The Terminals by Royce Scott Buckingham

Author:Royce Scott Buckingham
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781250021052
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

CAM’S PLAYLIST

20. DOWN TIME

by Robo Dork

21. PERFORMANCE ANXIETY

by Crush

22. HAMSTER WHEEL

by The Fluffy Bunnies

“Refresh, rehash, restock my stash.”

Cam climbed the ladder and flopped onto his bunk. He’d been explicitly ordered to relax, feel good, and enjoy paradise for the time being. The breeze that blew through the condo felt good on his hot skin, which was still flush from his exchange with Ward, and the thin sheets were cool to the touch. He shoved his hands under his pillow to get it right for his head. Something crinkled at his touch. Paper. The note had not been hidden in the earbuds this time. Bolder by an increment.

Cam sat up and looked for Ari. His roommate was at the desk below and couldn’t see up into the bunk. Cam slid the note out and cupped it against the pillow to examine it in secret. The message was longer this time.

Glad you’re still alive. I’m looking for someone I can trust. Is it you? PS: Don’t drink the Kool-Aid.

Cam went through the girls in his head again. Jules, Zara, Calli. It wasn’t Gwen—of that he could be certain. There were reasons why it could be any of the rest of them and reasons it shouldn’t be any of them. A mystery, Cam thought. He tucked the note away. It didn’t suggest a way to answer. Perhaps he needed to stuff his answer back under the pillow. But the note was annoyingly vague. “Trust” me for what?

Cam leaned over the side of the bunk. “Hey, Ari, what does ‘don’t drink the Kool-Aid’ mean?”

Ari pushed back from the desk and looked up at him. “Jim Jones.”

“Jim Jones?”

“Cult leader from the seventies. He got a thousand of his followers to commit mass suicide by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid.”

“Holy crap.”

“Yeah. Even the children. Most awful thing ever. Why do you ask?”

“Just heard it somewhere.”

“That’s interesting, because it happened right here in South America.”

Cam stuffed the note back under the pillow. The Kool-Aid was clearly the TS-9. It had to be. But who doesn’t want me to drink it and why? The thought occurred to him that the note writer could be a male.

“Who was around our condo while I was talking to Ward?”

“I dunno,” Ari said. “I was in the kitchen. Jules was making a chocolate cake.” He uttered a low hum to indicate the cake’s tastiness. “You know, I kinda like that she has a traditional side. Zara’s hot, but she wouldn’t be caught dead in the domestic fairy tale.”

She might have, Cam thought. Once upon a time. But she’d dared to dream of a husband and a house, and she’d broken her own heart. Then she got sad, screwed, and sick, and the white picket fence fantasy went poof!

“She might be more normal than we think,” Cam disagreed. “Maybe we just need to get to know her a little better.”

“Good luck with that. Sounds like an excuse to try to get to know her butt a little better. You’re better off chasing Calliope, though you don’t know what you’re going to get with her from one day to the next.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.