Free Music Box (The Dollhouse Books, #4) by Anya Allyn Page B

while.”
    “Aren’t we going down to the camp with our cousins, Daddy?” Mia stares up at him.
    “Yeah, honey. Won’t be long,” he tells her.
    Mia casts a confused look toward Rory then back to her father, but she herds the younger children into the other room and closes the door.
    I move around to stand directly in front of Rory. “And what happens in New York, Rory?”
    He doesn’t answer.
    There’s no point in messing around trying to bleed the truth out of Rory. He’s been told to keep his mouth shut and he’s going to do his best to do just that. I decide to go for broke.
    “It’s a full-time operation feeding the monsters, isn’t it, Rory? First you have to make sure the people don’t know they’re destined to be snake food. Then you’ve got the task of getting them all to the ocean. And when it all falls apart—when too many people find out what’s really happening—then you’ve got a mass panic and people start running everywhere. And it’s your job to rein them in. Isn’t that right?”
    He stares hard at his boots.
    “Just answer that,” I tell him.
    “Dunno anything about what you said.” He breathes steadily, focusing downward.
    “I’ve lived it.” I shake my head. “In Florida, it all fell apart long ago. Everyone there knows about the monsters—everyone that’s left, that is.”
    Jack looks like he’s about to say something, but he changes his mind. Deandra stands frozen, her hand fixed on the gun.
    “But you’ve seen what the shadows can do, haven’t you?” I continue. “They haunt you. They’re in your nightmares. And the military is all gone—the shadows took them all. You think you’ve got no choice, no other options.”
    Rory starts trembling all over, his eyes glazing. I need something that will force a response, but I’ve already gone too far. I can tell he’s seen the shadows and what they can do, and his mind is in some kind of frozen panic.
    I walk near Deandra. His eyes follow me, then focus on the gun in Deandra’s hand. “Did you shoot the parents of those kids?”
    He snaps back, shuffling his big, awkward-looking feet. “I din’t shoot ’em. I din’t shot nobody.”
    “So who did?”
    He shuts up again.
    Deandra shoots me a look—she’s going to take it from here.
    “Rory,” says Deandra calmly, “Why were you after those kids?”
    Rory stares at her like she’s a school teacher and she just asked him something he has no choice but to answer.
    “We was told to bunch this job. Any runaways we gotta get. Get every last one out and onto the trucks.”
    I guessed bunch meant finish in Rory-speak.
    “What’s happening here, exactly?” she asked him. “We saw explosions in the sky the night before. I want you to tell me what they were.”
    His breaths are rapid. “They’re fighting back.”
    A frown dents her forehead. “Who’s fighting back?”
    “Everyone in the city.”
    She walks a step closer to him. “Why?”
    “’Cos they know stuff.”
    “What do they know? Rory, you need to tell me everything, okay?”
    He wipes sweat from inside his collar and nods at her. “Months back, some people found out what’s really out there in the ocean—the monsters—an’ they spread the word. Chicago’s become a battle zone. It’s full of these abandoned old buildings—like from decades ago, an’ people are holin’ up in those and throwing bombs and stealin’ trucks. Our job’s to get ’em out and stop ’em from telling everyone.”
    He drops his head like he’s waiting for judgment. He knows he’s spilled too much already.
    I lean against the wall. “What’s out there in the ocean? Describe the monsters for us.”
    His eyes look a bit crazed. I’ve seen that look in rangers many times—on the faces of the ones who struggle against what they’ve been dragged into. The chair flies along the floor as Rory’s big frame rushes toward the door. This time, Jack stops him. Rory crashes against the door’s frame as Jack tackles