Page 199 of Stay Scared

His grip shifts from my jacket to my waist. Behind him, the outer door remains open several inches, with one of Cade’s boots visible beyond the gap.

His boot stays beyond the threshold.

Rook leans closer. “You will condemn them.”

“I already condemned what they did.”

“You’ll admit they belong to me.”

“They were never yours.”

“They built my philosophy into every room.”

“They also built the lock.”

Rook turns toward the door.

I move at the same moment, taking the remaining steps until my boot crosses the inner operator threshold.

Ash opens the exit.

I pass him and turn as Rook lunges for the outer door.

“Close it, Cade.”

Steel slams as Cade pulls the heavy door shut from the service side instead of coming through it.

Rook hits the frame a fraction too late, his shoulder crashing into metal hard enough to shake the room.

Ash already has the founder key in hand. He drives it into the mechanical lock and turns, sending the deadbolts through the frame with a brutal metallic snap.

Rook grabs the handle, but the locked steel holds.

I stand beyond the opposite threshold with Ash beside me while Cade remains outside the outer wall and Owen’s camera keeps recording from above the bolted chair.

Rook turns beneath the red light.

For the first time tonight, every exit belongs to someone else.

The red-room door locks with Rook inside.

Chapter 25

The red room was built to convince people there was no way out.

Now Rook is the only man trapped inside it.

The outer steel door is locked behind him. Ash stands beside me at the operator entrance, one bloody hand resting near the old mechanical controls, while Cade occupies the other side of the observation wall. Owen’s analog camera remains live above the bolted chair.

The public monitor shows Rook beneath the portable red light. His beaked mask turns slowly toward us. Ash’s original mask lies beneath the chair where Rook dropped it.

Rook looks down, then back at Ash. “You let her wear your face.”

Ash’s injured hand closes at his side. He says nothing.

Rook comes toward the operator opening. Ash shifts beside me, moving one shoulder slightly in front of mine.

The cracked beak tilts. “You still do it.”