“There’s an unmarked door on the far side,” Cole whispers. “Probably another service corridor. I think we should take it. They can’t have locked all the doors off all the service corridors.”

Javier shrugs. “That security guard could have locked every single door without anyone noticing. And even if someone did, who would they tell?”

The answer hangs unspoken in the air: They would have reported it to the very person who had locked the doors.

Grace breaks the silence. “Besides, we’re getting Amina back. Not running away.”

Cole makes his whisper even quieter. “I’m just thinking about you. What if things go wrong? What if we never get out of here?” He reaches down and takes her hand. “You’ve been fighting so hard to live. You don’t want to throw that away.”

She shakes her head. “You, of all people, should know there are no guarantees. And if we don’t fight back, then who will?” She squeezes his hand and then releases it, while Miranda and Javier act as if they haven’t been listening.

Earlier, Miranda gulped water from her cupped hands in the store’s bathroom, but now her throat is as dry as dust. Even in socks, the bottoms of her feet feel slick. This is it. They’re really doing this. But it’s still better than sitting in the back of Culpeppers, waiting.

They venture out. The hall is littered with discarded shopping bags, Perk Me Up cups, a few shoes, and a giant stuffed bear that must have been meant as a Christmas present. Other than their careful footsteps, it’s totally silent. Eerie.

It’s night now. Past the doors, the darkness is lit up by flashing lights from a line of cop cars several hundred feet away. Just like the exit Miranda first ran to, the doors here are bike-locked. But she thinks Cole’s right, that there must be some doors in the mall that are open, or at least were at one point. People managed to find ways to escape, didn’t they? The bad guys only took the people trapped in that first hall. And if one exit is still open, maybe the four of them can find it. She imagines running down the main hall flat out. Running away from the killers, not toward them. Zigzagging and praying not to get shot.

Only that would mean leaving Amina behind. Amina and Parker and Moxie.