Chapter 107.
As shocked as Alek is to hear Wyatt Jordan’s voice, The Host looks more shocked, staggering back a few steps, his back to the wall. For the first time in as long as Alek can remember, he doesn’t look in control.
“How—”
“Still think I’m too big for my britches, Dad?” Wyatt says.
What did we just hear? Alek thinks.
Is that really Wyatt?
Here?
Calling The Host his father?
Jack is the one who jumps to his feet, furious, running hot that quickly. He looks angrier than when Ant Tipton pulled the knife on him.
He points a finger now at the gray speaker, wanting to grab it and smash it on the floor, or throw it against one of the windows.
Maybe it’s Wyatt Jordan he wants to throw across the room.
Whoever he really is.
“No. No way,” he snaps at the speaker. “Wyatt, is this really you?”
“It is, Jack,” they hear. “Not sure if that’s the good news or the bad news.”
“And you’re calling him—”
“My father,” Wyatt says.
Alek tries to put a calming hand on Jack’s arm, get him to sit back down. He shakes it off.
Alek says, “What are you saying?”
Wyatt takes a breath on the other end. Like he’s been holding it for days.
“My full name is Wyatt Jordan Hillshire,” Wyatt says.
Jack says, “Hillshire. As in Gavin Hillshire? The guy Jimmy texted us about?”
“He was my grandfather,” Wyatt says.
There is a brief silence before he adds, “And the man with you is Ward Hillshire. Dear old Dad, unfortunately.”
Ward Hillshire still looks like he’s seen a ghost. Or is hearing one.
“So it’s the two of you behind this thing?” Alek says. “And you let us think you were one of us the whole time?”
“That part was real,” Wyatt says. “I was being tested, too, right along with the rest of you. I just couldn’t tell you.”
Alek is shaking her head, slowly, side to side, in disbelief.
“So which one of you is the boss?” Alek asks.
“My father was, right up until a few minutes ago,” Wyatt says. “Now I am.” They can hear him sigh. “It’s complicated. But it’s why we’re here in Dubai.”
“Hey, kid, here’s something that’s not complicated at all,” Jack says. “You’ve got things you want to say to us? Get in here and say them to our faces.”
He turns to look at Ward Hillshire, still frozen in place.
Jack steps toward Ward, voice low and dangerous. “Did you know he was going to do this? Did you know he was listening the whole time?”
“Do I look like I knew?”
The door behind him opens.
Wyatt isn’t the one who comes walking into the room.
There are four guards in black jumpsuits instead. They silently come and stand behind each of them at the table.
“Time for the final tests,” they hear Wyatt say over the speaker.
“We’re still doing this?” Jack says.
“Not my call,” Wyatt says. “But yes. The final act was always supposed to be here.”
“Where?” Alek demands.
“Downstairs,” Wyatt says.
Then he adds: “Good luck to all of you. I mean that, whether you feel like believing me or not.”
Wyatt pauses.
Then his tone changes—harder, aimed to cut.
“And now, Dad, as your last official act as the person in charge of these games, take them to the rooms,” he says.
He waits one more beat and adds:
“I’m in charge now.”