Fire & Ice

ch. 6

DANIEL

The one-way viewing window shattered spontaneously, spraying the entire crowd with shards of glass. I was already pushing through the rattled crowd toward the window, one hand on my gun and the other pulling Nat's. 

Five seconds ago, Jamie was there, bruised and battered after her unbelievable exam performance. She was...unstoppable. She'd acted as if she'd had no gun in her belt, and her determination to beat that record was on a level that I couldn't reach. 

Then, she was standing in a spotlight, looking straight at me. Something was wrong. 

"What the hell's going on?" I'd asked the judges, but they were just as confused, trying to get the lights back up. 

"Jordan's leaving. Maybe he's getting help," Nat whispered. I looked back at the door, and sure enough, Jordan was slipping out. He looked back and caught my eyes, mouthing something I couldn't make out before disappearing into the hall. 

And then came the blast of the glass, completely throwing the room into a panic. After it shattered, I saw that Jamie had disappeared. 

I ran into the prep room with Nat against the crowd of people running for the door. I yanked the exam room door open as Nat went to the control box and flipped on all the lights.

"Jamie!" I yelled. The exam room was bare...except for a few drops of blood near where Jamie had been standing. 

"Jamie!" I yelled again, whirling around and searching every inch of that room. There was no answer. 

"Where could she have gone?" Nat said. She was trying to stay calm for me, but I knew she was just as scared as I was.

"I don't understand," I murmured. "She can't have just disappeared." 

The loudspeaker popped on, startling us. "Attention, this is not a drill. Please evacuate Headquarters immediately. All ELITE officials please report to the fountain. Repeat: everyone  please evacuate the building immediately." 

I frowned at Nat, and that's when the alarms began to blare. Now we knew for sure that something was really wrong. Headquarters was under attack.

"I need to find Izzy!" Nat yelled over the noise, starting for the door. 

"Wait, we need to stay together!" I said. "And Jamie..." 

"Let's get to Izzy and find our parents. They'll know what's happening," Nat tugged me out into the crowded hallway, but I couldn't shake the feeling that Jamie was in trouble. But Nat was probably right about our parents knowing more, so I followed her. 

Just as we approached the room where Izzy had taken her exam, another explosion rocked the entire building. The aftershock was so close that it knocked everyone to the ground. 

"It's an attack!" I realized, stomach twisting into knots as we rose. 

Natalie paused for a minute in the crowded halls as everyone ran for the stairs. "Izzy!" she called, searching for her sister.

My phone began vibrating in my pants pocket. I pulled it out, and Jamie's name was lighting up across the screen. 

I answered it quickly. "Jamie? Where the hell did you go?" 

"No, it's Mom." 

When my mother answered, I knew it couldn't be good. I could barely hear her over the sound of the pandemonium in the background. "Daniel," she said, "I need you to listen to me carefully. Gather yourselves. You, your sister, and whoever you can grab. Follow the emergency invasion protocol, take the bullet train, and head to the safe house."