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"Hold on," I said "That’s all you’ve got I’m layered up"

He turned his head away I stripped off all three shirts, gritting my teeth as the fabric brushed my wound I reminded myself that I’d barely felt it before he told me it was bad

I put the top two shirts back on and handed hi I must have looked alarmed, because he said, "No one’s around I can hear the the warehouse"

He wound the strips around ht the faint sound of a voice calling, then an answer

"They’re all in the warehouse now," he whispered "Ti up Sied through the obstacle course of debris, never slowing Luckily, I was behind him, where he couldn’t see howpast some obstacle

Finally, he slowed "Got hier at the south side of the factory We steered that way When we neared the corner, a figure leaned from a recessed doorway, then retreated fast Simon Ayanked back, presumably by Simon

We raced over and found thearette s here?" Rae whispered, staring at Derek as if in alare of plans"

"Good to see you, bro," Si Derek’s back "I orried Chloe’d never find us There’s a whole bunch of people looking for us"

"I know"

Sie, looked out, then walked over touns"

"What?" Rae’s eyes rounded "No way They’d never--"

"Tranq guns," Derek corrected

"Oh" She nodded, as if tranquilizer guns were standard issue for tracking runaway kids

"Who’ve you seen?" Derek asked Simon

"Van Dop, Davidoff, and, I think, Talbot, but I’n of Gill"

"She’s back at the house," I said "But there are two nize A man and a woman" I looked at Derek "Undercover cops, you think?"

"No idea We’ll worry about that later Right noe’re sitting ducks We need to get out of here"

As Derek moved to look out, Si hi okay?"

"Later," Derek said "There’s another warehouse farther back, with broken s It’s probably abandoned If we can get to that--"

"Chloe?" Rae said, staring down at my arm "What’s all over your sleeve? It looks like…" She touched the fabric "Oh, "

Simon ducked around to my other side "It’s soaked What--?"

"Just a cut," I said

"It’s deep," Derek said "She needs stitches"

"I don’t--"

"She needs stitches," he repeated "I’ll figure so out For now--" He swore and ju" He looked around, scowling "This is the lousiest hiding place…"

"I know," Simon said "I wanted to find a better one, but" A pointed look at Rae said she’d refused to leave

"What’s wrong with here?" she said She backed up against the wall "It’s completely dark They won’t see ht on you"

"Oh"

Derek strode to the door, grabbed the handle, and gave it a test pull Then he braced his feet, took the handle in both hands, and heaved until the tendons in his neck bulged The door quivered, then flew open with a crack as loud as a gunshot

He frantically waved us inside "Find cover!" he whispered as I hurried past

We raced through into a wide hall flanked with doors, some open, some closed Rae headed for the first Derek shoved her past

"Keep going!" he whispered

He loped by her and led us to a second hall Then, he motioned for silence as he listened, but even without super senses, I heard the whoosh of the door and the clamor of footsteps

"It’s open!" a et out," Derek whispered "Split up Find an exit Any exit Then whistle, but softly I’ll hear you"

Forty-four

AROUND THE NEXT CORNER, we split up to search for an exit

The first door I tried opened into a long, narrow roon of a way out

Back in the hall, I could hear voices, but distant, searching the roo we’d ducked into the first one

Hurrying toward the next door, I spotted a figure in the room across the hall I stopped short, but too late I was already standing in plain sight

As I pulled my heart from my throat, I realized the man had his back to me Dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt, he was the saun, and had the same dark hair I didn’t re a jacket

He stood on a raised platfor industrial saw He seeht his attention