“Are you at the stadium now? Are you safe?” I ask.
“Yes. Go! Move!”
Goddammit. I put it on speaker and shove the thing in my pocket before I go back to the beam. I groan with frustration and then push up with everything I’ve got. One. Two. Three!
“What’s happening?” River yells. “That woman moved. I can’t see you on her livestream. Oh, wait. Never mind. They just switched the feed. There’s a news crew there now.”
Wonderful. “Stop talking. I’m trying to concentrate, Riv!” I lift until a four-foot gap opens up. The only problem is that the people inside don’t know I’m here.
I lift harder, probably blowing a few dozen blood vessels. My teeth are clenched so tight, I feel heat between them.
I manage to prop the edge of the beam on the corner of the steel dumpster. I know it’s not going to hold. I can already hear the metal groaning under the weight.
I dart inside, flagging down a few of the staff. “You can get out over there. But hurry! I don’t know how long it’s going to stay open.”
They rush and don’t stop flowing outside, crossing the flooding parking lot into the next building over. Most people are walking; a few need to be carried.
Meanwhile, I’m standing with my shoulder and hands under the beam, supporting it to make sure it doesn’t go anywhere.
“That’s the last person,” says a guy in scrubs.
“Are you sure?” I grunt.
“Who cares?” River barks from my pocket. “You have to go now!”
The guy gives me a startled look.
“Sorry. It’s my girlfriend. She’s cheering me on,” I say.
I think he suddenly realizes that I lifted something requiring a crane because his mouth flaps, and he points at the beam.
“Are you sure no one else is inside?” I repeat.
“No. I don’t think so.”
But I already know he’s wrong. I hear a small voice crying for help somewhere inside the ER wing.
“Go.” I wave at the guy to keep moving.
“Huff, what are you doing? You’re doing that little dance like when you can’t make up your mind. Don’t go in there.”
“River, stop talking, or I’m going to hang up.”
“Fine. Fine. I’m muting myself.”
The guy in scrubs runs off, and I slowly release the full weight of the beam back onto the dumpster. I hurry inside to find the girl.
“Hello? Hello!” I call out.
“Help! I’m trapped inside the bathroom!”
I run down a long hallway. At the end is a door. “Hello?”
“Yes. I’m here! Part of the ceiling fell, and I can’t open the door. It’s blocked by some sheetrock.”
Okay. I place a hand on my waist and inspect the frame around the door. I give it a knock. The space sounds hollow.
“Move back,” I yell. “I’m going to knock a hole in the wall.” I crank my fist and punch right through it. But when I look inside, I see a face I recognize. “Keni?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Remember the “death button” conversation I had with Lyle, his brother, and the other law student, Jorden? And remember how I said I would push the button if justice had failed. Well, this is that situation. Or as close to it as real life gets, and now I’m questioning my prior answer.
“Huff! Thank God. Get me out of here.” Keni leans down, putting her face right in front of the hole.
“Is it true you accused me and River of killing Blake?”
“No. Who told you that? Was it River? River’s a liar, Huff!” she says frantically. “She told everyone bad things about me, and I was kicked out of the house. Please. Let me out of here!”
“I heard it was the other way around,” I say calmly.
“She’s lying! She’s crazy! Just ask the other girls.”
“You mean the ones you poisoned?” I step back and fold my arms over my chest, like I’ve got all the time in the world.
“I would never do that.”
“And what exactly are you doing here in the hospital, Keni? Making sure you finish the job?”
“Those girls are my friends. I just came by to see if they’re okay.”
Liar. “Didn’t you just say they all kicked you out of the house?”
“Well, a few still like me. They know I would never hurt them. If anyone poisoned them, it was River. She’s evil, Huff. I’m telling you. She manipulates everyone around her.”
I scoff. “How? Give examples.”
“Can we talk about this outside?”
“We could, but maybe I’ll just leave you here instead.” Do I actually mean that? If Keni almost killed eighteen people, maybe I do.
“River knows what happened to you. I told her, and she decided not to say anything.”
Huh? “What happened to me?”
“That guy, the chemist who sold Blake all his injections, said that the company was experimenting with these super-steroids. They’re not detectable with drug tests, and if they were, they’re not illegal yet because they’re too new. And he would know because he invented the stuff Blake and some of the other guys are taking. It has side effects—makes you crazy and aggressive.”
“How do you know all this?”
“Because he’s my brother.”
What? “Your brother is a drug dealer?”
She goes on, “He was a chemist before MJP fired him for refusing to turn over his full formula. That pool the guys took you to is what he dumped out when he left. He was too afraid to flush it into the sewers.”
I need to know more. I need to talk to this guy. “That doesn’t mean River is what you say.” I’m sure she has a good reason for not telling me.
“Really? Then why didn’t she tell you the part about if you stop taking the drug, you die? Did she tell you your heart’s going to burst right inside your chest?”
“But-but I’m not taking it.”
“You took a super dose. You marinated in it. Don’t you think it’s going to wear off sooner or later? And then what? It’s like I told her, you have to be monitored. You have to take more eventually, or you’ll fucking die! Don’t you think if she were really your friend, she would tell you all that?”
But I’m not aggressive or having any issues. Then I start thinking about my heart before I came here. It was hurting. But I can’t believe River would want me to die. She loves me. I love her.
“Huff, I’m telling the truth,” Keni pleads. “River is evil. She was the one who convinced Blake to stop taking that stuff even after I warned him what would happen. She pushed him to stop the injections. She told him she’d expose him if he didn’t get clean.”
I frown. I just can’t believe this. I really can’t. But until I get to the bottom of things, I can’t let Keni die. I’m not sure I could anyway.
“I’m letting you out, but I want to talk to your brother. And I want your word you’ll make sure no more people take that crap.”
“Fine. Whatever. Just get me out.”
“Stand back.” I hit the wall with my fist, busting through the sheetrock. I make a hole big enough for her to climb out. “Hurry. I don’t know how much longer we have.”