Chapter 28

Tris

I don't look back. I couldn't possibly. I walk in front of the others, my gun loaded and ready in my hand. When we finally turn left around the corner, I can see Jeanine's door. I don't recognize it even though I've been in there before. It's strange, but it's even stranger that my mind isn't focused on what we're about to do. The door is wider than a normal door, and it's blue, of course. The letters JM are carved into its rigid surface. Probably bulletproof too. I stop in the middle of a step. Just above the door seal a hidden camera meets my eye, and it's not disabled. "John," I say as calmly as I can. "Did you disable all the cameras too?" I look back at him.

He frowns. "Yes, why?"

I nod toward the hidden camera and his eyes widen. "Apparently not all," he says.

"We need to move," Tobias says. With astonishing force he kicks in the door. The impact makes him stumble a few feet backwards, but he regains his balance immediately. We rapidly enter the office and I don't know why I'm surprised by what I see. Jeanine's desk chair is slowly spinning, the lights are still on and the atmosphere is strangely cold. She knew we were coming, she saw us on the security footage.

"She can't be far away," John says. "There's another way in here, behind that bookshelf. See, it's not properly placed. She must have just left." He walks over the bookshelf and uses all his strength to move it. It's clearly too heavy for him. "Some help would be nice?" he says and glares at us.

"Wait," Tobias says. "Something's not right. Jeanine could have killed us if she knew we were coming. So why didn't she? Why did she run?"

"I don't care okay. We need to follow her," John says and pushes the shelf even harder. This time it moves a little.

"Jeanine couldn't possibly move that bookshelf by her self," I say. "Someone else was in here and they could be waiting for us on the other side. "

"True, but whether that's the case or not, we need to move this bookshelf. Now, could someone help me?"

Together we push the bookshelf aside. After a few powerful pushes it reveals a small crevice that's big enough for us to go through.

"I'll go first," I say, but Tobias stops me.

"No, I'll go."

I probably should, but I don't object. "Fine."

I slip through the crevice after Tobias, with John, Zeke and Shauna right behind me. Behind the bookshelf is another corridor, but this one is smaller, more like a tunnel. Its width is only wide enough for one person, so we walk in a line, Tobias first. He stops abruptly and I smack into him, hitting my nose on his shoulder. I stumble back and rub my nose as I recover my balance. He holds up his left hand as a gesture telling us not to speak. I hear distant voices and I strain my ears to make up what they're saying.

"What do we do?" A male voice says. It sounds familiar.

"I don't know," a female voice answers, but it's not Jeanine.

Tobias starts moving and when he turns at the next corner his facial expression changes instantly. "What are you doing in here?" he says. The question isn't for a stranger.

Inquisitively I peek around the corner to see who's standing there. I see three familiar faces and I exhale with relief. Uriah, Marlene and Lynn are standing in a huddle a few feet away.

"Four! Tris!" Lynn shouts and stride toward us. Then she sees her sister and we are no longer important.

"I'm sorry we lost you guys," Tobias says and pats Uriah's shoulder.

He smiles. "That's alright."

"How did you end up in this tunnel," John says and his secretly impressed look is back.

"Well, we found a hidden door by the stairs so we thought why not check it out?"

"That was very stupid of you," Zeke says.

"We found you guys didn't we?" Marlene says and touches his arm with her elbow.

Even though it's a lovely reunion, we have to focus. "So that means you didn't see Jeanine?" I say.

"No, why would've we?"

"We think she escaped through this tunnel when she saw us on the security footage," Tobias says. "She must have. There's not another way."

Then unexpectedly something crackles in my ear, and in the others too apparently. Just then it hits me that my mom and Marcus hasn't checked in with us once since we left them. A voice speaks to us through the earphones. "Hello?" My mother. "Can you hear me?"

"We can hear you," I reply.

Then she says something none of us were expecting. "We've got Jeanine."

See ya'll soon. Be brave! -s