“Yeah, but that’ll only open these two.” She slumped against the table and closed her eyes. “The prison was open for decades back in the Soviet days and they must have kept updating the design. I can’t make a key that opens them all, not without a sample of every one and there could be hundreds.”

She opened her eyes and looked up at me and I knew what she was thinking because I was thinking it, too. There was no way to get the bracelet off JD. And that meant there was no way to get him out.

JD was going to die.

16. Erin

16

ERIN

I felt myself breaking inside. JD! It couldn’t end like this. I couldn’t lose him!

I looked around at the team. Kian was hunched over the table, knuckles white where he gripped the edge. As the leader, he’d carry this for the rest of his life. And the others, they were in pieces, too. But no one looked worse than Danny. He was about to lose his best friend.

I moved away from the others and started to pace, unable to keep still. I racked my brains. There had to be some way to make a key that would open every type of bracelet. But there just wasn’t. It was so ironic: if I was there in person, I could just take apart JD’s bracelet and hack it manually, but making a key that did that automatically was impossible.

I stopped. If I was there in person.

The thought was utterly terrifying. Me?! I’m not a soldier!

I started pacing again, the fear driving me. I tried to lock the idea out of my mind. But the thought of JD never coming home ate away at my defenses until it crept back in. I came to a stop, my chest tight with panic.

I couldn’t!

But I couldn’t lose JD, either.

I turned to the others. “I could hotwire it,” I blurted.

They all turned to look at me.

“But I’d have to be there,” I said. “I’d have to come with you.”

17. Danny

17

DANNY

For a second, I just gaped at her. Then, “No. No! No, no fucking way!”

“It’s our only chance,” said Erin.

“Do you know how dangerous this is going to be? You’re a civilian, you’re not a—Jesus, you’re not even a cop, you’ve never used a gun or—” I turned to the others for support. “She could get killed or captured or…Jesus, we’ll be lucky to make it back alive, never mind—” I shook my head. “No. Just no. We’ll leave the bracelet on him and take our chances.”