The dark shape of Oliverโs head, emerging from behind the closet door. โWhy the fuck didnโt he take the shot?โ he barked.โ
Redโs eyes adjusted to the darkness, built a home there in it.
โI donโt know,โ Arthur said, breathless, pulling his hand back inside the RV and stopping the recording on his phone. A de๏ฌated double beep. Red did the same, hooking the window shade back down to the bottom.
More double-tone bleeps, from the othersโ phones as they withdrew from the windows.
The ringing in Redโs ears faded, taken over by the ever-present static.
โI donโt understand,โ Maddy said, frustrated, slumping down on the booth. โHe did it last time.โ
The walkie-talkie crackled on the table and Maddy ๏ฌinched, jumping away from it.
โWas that for me?โ The voice came through, a low hiss. โYou know you already have my full attention.โ
A new sound through the speaker, metal grating on metal, the sound of the ri๏ฌe cocking. It cut out and the static took over again. Filled the room, ๏ฌlled Redโs head. But the cocking gun, it stayed somehow, working its way
down into her bones. She could feel it, in the turn of her elbow and the bend of her knee.
โFuck.โ The shape of Oliver stood up, resting his closet door against the driverโs seat. โThat should have worked. It doesnโtโฆthat should have worked.โ
A sigh from Reyna, because Red knew Maddyโs sighs and that wasnโt it.
Reynaโs silhouette ๏ฌoated away from the windshield.
โHeโs only going to shoot now if he sees one of us try to leave the RV, isnโt he?โ she said, but Red couldnโt see her eyes and didnโt know who she was talking to.
โAgain,โ Simon said, his voice drawing closer in the darkness behind her. โI am not nominating myself for self-sacri๏ฌcing duty.โ He didnโt sound drunk anymore.
โMaybe youโre right,โ Oliver replied, close enough now that Red could make out his face. Well, just the glint of his eyes and the glint of his teeth. โMaybe those ๏ฌrst shots at the RV were just to scare us, but now that we know what this is about, what he wants, heโll only shoot to stop one of us from getting away.โ
The long-winded way of saying exactly what Reyna just had. Red wondered if he did that to her a lot.
โSo, maybeโฆ,โ Maddy said, uncertainly, and Red could picture the look on her face, the exact pull in her eyes and the fold to her mouth. โMaybe we make it look like one of usย isย leaving the RV. Thatโs how we bait the shot.โ
Oliver nodded his head. โJust what I was going to say. We make him think one of us is escaping out the door, enough to take the shot.โ
โHow, without actually getting shot?โ Simon replied. โAre we going to build a fake human or something?โ
โThatโs exactly what weโre going to do, Simon.โ The trace of a smile in Oliverโs voice now. Red bet he somehow thought it was all his idea, even though it was Reyna, Maddy and Simon whoโd reasoned it out. โRed,โ he said then, like heโd read her thoughts. โCan you hit the lights.โ
She stepped toward the refrigerator and reached up to click the lights back on. Even on their lowest setting, the brightness of the dim overhead lights
made her eyes water, rebuilding the RV and the six of them from the darkness.
Maddy squinted at Red, a nod to ask if she was okay. Red nodded back. โAnd what are we going to build a fake human out of?โ Reyna asked now,
not disguising the doubt in her voice.
โWell, we already have that closet door.โ Oliver gestured back to his shield. โThat could be the body, if we put one of my hoodies over it.โ
โThe mop!โ Simon said, louder than he needed to. โWe snap it in half and those could be arms, inside the sleeves.โ
Oliver nodded, considering it.
โOh,โ Maddy interjected. โI have a beach ball in my suitcase. Not blown up yet, but that could be the head, right?โ
โThat could work,โ Oliver said.
No, it couldnโt, what were they all talking about? Even on her worst day, Red didnโt look like a closet door with stick mop-arms and a giant beach ball head. The shooter would never believe it was one of them; he had a telescopic sight mounted to his ri๏ฌe. But she didnโt say anything. How could she say anything? That was part ofย the plan.ย Red looked over at Arthur and Reyna. They were silent, like her.
Oliver clapped and, my god, he had to stop doing that.
โRight, Maddy, can you go grab one of my hoodies? The green one.
Reyna, grab that mop. Simon, bring the duct tape.โ
โRed, come with me,โ Maddy said, pulling on Redโs sleeve. She didnโt want to walk into the back bedroom on her own. And, sure, because even though this RV was thirty-one feet, Red had been in the same ten feet for far too long.
She followed Maddy, past the kitchen and the bunks, through the open door into the back bedroom. Maddy ๏ฌicked on the light.
The black-and-white patterned sheets on the bed were crumpled under the weight of a blue suitcase.
โThat must be Reynaโs,โ Maddy said, walking past the foot of the bed to the large closet along the back right, as they faced it.
โThis isnโt going to work,โ Red said, now that it was just the two of them and Oliver couldnโt hear. โThis plan. The shooter will never believe itโs a person.โ
โHe might,โ Maddy said, reaching for the handle and pulling the closet open. There was a long mirror on the inside of the door. Red hadnโt known it was there. She ๏ฌinched as it doubled the people in the room, catching eyes with herself over Maddyโs shoulder.
โWould you think closet-beach-ball-mop-man was real if you saw him out and about?โ she asked, looking at Maddyโs re๏ฌection.
โI might, at a quick glance.โ
โWhy donโt you just ask him out while youโre at it? Youโd have cute kids.โ Red made a face at her in the mirror, eyes wide and nostrils ๏ฌared, wrinkles disappearing the freckles on her nose. Mom used to pull that same face at her, in the mirror opposite their kitchen table, making Red laugh over sugarcoated corn๏ฌakes. Red pushed the memory away. It wasnโt Mom in the mirror, it was her and Maddy, and that didnโt help anybody. It never did. Put her away. Red needed to focus on tonight, on the people still here, not the
ones who were gone and never coming back.
Maddy bent low, back to her, blocking the view. But in the mirror, Red could see Maddyโs double, ri๏ฌing through Oliverโs open suitcase on the ๏ฌoor of the closet.
Two Maddys, two Reds. Wait a second.
โThe mirror,โ Red said quietly, not sure yet, the idea still forming. โCanโt we use the mirror to make a double of one of us? A re๏ฌection.โ She tried to imagine it in her head, placing the mirror at the door of the RV, re-creating the angles. She couldnโt quite get there on her own, not all the way. โAt the door. Canโt weโฆโ She trailed o๏ฌ, but Maddyโs re๏ฌection had straightened up now, staring her dead in the eye.
โThatโs brilliant,โ she said.
