“Could there be another Columbus Drive?” she asked.
“This is the one and only. You want to go somewhere else?”
Zoe looked back over her shoulder. She didn’t know where else they’d go. Maybe someone lived here behind the heaps of rubbish?
“Can you wait for a couple minutes?” Zoe asked.
“Sure, if you pay me.”
“I’ll pay you afterward.”
“You’ll pay me now for the time I’ve already spent, and then the rest afterward.”
Zoe huffed and dug out thirty dollars from her back pocket. She handed it over. “Just wait here, okay?”
He nodded and grabbed the money, and Zoe joined Lucy. An evening chill crept in as the sun set on the day, a day that was beginning to feel eternal. Zoe and Lucy had left Tomac’s while it was still dark and boarded a bus as the sky filled with morning light. Eight and a half hours later that bus pulled into the station in north Corpus Christi, and the girls had started their search. Three addresses, each one dozens of miles from the next.
The first two had turned up nothing useful. Both had belonged to residents with the name Summer Wallace, but neither seemed to know anything about Lucy or Ollie or a robin. Now, Zoe and Lucy shared a worried look, both knowing this was where their plan ended. They’d kept conversation simple and shallow since the startling events at Tomac’s yesterday. Zoe suspected their minds ran in similar directions, but neither of them wanted to verbalize their thoughts. She hoped they’d find Summer and she’d know what they should do next. But this seemed less than hopeful.
“Come on,” Zoe said as she started toward the fence. The entrance was marked with a wide gate. She reached it and yanked. Locked. She looked around, and two details stood out. To the right side of the gate was a small code box and a keypad. Above it, at the high point of the fence, a black camera was directed down toward them but seemingly inactive.
Lucy was beside her, looking through the chain links, searching for signs of life.
“Anything?” Zoe asked.
“Lots of things,” Lucy replied.
Zoe moved to the code box and pressed the keypad. Nothing happened. It appeared offline or broken. She probed it with her fingers, hoping something might trigger the gate to unlatch, but still nothing.
“This is useless,” she said. She could feel her exhaustion and frustration melding. To make matters worse, she heard the taxi behind her roar to life. She turned in time to see it pulling away. “Hey!” she screamed, rushing after it. “Wait, come back!” But it was too late. In a few seconds the car was turning back onto the side road and was gone.
Zoe cursed loudly. “That’s just great!” Now they were stuck out in the middle of nowhere with no ride, at a dead end. She wanted to scream, throw her backpack on the ground, kick the air, anything to expel the anger gathering in her chest. Instead she rolled her fingers into fists, pressed her nails into her palms, and let out a shaky exhale. She couldn’t lose control. She needed to come up with a plan for what to do now.
“Zoe,” Lucy called.
She took another deep breath. She was pretty sure they had passed a gas station a couple of miles back. If they started walking now, they could probably get there before it was too dark.
“Zoe,” Lucy called again.
But then what would they do? They were running out of money, and Zoe didn’t know anyone in this city. She guessed they could get back on a bus to Dallas, head back to Tomac’s. Would he even let them back in?
“Zoe—”
She swung back around. “What?” she snapped.
Lucy was staring up at the camera and pointed. “I think someone is watching us.”
A shiver ran down Zoe’s spine. She walked toward Lucy and saw a small red light blinking at the base of the camera.
“Was that light there before?” Lucy asked.
No, Zoe thought. She wouldn’t have missed that.
“Hello,” she said toward the camera. “Is anyone there?”
They waited.
Silence.
Maybe it was motion sensitive and had activated when they walked by. That didn’t mean someone was watching. Right?
Zoe waved her hands over her head. “Hello? We’re looking for Summer Wallace. Is anyone by that name here?”
The light blinked and silence met their words. Zoe dropped her arms and sighed. She needed sleep. “It’s going to be dark soon. We need to make a plan.” She turned away from the fence and dropped to a knee, yanking her backpack around and inspecting its contents. “I think we have enough for a room and bus tickets. We should get some rest and then—”
“Hello,” Lucy said. “Please, if someone is there, I need your help.”
“Lucy, there’s no one there,” Zoe said. She didn’t even bother looking back.
“Ollie sent me to find the robin,” Lucy continued.
Zoe shook her head. No one would understand the cryptic code. She was starting to think this Olivia was a nutcase.
“She said I could trust you, that you’re a friend,” Lucy said.
“Lucy, there’s no one—”
A dull buzz cut Zoe’s words short, and after a moment the gate’s lock turned and popped open. Lucy looked wide-eyed back at Zoe. Zoe’s mouth was open in similar surprise. Lucy pulled the gate to the left, and it slid open enough for her to step inside.
Zoe scooped up their belongings and followed Lucy down the wide dirt path that cut through the piles of abandoned things. They’d traveled a few feet when the gate buzzed back to life and slid closed behind them. With a click it locked, sealing them inside. They paused, sharing a look, and then continued.
Zoe’s eyes wandered over the terrain as they moved. Thousands of discarded items had found their way here. More threatening signs stood from the ground along the path.
DO NOT ENTER
TRESPASSER BE WARNED
PRIVATE PROPERTY
Zoe half expected a handwritten message: Turn around, go back, you aren’t prepared for what lies ahead.
After a minute of walking the path that twisted back and out of view of the main entrance, they came upon a small house. Zoe wouldn’t actually call it a house but rather a small shed with a slanted steel roof, wood walls, and a single door cut out in the front. It was attached to a good-size warehouse—no windows, no doors—with a matching metal roof that lay flat across the top. A huge satellite and tall antenna occupied one corner. Two more black cameras sat on the front two corners of the warehouse, and a third camera watched from above the strange home’s single entrance.
Lucy started toward the door, but it opened before she reached it. They saw the end of a long shotgun before the person holding it. Zoe took long strides, reached Lucy, and yanked her back as a middle-aged woman emerged, gun extended, face stone-cold. Her light blonde hair was pulled atop her head in a tight bun, her skin pale and freckled, her black clothes plain and functional and paired with heavy dark boots that could easily knock out teeth.
All the warning instincts that existed inside Zoe’s body went off. This woman did not want them here, and they should not be here.
“Who are you?” the woman barked.
“Are you Summer Wallace?” Lucy asked bravely. Or stupidly. Zoe wasn’t sure yet.
“I’m asking the questions! Who are you?” the gun holder demanded.