Page 181 of The Most Dangerous Games

“Okay, someone, catch me up,” Wyatt says.

Jack and Zhi reach down and help Tipton to his feet, still having to prop him up once they do.

Tipton swallows hard. His eyes are wet and furious at the same time.

“I thought I was going to die in here,” he says.

Alek nods. “So did we.”

She is tall enough to look Tipton in the eyes. “You want a way to make this mean something?” she asks. “You want a way to pay it back?”

Tipton’s jaw clenches. He nods once.

Alek leans in slightly.

“Then fight with us,” she says. “Show us who I believe you are when you’re free from their leash.”

Tipton’s breath shudders.

“Understood,” he says.

In that moment, after everything, they see the last scraps of the old Tipton:

“Just give me the mission.”

125.

The others are waiting for Alek in the lobby of Burj Khalifa an hour later. The plan is for them all to go to one of Dubai’s finest restaurants for dinner and then to feel like normal humans again.

Even Tipton is slowly turning back into himself, for better or worse.

Alone in the boardroom, Alek uses her phone—the one that had kept her connected to Jimmy—to call her mother.

Once she answers, Alek tries to sum up the crazy events of this day—of the past few days. She tells her the truth, but not all of it, choosing to leave out the parts about the horrors inside her chamber.

When she finishes, her mother says, “Are you still certain this is what you want?”

“Yes,” Alek says without hesitation. “And not just for me. For you, too, maty.”

Then Alek adds:

“This is for everyone under attack the way we have been.”

“So you’re ready for whatever comes next?” her mother asks.

Alek looks out over Dubai like she can already see the future moving.

“Yes,” Alek says again. “I’m ready. We all are.”

Then, surprising even herself, Alek Andrich puts her phone down on the table, leans back in her chair, and screams her head off in the empty conference room.

On the other end, her mother’s voice cracks through. “Alek? Is everything okay?”

Alek laughs, breathless and disbelieving.

“Okay?” she says. “Okay?”

She wipes her face.