Page 129 of Silent Target

“Twenty years ago.”

The answer sounds pulled from somewhere he has spent decades trying to bury.

“What’s ahead?” I ask.

Mac stares into the darkness.

“The place where the First Circle decides who belongs—and who disappears.”

A steel barrier crashes down behind us.

The exit vanishes.

Then another barrier begins descending across the track ahead.

The maintenance vehicle is trapped between them.

Rook accelerates.

“Hold on!”

We race toward the closing gate.

27

EVIE

The steel gate drops toward the tracks.

Rook doesn’t slow.

I grip the railing with one hand and Falcon’s vest with the other.

“There’s no room!”

Caleb moves in front of me.

Of course he does.

The gate keeps descending.

Ten feet.

Six.

Three.

Rook ducks.

The maintenance vehicle shoots beneath it with inches to spare.

Metal shrieks across the top rail.

Sparks rain over us.

Caleb bends over me, taking the worst of them across his back.

The gate crashes down behind the vehicle.