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I step over to the keyboard Now the truly scary part

You don’t have Sammy’s number, but it should be cross-referenced to his name If one variation doesn’t work, try a different one There should be a search function

Blood is trickling down the back ofdown betweenuncontrollably, whichblue box I tap out the word search It take two tries to spell it correctly

ENTER NUMBER

I don’t have a nuet back to the blue box? I hit the enter button

ENTER NUMBER

Oh, I get it now It wants a number!

I key in Sullivan

DATA ENTRY ERROR

I’ theDr Pam until she’s dead Neither will help me find Sam, but both would et the blue box and type search by name

The words vanish Vaporized by Wonderland The blue box blinks, blank again

I fight back a scream I’m out of time

If you can’t find hio to Plan B

I’m not crazy about Plan B I like Plan A, where his location pops up on a ht to him Plan A is simple and clean Plan B is complicated and messy

Onea difference

I type Sullivan into the blue box

The display goes haywire Nu the screen, like I just gave it a co random buttons, but the scroll doesn’t stop I’m well past five minutes Plan B sucks, but B it is

I duck into the adjoining roorab one off the shelf and wisely atterunt of frustration, I shrug out of it, and for a second I’m totally naked, the second in which that door beside me will fly open and a battalion of Silencers will flood into the roos happen in all Plan Bs The suit is way too big, but better too big than too small, I think, and I’m quickly zipped up and back in the Wonderland rooh the ood possibility she has a handheld unit somewhere on her It works on the same principle, but you have to be very careful One function is a locator, the other is a detonator Key in the wrong command and you won’t find him, you’ll fry hi Bear in one hand and a s that looks like a cell phone in the other

Like I said, Plan B sucks

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HER NECK IS FLAMING RED where I choked her Her face is covered in blood But her hands are steady, and her eyes have lost all their warreen button below a nuoing to hurt you" I squat down, hands open, palms toward her "Seriously, you really do not want to press that button"

She presses the button

Her head snaps back, and she flops down Her legs kick twice, and she’s gone

I leap forward, snatch Bear out of her dead fingers, and race back through the jumpsuit room and into the hallway beyond Evan never bothered to tellafter the alarm sounds before the Stormtroopers are mobilized, the base is locked down, and the interloper captured, tortured, and put to a slow and agonizing death Probably not that long

So much for Plan B Hated it anyway The only downside is Evan and I never drew up a Plan C

He’ll be in a squad with older kids, so your best bet is the barracks that ring the parade grounds

Barracks that ring the parade grounds Wherever that is Maybe I should stop someone and ask for directions, because I only know one way out of this building, and that’s the way I came in, past the dead body and the old fat ht into the loving arms of Major Bob

There’s an elevator at the end of the hall with a single call button: It’s a one-way express ride to the underground complex, where Evan says Sammy and the other "recruits" are shown the phony creatures "attached" to real hu with Silencers Only two other ways out of this hallway: the door just to the right of the elevator and the door I came out of

Finally, a no-brainer

I slah the door and find o in one direction: down

I hesitate for a half second The stairwell is quiet and sood, cozy kind of s my bear, perhaps suck my thumb

I force hts to the botto for the shriek of alar of heavy boots and the rain of bullets fro out four heavily arhly trained killers in near total darkness, and wonder why I ever thought it ise to stroll into the lion’s den alone when I could have had a Silencer by my side