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She didn’t know why his words found her bones, galvanized her. But, “I can’t leave you, Judah.”
A pause. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that and instead said, Wow, Judah, thanks for letting Boris hit you so you could grab this for me and I can get off this ship and go live my life.”
Her eyes filled. “Yeah. That’s what I meant. But…how do I get out of the container?”
“Every door comes with a keypad lock to the inner door. You just need to open it on the backside and put in the code.”
“I don’t—”
“The panel is already loose—previous twenty-three did exactly what I’m telling you. He took off the lock and put in the code.”
“What’s the code?”
“I don’t know. He said he wrote it inside your container.”
Wrote it? She didn’t remember seeing—wait. The numbers, scratched into the wall. She rolled out and ran her hand over the wall, gently.
Found the etching and carefully traced her finger over it. Two. Three. Zero. Four.
She scooted back under the bed. “I found it. So, when I get the door open, what do I do?”
“Go to the elevator. Use the master code and get on it. Ride it up to level one of the superstructure. The infirmary is there. And next door is the morgue.”
Oh, gross, so gross. But… “And then what?”
“And then you have a little faith. There’ll be someone waiting.”
Someone waiting?
“Judah—”
“That’s all I know, Shae.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You have about twenty minutes before the first guard does patrol. Go.”
Go.
She closed her eyes. Took a breath. Then, “Thank you, Judah.”
“Go be free, Shae. Be free.”
She rolled out from under the bed and went to the door. Using the spoon, she took off the pad that covered the lock. The bolt was slid into place, but it allowed for her to reach in with the spoon and access the numbers. She simply had to depress the locking mechanism code to release the bolt.
Taking the spoon, she bent it back, the bowl side in, reached in and tried to visualize the pad. Two and three weren’t hard, and she heard them click. Was zero at the bottom or the top? She guessed bottom and that, too, clicked, and then four, beside three.
The last mechanism clicked, and she then used her fingers to pull back the bolt.
It worked. She drew in a breath. But how long had it taken her? She didn’t have time for a goodbye, but pushed the door open, then stepped out into the dark corridor and shut the door. Then she hunkered down and sprinted toward the elevator at the far end of the ship.
Swiped the master key across the keypad and called the elevator.
Oh, this could be a colossal mistake—what if the guards came down with it?
She stood to the side, in the shadows, just in case, but like a miracle—and she was believing in miracles today—it arrived empty.
Level two—or did he say one? Oh! One—one—
