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"They know it won't be hard to find four kids tearing through the woods," Rafe said. "Daniel's right. We need to split up. Better than that, we need a target. One person to make more noise than all the others put together. That'd be me." A wry smile my way. "I'm good at causing trouble."
"It'll work better if there are two targets," Corey said. "Rafe and I go separate ways. We make noise. You two keep going. We hope that splitting their attention means no one gets caught."
"I'll do it," Daniel said.
Corey thumped him on the back. "I know you would, but you and Maya are our best chances of getting help. Don't worry--I don't plan to get captured. We'll meet you guys..."
"At the ferry," I said. "They won't expect us to follow the same plan."
"But how would they know what we had planned?" Corey sa
id.
"They must have planted bugs," I said quickly. "Maybe in the house or in the truck. We'll meet at the ferry. They won't expect that."
Before they left, I took Rafe aside. "Will you be coming back?" I whispered.
"They double-crossed me. I don't know what that means for Annie." His eyes darkened, but he shook it off. "I can't trust them. Better I come with you, and try to rescue her."
"Good. I mean--"
"I know what you mean." He turned to leave, then came back with a folded note. He shoved it in my pocket. "Just something I was going to give you before I left."
He jogged away. Then Daniel and I took off. We moved as quickly as we could, making the least amount of noise possible.
"They know everything," I said finally. "The St. Clouds. They--"
"--had Rafe bugged. He told you."
I glanced back, but his face was expressionless. Intentionally expressionless.
"The St. Clouds caught him coming into Salmon Creek," I said. "They have Annie. They used her to get him to trap us. But that's not what happened here. He was supposed to get us to Vancouver so they could grab us there. Once we arrived, I was going to turn on him, say I knew he was working with them. We'd take off. They'd think he'd done the best he could. That was the plan."
I looked back again. Daniel's face still wasn't giving anything away, but he nodded, as if he understood.
"Obviously they figured out what he was doing," I said. "Or they fed him a false plan, so they could make sure he didn't double-cross them." I stopped and turned around. "I'm sorry, Daniel. I tried to tell you."
He paused, then swore. "Back at the house."
"I should have tried harder. I'm sorry."
"You did try hard. I was too distracted to listen. It wouldn't have changed anything anyway. We have to keep going." He turned me to the west. "We'll head toward that ridge. Find a place to hole up."
As we raced toward the ridge, I heard a cry. Then a shout. Rafe? Corey? There was no way of knowing. When a second shout rang out, I told myself they hadn't both been captured, but I wasn't sure I believed that.
Daniel and I kept running. We could see the ridge now. Safety. Just get--
Something whizzed past me.
"Dan--!" I whirled, shouting a warning, only to see him stagger backward, a dart embedded in his shoulder. Another zinged past my arm. Daniel yanked me to the ground. We crawled into thick bushes.
I tugged the dart from his shoulder. He blinked hard, eyes unfocused. He shook his head to clear it.
"I'm fine," he said. "Just a little woozy. Must not have gone in deep enough."
I scanned the ridge, and I caught a flicker of light reflecting off metal.
"Sharpshooter," I whispered. "But you can't do that with tranq darts."
