She glanced at the floor near the coatrack, looking for the backpack again, the one Bradford and Rachel had brought.
It was gone.
She frowned.
Had one of them taken it back into their room?
She needed to find out, and this might be her only opportunity.
While everyone was distracted, Olive slipped down the hallway and into the room where Bradford and Rachel were staying.
She only had a minute to look before someone noticed she was gone.
But the bag now sat on the bed.
She hurried toward it.
Carefully, she lifted the flap and slid her hand inside.
Her fingers brushed metal. Smooth. Cold.
She slowly pulled the object out.
Her breath caught.
It was agun.
How had they managed to get this inside? Olive and Jason had checked Rachel and Bradford themselves. Rex had checked their bag.
There had been no gun, and this wasn’t an Aegis-issued weapon, so the couple hadn’t stolen it.
Olive’s mind raced.
The strange looks Rachel and Bradford had given each other. What if those looks weren’t because they were afraid? What if they were because they’d come here on purpose?
Her breath hitched. It was the only thing that made sense.
Olive needed to warn everyone.
Before she could turn, a faint click sliced through the air behind her, and someone said, “Put it down.”
Olive froze. She left the gun in the bag and raised her hands.
She slowly pivoted.
Just as she thought—Rachel stood just inside the door, gun in hand.
Bradford stood behind her, no trace of panic in his expression. He appeared calm. Calculated.
“Looks like curiosity reallycankill the cat,” he murmured.
“The act’s over.” Rachel’s voice turned cold. “That’s a shame. I was starting to like you.”
“Who are you, and what do you want?” Olive asked, her muscles tight and ready to act.
Rachel’s lips curved into something that wasn’t quite a smile. “You already know why we’re here. For Michael. We can’t leave with him yet—not unless we want to kill everyone onsite. And we’re not opposed to that, but we’d rather things play out our way. You weren’t supposed to go snooping and find that gun. I saw you staring at the bag earlier.”
“We checked you,” Olive said. “How did you even get the gun inside?”
