Chapter 20 Sierra
Sierra
Sierra had worried her teammates weren’t cutthroat enough to reach the finale. But somehow, they kept surprising her. Carter with her math. Beck’s broad proficiencies. Adi recognizing the columnar transposition cipher before any Solve Specialist.
Now Adi knelt by the dining hall door with a small metal tube containing lock-picking tools. When there was a click, Sierra had to admit she was impressed.
Adi held the door open into the darkness. “Shall we?”
“You have to teach me how to do that,” Beck said, using the welcome pack flashlight to guide his way.
“What’s that?” Carter whispered.
Sierra followed her stare toward the driveway. “What?”
“I thought I saw something . . .” Carter trailed off, eyes darting around the shadows. Then she shook her head. “The wind, probably.”
Sierra couldn’t see anything but swaying palm trees. It was a blustery night, a welcome reprieve from the day’s heat.
She and Carter stepped inside. Adi led them beyond the swinging door at the back of the hall into the kitchen.
“Ice creeeam,” Beck sang, grabbing the key from the hook and unlocking the padlock to the walk-in freezer.
“I thought we were getting milk,” Carter said.
“It’s a two-for-one sale. I hope they have caramel swirl. It tastes like my favorite song.”
“You keep saying stuff like that,” Carter said. “What are you talking about?”
“I taste sounds,” Beck said, like it was a totally normal thing to say. He had to drag out boxes of meat that were stacked on the freezer floor to get in.
“The FDA’s dream,” Adi drawled, nudging a box of raw chicken away with his shoe.
When Beck was done, he gave a dramatic gasp. “Ice cream mother lode! Look—they’ve got Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey, and Cherry Garcia, and oh my giddy aunt—is that Phish Food?”
“I’ll be a part of this,” Adi said, lunging inside.
“I’m sorry,” said Sierra. “You taste sounds?”
Beck looked up from the two pints of ice cream in his hands.
“It’s a type of synesthesia. Different sounds make me taste different flavors, and sometimes textures.
” He pointed an ice cream carton at Sierra.
“Your voice is like blue Kool-Aid and sherbet. That’s how I knew it was you in the snag round before we saw you. ”
The three of them stared at him for a long moment. Finally, Carter whispered, “That’s really cool. So, um, do you see any strawberry?”
“There might be some in the back?” Beck started searching again.
“Shove over.” Sierra jostled past to get to the chocolate mint she’d spied. It was a tight squeeze, with shelves on either side of them and Beck at the end.
“Oh, there!” Beck said cheerfully. “I think I can reach it—”
Sierra glanced toward the door. Her heart nearly shot out of her throat.
A figure dressed in black stood there, face covered by a balaclava. Sierra sucked in a breath to cry out when the figure shoved Carter in the back.
Carter stumbled into Adi and Sierra, who fell into Beck, who crashed against the rear shelving. The freezer door slammed shut, plunging them into darkness.
Sierra gaped at the heavy door, that breath still trapped in her throat.
“What the hell!” Adi roared, breaking Sierra from her shock.
She lurched to shove the door open. It was stuck. “Hey. Hey! Shit, I think they’ve padlocked it.”
Light flooded the room as Beck clicked the flashlight back on. His breath steamed before his face. “Is everyone okay? Carter?”
“I think so.” Carter’s voice was shaky. “Who pushed me?”
“I didn’t see,” Sierra said. “They were wearing a balaclava.”
“They were what?” Adi said as Beck hissed out a breath.
“What’s a balaclava?” asked Carter.
“A mask that covers everything but your eyes.”
“I told you I saw something,” Carter said. “In the bushes outside. I told you!”
“Maybe it was Jarius being an asshole?” Adi sounded like he didn’t believe himself.
“Jarius didn’t know we’d be out here,” Sierra said.
“We didn’t know we’d be out here,” Beck pointed out.
“So . . . someone was roaming around the complex in that mask for the fun of it?” Carter whispered.
Beck dug out his phone. “I’m calling Elijah.”
The line rang. And rang.
“He’s asleep,” Sierra said.
“Or lurking around the place in a balaclava,” Adi muttered.
“Could this be another attempt at sabotaging us?” Carter hugged herself as Beck tried calling Lisa’s number. “Like whoever spiked my drink? Maybe they were hanging around our villas, saw us heading in here, and decided to use the opportunity to their advantage.”
Beck gasped. “Maybe it’s the same person who put the cow heart in our fridge!”
Carter’s jaw dropped as Adi asked, “What cow heart?”
“Whoops. Sorry. We didn’t tell you because Sierra thought someone was trying to put us off our game.” Beck explained about finding the heart and the knife with the creepy note, finishing the story with a full-body shiver. “Jeez, it’s freezing in here.”
“Yeah,” Adi said. “It’s a freezer.”
But Sierra could see the worry behind his facade. Her own face was going numb from the cold.
“This is probably a silly question,” Carter said, “but do people die in freezers?”
No one answered.
Beck cleared his throat and said, “I’ll try Lisa again.”
Lisa’s number rang through as well.
“Does anyone have another contestant’s phone number?” asked Beck.
They didn’t.
“We need someone who’ll wake up when their phone is ringing,” Adi growled.
“Or someone who’s already awake.” Carter sighed a steamy breath and pulled out her phone, showing them the notifications of new posts on The Escape Game’s social media accounts.
“Oh no,” Adi said.
“Yep.” Carter opened her Instagram messages and sent the account moderator—Vera—a short explanation.
A short time later, a reply buzzed through. This better not be a prank.
I wish, Carter responded.
Seconds passed, feeling like minutes, before Vera replied, Fine, I’m coming.
Carter shoved her phone in her pocket, along with her hands. “I’m sure she’ll get here as fast as she can. Right?”
“If she’s not here in twenty minutes, we’ll call the fire department,” Adi said.
“Did anyone else notice from the Real Game Master’s post that her last name is ‘Jolly’?” Beck said with a blue-lipped grin.
Adi snorted, steam billowing from his nose. “I always appreciate a good dose of irony.” He was tapping away at his phone, occasionally pausing to rub warmth into his fingers. “Everyone online says it’s impossible to get locked in an industrial freezer. There’s an unlock mechanism inside.”
“Yeah,” Sierra drawled, “except when someone padlocks the outside.”
“Psychopath,” Beck whispered. When Sierra shot him a glare, he added hastily, “Not you. Whoever locked us in. This isn’t some harmless prank . . . unless they’re planning on letting us out again soon.”
Sierra strained to hear any sound outside, but it was impossible through the door.
“I’ve decided you’re not a psychopath,” Beck added. “You’ve got some of the traits. Vindictive. Smart. You like to collect information.”
Sierra raised her eyebrows. “Isn’t that most people on the show? Including you?”
Beck pointed at his temple. “Empathy. Confetti.”
“So I’ve heard,” Sierra said.
“But you don’t seem like a narcissist,” Beck said. “You react to upsetting situations automatically. There’s no delay, like a psychopath would need. And you don’t suck up to your superiors.”
“You’ve noticed that, huh?”
“There’s literally a website that tells you what to do if you accidentally end up in a walk-in freezer,” said Adi, still on his phone. “Is there a safety bell in here?”
“Who’s going to hear it?” Carter said.
“Good point.” He skimmed the article. “Okay, we have to worry about hypothermia, frostbite, and air supply. We could break the airconditioning fan.”
“Vera will be here soon,” said Carter, though she sounded uncertain.
“Should we do a group cuddle?” Beck suggested.
“Absolutely not,” Adi said.
Beck jiggled on the spot. “Ranielle’s going to be so mad. Anyone got a good reason for why we’re in the freezer besides breaking in to steal ice cream?”
“Forget that. We have something more important to talk about.” Adi looked at Sierra. “How about you tell us what happened the night Alicia was murdered?”