Chapter 21: Exam Day

I called Eli from the cot, and he picked up on the first ring.

"They have the girl's brother in a car," I said. "Can you find the plate?"

"The agency's cars are on the contract. Give me ten minutes."

He called back in six.

"A gray van, parked on the south side of Whitcomb Hall since eight. Four men. One of them is in the van with the brother."

"Thanks."

"Talia."

"What?"

"Nothing," he said. "I'm already in the car."

We were at the bus stop by a quarter to nine.

The girl by the window was sitting on the bench with her hands pressed between her knees.

"I can't go in," she said. "If I go in, they hurt him. If I don't, the program closes."

"You're going in," I said.

"Talia."

"Look at me. You walk in with the cohort, you sit down, and you write the exam. We're taking care of your brother."

"How?"

"The way I took care of the three in the parking lot."

Caleb had already called the deputy from the station, the one who had asked the honors girl about her video.

He told the deputy where the van was, and what was in it, and that nobody should go near it without me.

Whitcomb Hall had a wide glass lobby and a long hall of double doors.

At nine-forty the other eleven of the cohort were lined up there, in their best shirts, holding pencils.

The dean stood at the testing room doors with a clipboard.

The man in work boots saw me and nodded once.

The boy in the back row looked sick.

"Everyone in and find your desks," I said. "Don't look back."

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