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the relaxing effect that it used to with her standing in the corner of the court watching me and jumping ever so slightly every time a car drove by.
    I wrapped my fingers around the doorknob, twisting it as slowly as I could. As I started to open it, the phone rang, startling me into releasing the doorknob. I watched my daring escape vanish with the sound of the door slamming against its frame. “Riley, is that you? You know you aren’t supposed to go outside without me,” Mom yelled from upstairs.
    Ring.
    “I know. Just was looking at a bird. Sorry.”
    Ring.
    “Sure you were…a bird… Answer the phone please.”
    I picked up the receiver. “Hello?”
    A whisper that I knew oh so well answered. “Riley? Is that you? Please tell me that’s you!”
    I fell against the wall and slowly poured onto the floor, landing in a heap on the crisp white tile. “Olivia? Oh my gosh!”
    “I haven’t got long. I snuck into the supervisor’s room. It’s the only phone in the school.”
    My breath came in quick gulps. “Are you okay? Why won’t they let you use the phone? I don’t understand!”
    “I don’t want to talk about this place. Tell me what it’s like there. Is it sunny there?”
    “What do you mean? You’re in D.C. too, right? What’s wrong?”
    “Please, Riley! I need to hear it!”
    I wiped the tears from my cheeks and forced myself to slow my breathing down. I inhaled deeply. “Okay. It’s really warm here. Clear blue sky outside. The squirrels are out too…the ones in our yard that you liked so much.”
    “What are you having for dinner?”
    The tears kept coming. My nose dripped down my face and I tasted the salt on my lips but I didn’t care. “Bo’s cooking fried chicken. With mashed potatoes and corn, I think. And the most amazing chocolate cake. So much better than Mom’s!” I forced a laugh. “Don’t tell her, okay?”
    A sigh came through on the other end. “I wish I could come.”
    “Why can’t you? I don’t understand. Why won’t they let you call me?”
    “I miss you.”
    “I miss you too! I—”
    “What are you doing in here? Put that down right now!” A new, angry voice roared on the other end of the phone, nearly drowning out my best friend’s.
    “Riley! Riley!”
    Click.
    Olivia vanished.
    My mom found me on the floor screaming into the long-empty phone. “Leave her alone! Olivia! I’ll find you, you hear me? I’ll find you, I promise!”
    “Riley! Dear God, what happened?”
    I looked up at her with bloodshot eyes and swollen cheeks. “That was Olivia. Something’s wrong.”
    • • •
    Three years after they took Olivia, almost to the day, they came for me.

CHAPTER THREE
    T he road bounced us up and down as we drove, and our backpacks rattled against our seats. I felt the road shake us down to my bones, so I couldn’t imagine what our poor van felt like. If it had a voice, I’m sure it would have asked us if we could take the highway. Bo told me to lie down in the very back so I wouldn’t be seen. I didn’t know who he thought would see me way out in the middle of nowhere, but I did it anyway. I figured while we were on the run the last thing he needed was me mouthing off. My muscles ached but I stayed quiet, only cursing the Taskforce Officers silently inside my head.
    “Where are we going?” Mom asked Cain as she tightened the rubber band that held her hair back. No more bobby pins for her.
    “Well, since you were short on cash, and we need a new vehicle, Jordyn is going to do a job and get us a new car. We never cross the border in the same one. We switch in between trips.”
    “What kind of job?” I shouted without getting up from my post in the back of the van.
    Before Cain could answer, Mom jumped in. “Could you be a little more specific?”
    “We’re going to see a group of mercenaries. They can offer us protection for the night, and we can pick up our new vehicle from them.”
    “I’ve heard of those people. They kill Taskforce men,