Chapter 78
seventy-eight
EZRA
“Stand back against the wall!”
I’m holding Noelle up and slightly behind me, pressed against the wall by the door.
I don’t think she has the strength to stand on her own, and judging from the amount of time it’s taken since I first heard Jo’s voice to now, they’re using a dangerous method to get the door open.
Jo said there were deadbolts and padlocks, but also another mechanism inside the door that the cops couldn’t figure out.
Whoever built this place really didn’t want anyone getting in. Or out.
They’re using a bulldozer to take out the far wall.
We could be risking the ceiling collapsing on us, but both Noelle and I agreed that we had to risk it.
She knows she’s sick and running out of time.
And Maverick could be, too. Jo didn’t like it, but Harrison took our word over hers.
I’m sure she’s out there glaring at him right now.
The thought brings a smile to my face as the earth around me rumbles.
I can’t tell if Noelle is trembling or if it’s just the ground shaking from the machinery.
Dirt rains down on our heads as the bulldozer digs its way to us.
So far, the ceiling is holding. I held Noelle up, and she said it felt like wooden boards.
Kai and I both thought that digging from the top made the most sense, but the ground is practically frozen, and they would need the bulldozer.
There’s no way the boards can hold that weight.
Jo wanted to blow the door off the hinges until she realized that you can only get dynamite that easily in movies.
“Wait!” Jo screams loud enough that even we can hear her over the bulldozer and through the walls. The bulldozer turns off, the sudden silence jarring. “I think I know how to open the door!”
“And you couldn’t have figured that out two hours ago?” Willa yells. I don’t think she needs to be yelling, but the bulldozer must have been close to her ears.
“This Midnightmare5650 person that I’ve been talking to sent me a blueprint of the lock he thinks it is.”
“What?” Harrison screeches. “You asked a stranger on the internet about a lock? How did you explain that? It could be anyone! Patrick is probably on his way.”
“He knew Noelle was alive!” she argues back. I know I’m not at my best right now, but I cannot see how those two things go together. Or lock picking. Noelle gasps from behind me.
“What? What’s wrong?” I turn my head to look at her, even though I can’t see a damn thing still. “Noelle?”
“Only one person knows I’m alive.”
“Who?” I demand. “Jo, get this door open or the bulldozer back on!”
“Working on it! Give me thirty seconds! I think I’ve almost got it!” I can hear the grinding of metal on metal, so she’s doing something.
“Who, Noelle? Who knows you’re alive?”
Noelle takes in a wet, wheezing breath. “Your mom.”