“What can he do? They’ll find their bodies inside after it drains,” Amy said.

All the relief she felt at having escaped turned to ashes in her mouth.

“They might not,” Basil said. “We don’t know what happened in there.”

“I do,” Amy said. “There was a prison here, and we built a new prison on its ruins, and all the old prisoners came out to give it a try.”

Basil kept staring up at the store and then he nodded.

“Yeah,” he said. “That sounds about right.”

There was a commotion in the parking lot and Amy and Basil turned. A van from 19 Action News was racing across the asphalt, making a beeline for the store. A couple of cops dashed over to intercept it. The consultants from Orsk Regional were retreating to their rental cars.

“How are they going to explain this?” Amy asked.

“They’ll figure out something they can live with,” Basil said. “Pat’s already mentioned the building contractor twice. There will probably be an epic lawsuit.”

“What about you? Are they going to blame you?”

“I blame me,” he said. “I brought all of you here to save my stupid job. Maybe not Matt and Trinity, but I was still senior supervisor onsite. I was the one who was responsible. I’m the one who got everyone killed.”

“That’s not true,” Amy said.

“Hey! Guys!” Pat was snapping his fingers at them as he came over, holding out his cell phone. “What is this? Is it one of our people?”

Onscreen was a one-word text message: help. Amy recognized the number immediately. “It’s Matt!” she said. “Call him back.”

Pat dialed the number. It rang three times and went to voicemail.

Amy snatched the phone and thumbed a reply: where r u?

The three of them stared at the tiny screen for nearly a minute until the phone buzzed back its reply: help.

“He’s still alive,” Amy said. “Matt’s still alive.”

Pat grabbed the phone and went running off to share the news.

“What’s going to happen to him?” Amy asked Basil.

“I don’t know,” Basil said. “I guess his battery will run out eventually.”

The realization settled over them like a shroud.

The silence was broken by the return of the medic. “Miss, we need to head to the ER now,” he said. “If your friends are still in the store, the firefighters will find them.”

“No, they won’t,” Amy said.

She and Basil turned and followed the paramedic back to the ambulance. Pat came scrambling after them as the other members of the Consultant Team watched from a distance.

“Look, guys,” he began, “hold up. Can we have a minute?” he said to the paramedic.

The paramedic nodded and stepped back a few feet. Pat turned to Amy and Basil.