Page 150 of The Most Dangerous Games

The Host.

Jimmy’s voice hardens. “No. I’m not responsible for this. Not for these deaths. Not for your games.”

“You helped open the door,” The Host says. “Now you get to see what’s on the other side.”

Jimmy leans forward, jaw clenched. “Where are you taking me?”

“To a place where all your questions will finally be answered. And where a winner will be crowned.”

He pauses.

“Do you know who the winner is, James?” he adds.

One more pause, before The Host adds, “I do.”

103.

Six Days Later

The five of them stand at the base of the tallest building they’ve ever seen, sunlight flashing off glass high enough to make you dizzy. The Burj Khalifa had served in Dubai for the past two decades as international headquarters for Gavin Hillshire, Inc.

Hillshire had moved his primary offices there from New York City just before the global financial crisis of 2008.

There are just five of them standing outside, feeling more pressure than they have since the field in Ohio when they found out they were among those who had made the cut.

They are in a place known as the City of Gold and, once again, they have no idea what’s coming next.

Are they about to put their lives on the line one more time, maybe for the last time?

Five of them this close to the ultimate prize, one they all still think is worth it, despite the cost. Five. Not six.

Hannah is gone.

Wyatt is gone.

And no one got to say goodbye.

Jack, Alek, Tipton, Zhi, Marcelo.

They stand shoulder to shoulder, like strangers forced into the same photograph. Above them, the building disappears into haze and glare.

Alek squints up. “What number do you think they press to get to the top—one thousand?”

No one laughs.

No one even pretends.

Their nerves are too raw for humor. Everything in them is tuned to danger now, like animals that have learned the sound of the trapdoor.

They’re just waiting to go inside to meet with The Host.

Wyatt is the latest to have left them, without a trace, without an explanation or a goodbye of his own.

More mystery to go with every other mystery they have encountered so far. But all of it has brought them to this place, this building. And as awe-inspiring as Burj Khalifa is, it also inspires unbearable fear and dread. They have absolutely no clue what awaits them inside.

“Are we ready to do this?” Jack asks.

“As we’ll ever be,” Alek says.