The World Never Ended novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: The Trade

I walked into the compound at eleven the next night, alone, in my mother's white boots.

One of the crew who had agreed to help had put a button microphone inside the left heel.

Shane had checked the stitching with his thumb and said nothing, and I had said nothing back.

The gate stood open.

The yard was dark, and the van was gone from it.

I went through the fire door and down the long gray corridor, and every step rang.

At the end of the hall, the loudspeaker clicked on above my head.

"Resident," said a flat voice. "Proceed to the control room."

It was a recording of Shane.

Dean had kept the tapes.

My stomach turned over, and I made it walk.

The control room door stood open, with light behind it.

Inside, the whole wall was monitors, and each one showed a room I knew.

My bunk.

The infirmary.

The corridor with the stenciled doors.

Dean sat in a swivel chair in the middle, in his camel coat, with a paper cup of coffee on the console.

"Cora," he said, and stood. "You came."

"Where is she?"

"Close the door."

"Where is my daughter, Dean?"

He pressed a key.

One monitor changed.

It showed the inside of a van, parked in darkness.

A small figure slept in a car seat, in the yellow duck dress.

A man sat in the front seat with his back to the camera.

"She's an hour away from you," Dean said. "Do you have the card?"

I took it from my coat and set it on the console.

It was the right size and the right color, and Shane had taken the real one to a vault that afternoon.

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