Lassiter turned and looked at Nari. He licked his lips. “I’ll get my lab ready.”

* * *

Nari wrapped her arms around Angus’s waist, her heart thundering in her chest. He was there and solid, and she clung to him for a moment inside the cell.

“Are you all right?” he asked, kissing her forehead, his cuffed hands between them.

“Yes.” She stepped back. “This is my mom, Louise.”

Angus nodded. “Hi.”

Her mom’s face was pale but stoic. “Hello.”

Angus looked over his shoulder to where Lassiter was bustling around his lab, humming happily. Opal had gone elsewhere to take care of some phone calls, after making Lassiter promise not to start until she’d said goodbye and left to avoid the screaming. “We’re at the end of a long driveway and nobody will hear us. Chances are this place is soundproofed, too.”

Nari’s knees wobbled. “Did you see the stun guns?”

Angus nodded. “Yeah. He can’t stun all three of us at once, but he doesn’t have to open the doors, either.” His gaze darted around.

Nari couldn’t breathe. “How long do you think we have?”

He dropped another kiss to her cheek. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure something out.”

There wasn’t anything to figure out. Nari swallowed. “No matter what happens—”

“No,” he said. “Don’t even think it.”

Nari looked around. She’d already tried with Lassiter, and Opal didn’t seem to care. There was no way to reason with them and there was no way out. “There’s only one solution,” she whispered.

“What?” Her mom reached down to hold her hand. “What can we do?”

Nari gulped in air and lifted her face to Angus. “You’re gonna have to kill me.”

He cocked his head. “Excuse me?”

She breathed in. “If you do, you win the game. It’ll freak Lassiter out and maybe he’ll open the door.”

“Or he’ll just shoot me and then torture your mom,” Angus hissed.

That was a risk they’d have to take. “We don’t have another option.” She grabbed his arm. “Listen. You know this guy better than anybody else. You’re smarter than he is and you already caught him once. We can’t get out with force, and nobody’s coming to rescue us. It’s on you, Angus. You’re going to have to make it look real.” She hated to put that on him, but they were running out of time. Lassiter was lining up his instruments as well as several cigarettes and a blowtorch. She shivered.