Chapter 11 - The Bus at Three
At 2:47 a.m., the corridor lights came on.
"Carter, June. Pack your property."
June stood frozen beside her bunk, clutching a photograph of her younger sister. Lucie pressed a hand against the bars as guards unlocked the door.
"Her release is fraudulent," she told them. "Check her sentence."
"Move away from the door," one guard said.
June caught Lucie's sleeve. "If I disappear, tell my sister I didn't run."
Lucie refused to let go until Raines stepped between them. "You're making it worse," he whispered. His eyes went to the camera. "Give me five minutes."
He had promised to help; five minutes felt like a betrayal. Still, she released June. The guards marched her down the stairs.
Valérie appeared at Lucie's shoulder. "Nico could be on that bus. Mercer likes making people watch their choices."
"Then let's make a different choice," Lucie said.
They reached the ground-floor laundry door as the transport horn sounded outside. Rosa waited in a service alcove with a clipboard. She had altered a maintenance inspection form, marking the bus's rear door mechanism as unsafe.
"This buys us a few minutes," she said. "Not an escape."
Raines went outside, inspected the door, and waved the driver to stop. Lucie watched through the wired glass. June sat in the back beside another woman. A young man climbed down from the passenger seat. Dark hair. Crooked nose. Valérie pressed both hands against the window.
"Nico," she breathed.
He saw her. Their eyes met for one terrible second. Then the driver seized his collar and shoved him back inside.
Mercer came around the front of the bus. "Clear the fault," he ordered Raines. "Now."
Raines held up the form. "State regulation requires a supervisor's signature."
"Then I'll sign it."
Lucie saw the pen move. She also saw Rosa quietly raise her clipboard and photograph the page with a small medical-issue camera.
Mercer turned toward the window and smiled directly at Lucie.
May you like
The bus doors closed. Behind the glass, June mouthed two words.
ROOM B.
