but I held up my hand, motioning him off. When I was sure I wouldn’t fall, I let go and took a cautious step. My balance held. Maybe I wasn’t up to running for my life, but I could walk, and that was a start. “Where’s April’s room?”
“You shouldn’t—” Alex reached for my shoulder, and stopped when he saw me glare. Tybalt’s snarl probably didn’t hurt, either.
“Don’t mess with me, okay? I’m so not in the mood.”
“Sorry,” he said, taking a step backward.
“One more time: where is April’s room?” Gordan was supposedly going to work on April’s hardware. She’d be there, and we could catch them both before they realized we’d worked things out. This could be over. It could finally be over.
Elliot sighed. “Behind Jan’s office.”
“Can you take me there?”
“We can just call April,” said Alex. “She’ll come here.”