“No,” she said. “Not yet.” She turned to look at Gabby.

Jackson’s girlfriend still had her gaze fixed on him.

“Take her gag off, at least,” he said. “She’s obviously got something to say.”

Helga sighed, turned her attention to Walter. She raised her eyebrows.

Walter shook his head. “We need to leave. Now.”

“It won’t hurt to take off her gag,” Sarah said, moving around everyone else and walking straight up to Gabby.

“Wait!” Michael shouted, suddenly picturing some sort of trap.

But nothing happened.

Sarah reached behind Gabby, fiddled with the knot in the cloth behind her head until it loosened, then let it drop around the girl’s neck.

Gabby sucked in a big pull of air. “Thank you,” she whispered in a hoarse voice. “Don’t worry, no one’s going to hurt you. They promised.”

“What do you mean?” Michael asked. “Who else is here?”

“Just listen.” She took a couple more deep breaths, then looked around. “Someone is here—someone who wants to talk to you. They used me to get you to come. Forced me to send the message.”

“What’re you talking about?” Helga asked before Michael could.

“Enough of this!” Walter yelled. “Let’s leave. Now!”

Gabby shook her head adamantly. “No! Whatever you do, don’t do that. They let you in, but they won’t let you out unless you at least listen to what they say.”

“Who?” Michael asked.

“Just wait. He’s coming. Like I said. He promised me that no one would get hurt unless you tried to hurt him.”

Suddenly a deep, resonant roar filled the room. It sounded like an enormous machine had started, rumbling from everywhere at once. There was a piercing whine and a grinding of gears. Then, just as abruptly as it had begun, the noise stopped.

Michael stood frozen, wondering what was about to happen. Then movement to the right of Gabby caught his eye. The doors of the wardrobe opened, bright lights shining from within, like something out of Narnia.

And out stepped a man. Short, dressed in a three-piece suit. Agent Scott.

He closed the doors behind him and frowned at Michael, who couldn’t believe he’d remembered the guy’s name.

5

Michael wasn’t that surprised to see the VNS pop back into his life so quickly, but the timing had him at a loss.

Also not surprisingly, Bryson was the one to speak.

“Who’s this dude? You obviously know him, Michael.”

“I met him back when…back before I knew. In Lifeblood Deep. He works for Weber. He followed me into an alley a million years ago. Guys, meet Agent Scott.”

“Who apparently likes to play in closets,” Bryson added.